Live sound for a jazz band

[siweldott]

hi there i am doing the live sound for a jazz band in a church hall consisting of a vocalist, a double bass player, an electric guitarist, a piano player and a jazz kit drummer. im in need of advice for sound reinforcement, speaker/mic choice and placement, mixing techniques (for making it sound like a jazz band) and any additional outboard processors that would be useful for this type of gig im just getting into this so any help would be apprciated....

muschos gracias forum....

Lewis Todd

[tysonviolin]

some tips:

Start with a nicely EQed PA
Don't mic anything too close
Think of it as additive mixing (listen to the band w/o the PA and fill the holes) EQ if needed
If the cymbals are loud but you need more snare roll off the highs etc
Kick and overs for the kit. I usually prefer a 421 or a LDC on kick, and LDCs for overs
You can mic the piano many ways. Usually close to the strings pointed at the hammers
One high one Low. I have put anything from 414s ksm32s to 57s and C460s on piano.
Bass can go direct or mic or both. I like the RE20 but lots of things work. The CAD E-100
or Rode NT-3 can be great with their hypercardioid pattern.

Anything works if you make it. Oh yea. slap a 57 on the guitar amp thumbsup

[BostonBassist]

I do a lot of live sound for acoustic (jazz et al) in a large hall. The best advise I can give is listen to the room. In a lot of circumstances I don't have to throw a lot up in the mains because it is such a live room, it does most of the work for me. That also means if I add too much I just get a wash of sound that is quite awful.

If the hall is indeed lively, it's all about the monitor mix. Make sure the musicians can hear themselves clearly through the monitors as the delay from the mains can be confusing. (I actually had a singer ask me to turn the reverb off her voice once - there wasn't any!)

As for outboard, the only thing I throw on the master out is a limiter which I barely touch - only there in case something gets real loud. In the case of a live jazz band I find no use for compression on indivdual instruments - one of the key elements of the genre is dynamics, the last thing you want to do is squash them.

Ask the band for a stage plot ahead of time, if they will be bringing amps or going through the house. If they bring amps I have them keep them low and put a mic on them. Since the room is live very little ends up going through the mains, often their stage volume is plenty. But you may want to be able to send the signal through various monitors.

As for mics - dynamics. Although I occasionally use condensers I have to keep the volume of the band even lower and be careful with placement else there is just too many reflections that get picked up. But it can be worth the effort - know your room first though.