Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achieved

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alienux
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Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achieved

Post by alienux » Sun Apr 13, 2014 1:35 pm

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions in my other threads about getting a thicker, fuller sound playing live using a mic with the VIP.

Short recap: I'm not able to get much volume on stage, so all of the traditional things like adding mids, compression, etc. were not helping much.

Someone suggested using a gobo so I could get the source volume higher. I think this turned out to be the biggest help. I didn't actually get a gobo, but I found some old kick drum shields that were no longer being used and set them up in front of my amp like this:

|AMP|

\___/ <-shield

(in this pic, the speaker would be pointing toward the bottom of the screen).

This allowed me to turn the volume up quite a bit without beaming anybody else on stage and without beaming the audience. The "shield" kept the sound contained, but allowed me to hear it good and loud on stage, and gave the microphone a much better source sound due to higher volume.

I also put the mic off-axis. I had always been using a SM57 on-axis. This time I turned it 45 degrees and backed it off from the grill cloth about 1".

I knew it had improved the sound tremendously when several people came up to me and said basically, "I don't know what you did to change you sound, but your tone was great."

So, I think the "gobo" I made using the plastic shielding I found was a big help because of letting me get the amp up to a volume that sounded great to begin with, and the off-axis placement of the mic really helped tame the harshness of the highs and the pick attack.
Last edited by alienux on Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Peter Richter
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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by Peter Richter » Sun Apr 13, 2014 9:16 pm

Thanks for posting your solution. That's given me an idea for a guitarist that I have problems with stage levels and beaming problems of a quad box. He want the LOOK of the quad box there and so long as the sheild was clear he would still have that. His band actually owns some screens they used to use on the drummer before he went to an electronic kit.
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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by jdalf » Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:00 am

nice, glad you found a way to make it work
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alienux
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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by alienux » Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:12 am

Yeah, I didn't want something odd colored or bulky in front of my amp, and the pieces I found were clear, which actually looked great. A couple of people said that they didn't even notice it at first.

I had forgotten that I took a picture of it, but here it is (the stage lights made it a little blurry).

Image

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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by lionheart » Mon Apr 14, 2014 3:35 pm

Good info alienux. I always prefer a mic'd sound to a D/I'd sound but getting a good mic'd sound is an art form in itself ! The screen you built looks excellent ( nice to see what's behind it too ) and very durable to boot. Off axis micing with the Shure SM 57 I feel gives the best results as it is a quite trebly mic. I have used one in conjunction with an AKG 414 on a Celestion G12 75T loaded cab, the SM off axis on the edge of the dome and the AKG at mid cone to edge both about 1 inch off the grill cloth. Combined 50/50 they give great cut and punchy depth too. I have recently been using a relatively inexpensive AKG D77s mic and I absolutely love it - crystal clear without lacking in bass or having too much treble. A great all rounder designed for backing vocals but is great for micing all instruments acoustic and electric - Yngwie Malmsteen uses them but don't let that put you off !

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alienux
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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by alienux » Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:43 am

I think changing to 45 degree off-axis with the SM57 instead of on-axis helped every bit as much as getting the volume up (thanks to the shield), and maybe moreso.

I looked at ordering a Sanheiser mic, but with how everything went this last time, I think I'm pretty happy with everything now.

One thing I forgot to mention was that I also have a habit now of not assuming that the mixer EQ for my channel has been left where it was previously. I checked with the sound guy before we started, and instead of the mixer being set to where it was the week before, the bass and treble had been boosted some (not too much, but more than it had been set to before) and the mids were lowered. Setting that back helped, too.

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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by Klink » Tue Apr 15, 2014 6:24 pm

Umm, that would be 'achieved' (I before E except after C remember children :lol: ?).

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alienux
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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achei

Post by alienux » Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:08 pm

Klink wrote:Umm, that would be 'achieved' (I before E except after C remember children :lol: ?).
I can't believe I didn't catch that since I'm kind of a spelling Nazi. :shock:

Thanks for adding to the discussion, though. :P

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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achie

Post by Stryker57 » Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:35 pm

i cant remember but check the shure 57's freq response i think it has a boost in the 3-4k up hz range and a dip around 3-600 hz for vocal clarity. or maybe that was the 58.. :mrgreen:

so you might want to find a flatter response mic for a thicker sound.
maybe ask in the pro audio section for ideas, there are some there that really know their mics and could save you a lot of research or point you in the right direction

but as you found out most peavey amp get fuller with volume :D

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alienux
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Re: Part 3: Fattening up the mic'd sound of the VIP 2: Achie

Post by alienux » Thu May 01, 2014 7:16 am

Stryker57 wrote:i cant remember but check the shure 57's freq response i think it has a boost in the 3-4k up hz range and a dip around 3-600 hz for vocal clarity. or maybe that was the 58.. :mrgreen:

so you might want to find a flatter response mic for a thicker sound.
maybe ask in the pro audio section for ideas, there are some there that really know their mics and could save you a lot of research or point you in the right direction

but as you found out most peavey amp get fuller with volume :D
Yeah, originally since my amp volume was pretty low, a thin weak sound was being turned up at the mixer into a loud weak sound. Getting the amp volume up made the sound going into the mixer much fuller and made a huge difference.

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