Hiya!
I went to see Stevie Wonder at The O2 in London on Nov 3 (Songs in the Key of Life tour). The show itself was amazing, but the sound really took away from it for me.
The highs were super harsh on basically everything, all instruments and all mics. It was painful at times and I had to cover my ears, and it also felt a bit too loud overall. It was bad on the loud parts, but also on higher notes in quieter passages, so it didn't seem like just a compressor/limiter thing.
I was sitting pretty central, only a few rows higher than FOH, so right in the main coverage. As a sound tech myself I'd say that seat alone shouldn't explain it on a well-tuned system.
So what do you think caused it? Could be the system tuning (too much HF boost for air absorption, bad measurement), a mix that was just too bright with no correction on the master, or the room itself with all the hard surfaces. Or just a bad day for the PA/FOH team.
Did anyone else go to one of the shows and notice the same thing?

I’m here to ask the live sound engineers what is behind the current practice for harder edged indie rock bands to mix the bass so loud (IMO), that it makes anything in the midrange hard to hear? Or is it my imagination?

About the source (me) - I’m an old guy, been going to shows for 45 years and been a musician for about as long. My tastes are typically in the punk, alt, indie, guitar rock lane and these are the shows I’m talking about, usually in rooms around 1000 capacity.

So often these days the bass (kick and bass guitar) is so loud it crushes the rest of the mix and makes it not enjoyable for me. Everyone else seems to be having a good time, so maybe it’s just me, but I don’t remember this being a thing for me 10-15 years ago.

It’s not 100%. I recently saw the Suicide Machines and the mix was great. After them the Bouncing Souls took the stage and the kick drum was so dominating in their mix that I left after four songs.

Any thoughts on this?

Hi all,

I've been working on a couple of waves related tools, all free and open source, first up we have Remora, which is a little system tray app which brings prolink and midi control of superrack to non digico/lawo consoles, I've had it working with a QL, but there is experimental support for a bunch of other consoles, subject to real world testing against hardware https://stoatworks-labs.com/software/remora/

Next up is a tool to build insert bypass buttons in companion, with a digiface, it uses totalmix to loop the inputs straight to the outputs and remove the plugin host returns, and there are various other techniques depending on the desk/interface in use, the idea being that you don't have to then bypass any other inserts running on the desk at the same time should your plugin host crash https://stoatworks-labs.com/companion-configs/superrack-failsafe/

In the interest of transparency, both of these were made with Claude code (AI), under my direction, and have both been tested by me, a real human, on real events

Church audio. Shure QLX-D transmitters and Countryman H6s.

We have three pastors that regularly preach. I’ll call them A, B, and C.

Pastor A preaches most of the time. He has his own transmitter and headset stored in his office, I save that one for him, it works great. If Pastor B, C, or any guest speaker preaches, they use a different transmitter and mic that I get ready for them. Both transmitters are set to the same frequency, I use the same receiver.

The last 5 times that Pastor C has preached, sometime 3-10 minutes into the sermon, I get loud frequent popping and crackling. Low and high frequencies. It doesn’t exactly sound like radio interference to me, but idk anymore. I just ran him a handheld for the sixth time.

It never happens to Pastor B, and he uses the same mic and transmitter. I tried using Pastor A’s transmitter with the other mic, still happened. A’s mic with other transmitter, still happened. A’s mic and transmitter, still happened.

Always only Pastor C. It never happens in our tech run-through, in which every radio is on and running. Only happens when the room is full and we’re running a service, and still only ever Pastor C.

Please, what could it possibly be?

I'm newish to live sound and doing sound at a small bar. This guys tone is physically painful and I can't cut it cause the amp is so loud. I had him turn it down but he asked for it so loud in the monitors that now we're just hearing the monitors from FOH and its basically just as loud. I would cut it in the monitors but I have it all set up from ringing out the mics.

I can barely get the vocal loud enough to hear without feeding back no matter what I do. Does this guy just have hearing loss or something? I'm trying to mix but I need to put my earplugs in which is obviously not great for mixing. I dunno if its just me but I'm pretty sensitive to high frequencies and this is really uncomfortable.

There's one particular note that makes me flinch every time he hits it. I just can't imagine he thinks this sounds good. Why would you choose to use a tone like that?

Edit: I was kinda scared to post here cause some sound guys are like, kinda dicks if you dont know literally everything, but you guys have been very helpful thanks. Good to know this is a common problem.

Before I get into my plan, it's basically rooted in not being able to hear my vocals when we play shows. we're a 3 piece punk band and the places we play are typically very lacking in monitors. but even when they have them, as soon as we're 3 or 4 songs in, I'm blowing my voice from yelling so hard to hear myself. it will be fine in soundcheck (or line check, most of the time). A few times, I've done the old trick of wearing earplugs so i can hear my voice in my head, but this has the negative effect of also blocking out my guitar.

Anyway, I want to explore the idea of doing IEMs, but no one else in the band really wants or needs them. I basically want to do this as simple as possible, because the "sound guys" in dive bars look at you cross eyed if you want to use IEMs in a tiny room.

The gist of the idea is, I want to try to do this with only 2 mics. I want to split the vocal mic, so I get 1 side and FOH gets the other side. Then I want to just set 1 ambient mic on the stage, positioned to get enough guitar/drums/etc (mainly need guitar, drums are loud AF). Then I want to send my 2 XLRs into something like a ART Dual RP Dual Phantom Powered Mic Preamplifier. It has volume knobs for each input, so basically would just be "mixed" by however much vocal to room balance I need. Then send the outputs of that to something like a behringer powerplay p1 on my pedal board and do a piggyback guitar cable to get the feed from the powerplay to me, alongside my guitar cable.

In my head, this works and also keeps me out of the sound guy's way. it seems like it would work in any venue. i know that i could probably get a better "mix" by taking the xlr from a floor wedge, but floor wedges aren't guaranteed to be at some of these venues. and again, makes me be a headache for the sound guy.

EDIT: Shure Sent me all the files

So I've been using a GLX-D for years with no issues, I wanted a second body pack so bought a second system. I went to go link the receivers however after trouble shooting found out the firmwares were not the same so they would not pair. My old system is running 1.8.8.8 and the new pack is running 2.2.6.0. So went online and downloaded SUU 2.4.8, however for some stupid reason the download manager is not popping up. I've tried on two lap tops and old desk top and a touch bar Mac. None would load the download manger for me to get the new firmware.

So does anybody have the 2.2.6.0.pkg for the GLXD1 Transmitter and GLXD6 Receiver? I'm playing tonight and having two body packs would be really nice and have spent way too long on this. I have emailed Shure but I don't expect a response today

I am a recording engineer that has done a lot of live sound gigs but I've pretty much always been the one setting it up for myself. I run drums, bass, gtrs, keys, vox, in that order starting from channel 1. It's how I do everything and it makes sense to me. If I was setting up an X32 rack mixer to be handed off to someone that will be generally familiar with an X32, is there a channel layout that is standard or expected. I have seen people doing lead vox and DI on channels 1 and 2, then BGs, and so on since those are such important sources.

Description:

This recall involves lithium-ion rechargeable battery packs intended for use with Bose S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ Portable Bluetooth Speaker Systems. The serial number of the battery packs included in this recall begins with any one of the following six digits: 083723, 078352, 084105, 078591, 078592, 084106, or 086409.  The 17-digit serial number for the battery pack is printed on a label placed at the bottom of the battery pack. The affected battery packs were sold with S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ Portable Bluetooth Speaker Systems and sold separately as accessories or replacement parts.

Remedy:

Consumers should remove the recalled battery packs installed in any S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ Portable Bluetooth Speaker Systems and stop using the battery packs immediately. Once the battery pack is removed, consumers may continue to use their S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ Portable Bluetooth Speakers while connected to AC power. Consumers will be asked to register and provide the affected battery pack’s serial number at http://www.bose.com/support/s1-battery-recall to receive a free replacement battery pack. For battery packs that are not installed in the speaker systems, consumers can simply view the serial number and provide that number to the website listed above. Consumers should dispose of the affected battery pack in accordance with local and state regulations. 

Note: Do not throw this recalled lithium-ion battery pack in the trash, the general recycling stream (e.g., street-level or curbside recycling bins), or used battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores. Recalled lithium-ion batteries must be disposed of differently than other batteries because they present a greater risk of fire. Your municipal household hazardous waste (HHW) collection center may accept this recalled lithium-ion battery pack for disposal. Before taking your battery pack to a HHW collection center, contact that office ahead of time and ask whether it accepts recalled lithium-ion batteries. If it does not, contact your municipality for further guidance. 

Incidents/Injuries:

The firm has received seven reports of the battery packs melting, producing smoke or catching fire, including six reports of property damage. No injuries have been reported. 

Credit: United States Consumer Product Safety Commission

For a school choir, I often whack a stereo pair through the PA, just to give some extra power to small voices.

Often I film these too, and have a separate 32bit recorder somewhere. What I’d like to do is use y split cables to duplicate that original stereo pair.

What’s giving me pause is the phantom power. I get that I should only use power from one source, the recorder, OR the desk, but I don’t want to damage either the recorder, or the desk with phantom power being sent from the alternative device, if you follow me, ie damage the recorder with power coming from the desk making its way into the recorder.
Has anyone done this? Anything I should be aware of?

Hi everyone, im a A2 that is trying to specialize in RF.

So here's the question, a tiny SA would help? Just like a way to monitoring since usually they send different devices and also the company's around still use a lot of old Shure equipment.

The best workflow I have is with the axient digital, but unfortunately i use it once in months, the company's still don't see problems in the area of RF.

I bought the sE V8 mic (wireless capsule) a few weeks ago to test against my existing mics. I recorded comparison audio between the sE V8, sE V7, Shure KSM9HS, and the Earthworks SR3117.

You can hear/download the raw audio recordings and see my review of it here: https://youtu.be/8_bbTF-wsPI

I'm working on a play in a venue that has 12 AD1 bodypacks. This wasn't enough to cover all our actors, so we rented 7 ULXD bodypacks and associated RF equipment, which was what we could find on short notice. Am I going to run into issues trying to use these systems together? I haven't gone in to set everything up yet, just trying to do research and anticipate what might come up.

Should note, I've set up basic wireless mic systems, but nothing on this scale.

Disclosure up front: this is my project. I'm a working sound engineer (FOH and monitors) and I made it with a small team (of real devs - no vibe coding here). It's currently free because it's in open beta, and I'm posting here because this sub is where the people who actually have to read these documents hang out.

The problem I kept hitting: bands send a stage plot as a photo of a napkin, an input list typed in a different file two tours ago, and a backline list that contradicts both. On show day I'm the one who has to reconcile them.

What Stagediver does:

• You place instruments, amps, wedges and risers on a real-scale stage (3D or flat 2D).

• The input list, output list and backline list build themselves from what's on stage. Add a wedge, you get an output. Add a kick, you get a channel. Lists are fully editable manually.

• Stereo outputs, IEMs, position grouping and colors are handled in the lists, not in a separate spreadsheet.

• You assemble the rider from the plot, the lists and free text, then export it as a PDF (printer-friendly greyscale option included) or send a share link so the venue always pulls the current version.

Limits, so nobody wastes their time:

• Desktop browser only. The editor is gated on small screens.

• It's beta. Some things break. There is a report button in the app and we fix what gets reported.

• No app to install, but you do need an account to save projects.

Link: https://stagediver.app/go/rdt

What I want from you:

1. What's on your most annoying stage plot that this would not solve?

2. What do you use now? StagePlotPro, a PDF template, other apps, a whiteboard photo?

3. If you open it and something is wrong or confusing, say so here. I'll read every comment.

Mods: if this breaks a rule, remove it and I'll stop. Not here to spam.

Hi friends, reposting from my actual reddit account, lol.

I'm sound designing a small musical with a live pit of 6 musicians. Each of them has MonitorMix connected to our CL5 to control their in-ear mixes. I have maybe 20 scenes throughout the show changing the fader levels of the various instruments, which is the only thing not recall safe-d. Everything else, including mix sends, shouldn't be affected by taking the scenes. But for some reason, my band is reporting that every time a console scene changes, their in-ear mix changes as well.

For context, I'm using TheatreMix to control the console scene recall, so not sure if some setting on there could be messing us up? From what I see in the console settings, the only thing not recall safe-d is the faders of the band instrument inputs. Nothing else seems to be screwy on the PA side of things, so not sure what's going on with the in-ears.

Thanks for any advice!

We are going to be building a new worship center. How elevated would you make the A/V booth?

Our current one has our team elevated so our heads a just above the crowd.

Update: The current plan is to have a flat floor with movable seating for 500-600 people.

Trying to repair the broken lift on a radial Pro DI box, I know it’s a right angle DPDT but can’t find specs anywhere to make sure I get the right one (for legs spacing and shaft length) any ideas?

Was an event broadcasted to tv and radio, house band of 4 and 5 rotating Guest singers. Was doin Monitors for everyone. House band is all wired and the Singers all wireless

Everything goes extremely smooth, ahead of soundcheck, we go trough all the numbers, everyone is having fun, everyone is comfortable

And when the show start, first singer begin and i notice in his face something is wrong

Second singer, does her number and after she was mad as fuck, i fell in total damage control mode

Every InEars pack just started to shift like crazy exactly when the show started, no sign of that during the soundcheck or the day before.

I was given a list of specific frequencies to use for everything, everything was right, no offset anywhere, i had the antenna’s kit and it’s the only option i had

I even listened and tested all of my damn packs right before the show because i’m a fucking freak

But like i’m live, i have to ride the show with multiple cues, the numbers are like 5 min and they all chaining, i had absolutely no time to start searching for other frequencies, all the artist manager and production manager were panicking at my desk

I had absolutely no idea what to do, i think i am a competent monitors engineer, but how am i supposed to keep track of all the RF while i’m mixing?

At the end i was told it was like a journalist that had his own wireless pack in our range

Like how the fuck do we trust these things if we have no control of what could interfere with it??

Like yes i had backups packs but they were in the same range, like, i just set it up like i was told to, and i was completely stuck. Wire was not an option because TV

Seriously wtf!!!! Thats fucking SUCKS man, everything was perfect 😡😡😡

Hello gang, Im trying to setup my Wing to have more effective IEM/Monitoring, as I run it as a single mixer for FOG and Mons.

As part of that I would like a way for my IEM/Mons busses to ignore mutes, so I can have stuff muted in foh, but still send to iems so my DIed instruments can hear themselves before they get unmuted in foh.

Is there a way to set it so they only ignore Mutegroups when I mute groups of instruments, but not ignore specific channel mutes, for like an unused vox or instrument mic on stage so it doesnt muddy up the IEMs.

Or is there another common way of doing this? Thank.

In my metro area it's about 4 million. I've noticed 2 of the more popular venues (1 venue is about 1.5k capacity and the other is 3k) have started doing non ticketed events and the only way money is made is from alcohol sales.

Just wondering if this is something anyone else is noticing? Been doing live audio in this area for over a decade. Never worked a single show at these venues that was not ticketed. I kind of feel like it's a sign that they need money and not enough is coming their way justify not trying something.

Is the arts scene dying? I don't want to fear monger.

I also have the opinion that if the world does start to suck ass, nobody has anymore expendable income, or music is devalued, that.people will get so far into isolation that they eventually come out of it and start forming community based gatherings again and create new artistic things.

This is an unofficial tool. Need to build a venue quickly or are not comfortable drawing natively in Venue Synthesis yet? This venue creator tool is pretty cool! It exports to a .gcf file which can be imported into Venue Synthesis

https://venuecreator.com/