Hi Dave, Jeff, Jerome, Don, John, & Paul (+ others), A belated thanks for all of the sound advice! I've been pulled in many directions the last month so I put the sound equipment research on hold but I'm getting back to it now. :)
You all brought up some really good points... the noise of the room/band, multiple handlers of equipment, various options for micing, etc. The challenge we're facing is that we're a community band that anyone can join but we're also a group who are wanting to work on arrangements, hear different voices etc. We're quite new so we may grow to 20+ players but right now we're around 8 and so we're wanting to really hear the nykelharpa or quiet fiddler do solo work. I like the mic'ing some people approach! Our oboe/bombard player doesn't need a mic, that's for sure. :) We're also experimenting with seating arrangements and are going for a tight semi-circle as we don't have monitors for folks. ... ... having a small sound system to experiment on before we buy is proving helpful. I'm going to go hunting in that yahoo groups link you sent Dave. Thanks! Emily in Ottawa On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 12:00 PM, <[email protected]>wrote: > Send Organizers mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Organizers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Organizers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 1 (John W Gintell) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2013 12:09:14 -0500 > From: John W Gintell <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Organizers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 1 > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > > > Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2013 13:47:24 -0500 > > From: Jeff Kaufman <[email protected]> > > To: A list for dance organizers <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [Organizers] Soundsystem question for community band > > On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Emily Addison <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> we have tested and would like to purchase a soundsystem > >> that mic's kind of like a choir (pencil mics etc). > > > > A choir has a quiet audience while a dance band has a noisy one. Most > > singers in a choir are about the same volume (and where they're not > > that's a problem for the choir director to fix) while some dance > > instruments are much louder or quieter than others. So while a choir > > can do well with mics that are far away from the singers ("area mics") > > that often doesn't work well for dance bands. > > > > Approaches I've seen work are, in descending order of difficulty, > > effort, and expense: > > > > 1) Mic no one. Hard on the caller to be loud enough. > > 2) Mic only the caller. > > 3) Also mic a couple anchor instruments like piano and fiddle. > > 4) Also mic some quiet instruments like mandolin or jaw harp. > > 5) Individual mics for everyone. > > > > I think #2 and #3 are a good choice for a lot of situations. > > > > Jeff > > To me the basic three musts for sound are: > > 1) can you hear the caller? > 2) can you hear the beat and phrases? > without these dances may fall apart > > 3) are the musicians happy? > happy musicians play better > > Thus I recommend 3) or 4) - depending on musician style. > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers > > > End of Organizers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 2 > ***************************************** >
