The way sound amplification normally works at a contra dance these
days is that the dance series arranges to have sound equipment and
someone to set it up and adjust levels. Sometimes, though, you're
playing for an event where the band is bringing and running sound, and
there's no one to do levels. Setting up sound yourself when you're
also playing isn't that bad, it's just more hassle, but how do you
set levels when you're playing?
Ideally you don't. Often if you ask the organizer they can find
someone with a decent ear to help you get things balanced in the hall.
While this is a bit risky (maybe the person they pick has strange
judgement or wants to play with EQ settings) this has generally worked
out better for me than not having it.
If you're in a larger band, one option that can work is taking turns
having musicians go out into the hall and set levels. For example, in
the Free Raisins (fiddle,
mandolin, piano) when we ran our own sound we'd start the first set
with just fiddle+piano, with the mandolin player (me!) in the hall
checking fiddle-vs-piano and caller-vs-band, plus getting the caller
EQ dialed in. When that was sounding good I'd get back on stage and the
fiddle player (Audrey) would
go out and set the mandolin level with the piano as reference.
In a duo, though, what do you do? One option is for the fiddle player
to use a wireless electric violin, which lets them go out into the
hall and hear exactly how it all sounds together. This seems ideal,
but Ed
Howe is the only person I've seen do that.
What I do instead is set up the board where I can reach it from where
I'm sitting. Then I take the main speaker farthest from me and rotate
it on its speaker pole until it's pointed at me. With all the other
speakers (monitors and the other main) off I set levels, but I do this
very differently from usual. Normally my approach is:
Set a rough input gain for each instrument by eye, using the input
trims and the pre-fader-listen LEDs
Turn up instruments in the monitor as needed until everyone is
happy.
Turn up instruments in the mains until it sounds right
That doesn't work well when running sound while playing, so instead I:
Set each instrument's mains levels to 50%
Set each instrument's monitor levels to 50%, with the monitor
master all the way down
Set input gains for instruments by ear, based on how they sound in
the single main speaker
When running our own sound I need the monitor levels to be an accurate
guide to the mains levels: if something sounds wrong in the monitor,
it probably sounds wrong in the mains too. I will adjust mains or
monitors separately during the gig, but each time I do it I think hard
about whether there's a good reason why they shouldn't be moving
together (ex: a loud instrument on stage doesn't need to be in the
monitors as much).
This is not perfect, and works better if the musician running sound
plays entirely electric or electronic instruments (I have a hard time
setting the level for my talkbox, and I think it was
slightly too loud at Porchfest).
Even if you don't have someone in the hall setting levels for you, if
there's someone who can signal if you're way off that's helpful.
The way sound amplification normally works at a contra dance these days is that the dance series arranges to have sound equipment and someone to set it up and adjust levels. Sometimes, though, you're playing for an event where the band is bringing and running sound, and there's no one to do levels. Setting up sound yourself when you're also playing isn't that bad, it's just more hassle, but how do you set levels when you're playing?
Ideally you don't. Often if you ask the organizer they can find someone with a decent ear to help you get things balanced in the hall. While this is a bit risky (maybe the person they pick has strange judgement or wants to play with EQ settings) this has generally worked out better for me than not having it.
If you're in a larger band, one option that can work is taking turns having musicians go out into the hall and set levels. For example, in the Free Raisins (fiddle, mandolin, piano) when we ran our own sound we'd start the first set with just fiddle+piano, with the mandolin player (me!) in the hall checking fiddle-vs-piano and caller-vs-band, plus getting the caller EQ dialed in. When that was sounding good I'd get back on stage and the fiddle player (Audrey) would go out and set the mandolin level with the piano as reference.
In a duo, though, what do you do? One option is for the fiddle player to use a wireless electric violin, which lets them go out into the hall and hear exactly how it all sounds together. This seems ideal, but Ed Howe is the only person I've seen do that.
What I do instead is set up the board where I can reach it from where I'm sitting. Then I take the main speaker farthest from me and rotate it on its speaker pole until it's pointed at me. With all the other speakers (monitors and the other main) off I set levels, but I do this very differently from usual. Normally my approach is:
That doesn't work well when running sound while playing, so instead I:
When running our own sound I need the monitor levels to be an accurate guide to the mains levels: if something sounds wrong in the monitor, it probably sounds wrong in the mains too. I will adjust mains or monitors separately during the gig, but each time I do it I think hard about whether there's a good reason why they shouldn't be moving together (ex: a loud instrument on stage doesn't need to be in the monitors as much).
This is not perfect, and works better if the musician running sound plays entirely electric or electronic instruments (I have a hard time setting the level for my talkbox, and I think it was slightly too loud at Porchfest). Even if you don't have someone in the hall setting levels for you, if there's someone who can signal if you're way off that's helpful.