The Steel Guitar Forum

I need some suggestions or ideas on how you guys are checking your sound when setting up for a show...I have my webb behind me and a direct line to the board..How can you tell if you are getting the " same sound" that's coming from your amp into and out through the PA...??? thanks,, tom

Teach someone else in the band how to simply pick a chord or 2, and walk out front to hear SOMEWHAT the tone that is coming out...

I set up the amp to sound good to me on the stage,sound in main`s is pretty much in the hands of the sound man.I use to argue with a sound man when people would come to me at the break telling me that they can`t hear steel guitar,now days I don`t care anymore,nothing I can do about it, so whats the point of being upset anyway.Play,enjoy your sound on the stage and take your money at the end.

btw,I don`t use direct line,just my SM 57

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<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Damir Besic on 26 January 2003 at 05:21 PM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks Gino, that is the one thing I try lately..My wife takes care of that part for me and she knows about what I expect in the way of my sound...
Damir, I too have been using a (57) but I thought that a direct line would cut down on outside band noise...no matter it's still the same problem.."whats coming out of the mains"??..I have tried to turn the main on my side toward me before the show, that way I get some idea of volume and tone...and don't tell me YOU don't care my friend...you are a steelman, and I would guess a good one at that, and you do care what others think...especially other steelmen or band members who might be in that audience that night..this is you're only night to shine that week, so set that sound and you're tone and tell your sound man to kept his hands off the steel settings..A quote by Tom Brumley," When it's your time to play, play that S.O.B, when it's not, don't play that S.O.B........tom

A couple of the clubs I 've played around here have house PA and guys that know now to run it. We were able to keep the stage volume low enough to where I could hear myself in the mains. That was pretty cool. I could hear myself just enough to know I was out there.

What I did was have our production/sound engineer record just my steel on a CD during a live show so I could sit at the sound board with him and teach him what I want my steel to sound like. This has worked out great for me.

"ONLY IN MY DREAMS MY FRIENDS"........tom

If you want to be in the mains make sure you point your amp away from the sound man.

Bob

If you want to be in the mains,play at the steel guitar show

ps
or kill the soundman

I've grown to distrust soundchecks. it always sounds one way during the check, and quite another by the time you play. It's always a matter, (for me) of making a ton on minor adjustments during the first few songs. I don't trust them...

I usually have the sound guy set me with fairly nuetral EQ, and let my guitar and amp sound the way I want it to sound. As Damir says, usually the volume is the biggest problem. When they ask me for my max volume, I give them 2/3 to 3/4, and play when I'm supposed to play.

Two of my favorite quotes ...
" I don't care what I sound like out front as long as I sound good to myself on stage!" also....
"Set your volume to whatever the "sound man" tells you to at the sound check and then set it to whatever you want to on the gig". These statements were said in jest, but if you really take time to think about it, they really make sense.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Watson on 28 January 2003 at 02:26 AM.]</p></FONT>

....it's usually the same problem with some, but not all, soundmen. How can a steel-guitar player using a volume pedal possibly know what his or her maximum volume is going to be until they can hear the volume that everyone else will be playing?....a sound check of a single instrument is of little value except to determine that there is a connection to the board.... www.genejones.com

Interestingly enough I have been having very good luck with soundmen while I have been on the road in last year or so. In the middle to better rock clubs the sound guys dig the steel and do a very good job as long as I work with them.

One thing I spend time on is making sure that my volume levels are consistant and in balance with the overall stage levels. When I play local clubs (NYC) I practice my dynamics by having the sound guys keep track of me during the set and then giving me a volume level critique after the gig.

After I compliment the sound guy about what a great job he did he usually says something about how easy it was to mix my sound. And that most steel players play so freakin loud with those two amps cranking out all that midrange that there is nothing they can do to get a good sound in the club.
Remember that the sound of a pedalsteel is very directional and if you are not in the mains the only people that will be able to hear the tone that comes off the amp will be the people right in front of you.


I prefer using a mike placed just off the bell of the speaker.

Bob
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 28 January 2003 at 09:04 AM.]</p></FONT>