using studio monitors in a live sound situation

[gearstudent]

Hello,

If you were going to do a small live production with something like a few string players and a dozen voices (classical acoustic), I'm wondering if you could do the following:

use a couple of studio-style condenser mics. run them through a pair of powered studio monitors on stands like Genelecs or Dynaudio. run some light compression for peaks and system control. some light eq to roll-off bass, etc.

I would think this would get a lot better sound than the typical SM-57, close-miked, amped up speaker cabinet stuff.

So excluding any considerations of dust, durability, etc. would this be something to consider? it would be to amplify an almost-loud-enough situation, rather than taking the sound to ear-splitting levels.

I can't see why this would be a bad idea, and the powered studio monitors are easier to transport and setup compared to the big cabinets.

[Jim vanBergen]

That would be completely dependent upon the acoustics in the room, the size of the room, and the location of the audience compared to the performers and microphones.

There is a reason why nearfield monitors (which typically have a 100-120 degree horizontal dispersion) are not used for sound reinforcement. They are somewhat useless for anything in the mid or far field as far as ACCURACY goes. You will indeed 'reinforce' the sound, but your gain before feedback is less than ideal. Is your seating stepped row by row? How high do you plan to put the monitors? If your audience is very small, it might work well, but you need to put the monitors in a position that will impact viewing the live performance.

How compact or light a speaker cabinet is normally does not determine what is appropriate for sound reinforcement.

Utilizing condenser mics for group pickup IS significantly better to close-miked '57s for classical acoustic. But if it's classical acoustic, WHY DO YOU NEED SOUND REINFORCEMENT? Sorry- I do a lot of live sound work, and this really ticks me off. If you are working in a symphony hall and need individual vocal pickup for 4000 listeners, you need SR. But for an "almost loud enough" situation of acoustic classical, I would choose to NOT amplify every time.



JvB

[resound]

A lot of people who do electro-acoustic music use monitors for live sound. Depending on the size of the venue and the material, this can work well.

I personally have experience running an octophonic array of Adam S3-As with a sub, quad arrays of Dyanudio and Genelec and M-Audio, and even a stereo pair of KRK once. In smaller spaces supporting material intended to blend with un-amplified acoustic instruments (strings, etc.) or not putting out massive SPL, these have worked well.

Filling a 1,200 seat hall? Not the best choices.

I've never used them for amplification purposes as you've described so I cannot comment there. Twelve classically trained singers (e.g., operatic) can put out some serious volume, so perhaps some discussion of the source, venue, etc. can help you get some more useful responses.

[Remoteness]

When you take what JvB and VukOnCrack said into consideration, a distributed (time delayed) multiple studio speaker setup could work well with the right acoustical conditions especially when you're using mid-field opposed to near-field monitors.

[gearstudent]

Hello Jim,

could you elaborate on the dispersion width of the nearfields compared to typical SR cabinets?

If I'm following you, you're saying the studio monitors have a wider dispersion, and in a live situation, you want a more directional throw from the speakers.

If the sound is not very directional to start with, would this matter much?

For example, to spot-mic a soloist, they would move closer to the condenser mic array.

[Jim vanBergen]

typical cabinets are 45degrees conical, 60x40, and the larger cabinets are 90x60.
Line arrays are about 80 degrees horizontally but only 5 degrees vertically.

Typical nearfield monitors have a 100x100 or 120x120 dispersion, making them ideal for listening within 3-6 feet, and very inaccurate outside that. Once you leave the 'sweet spot' you leave a very linear listening zone to a highly colored one.

Does that make sense?

Jim