Need advice on live vocal chain that sounds sweet

[LethaL]

Hi fellow gearslutz,

A friend of mine who is a rapper is tired of sounding different each time he performs. So he asked me to find out about what gear he should buy that he can tweak to his liking so he can sound the same everytime he performs from now on.

I know nothing of live sound so I was hoping my fellow gearslutz can shed some light. Basically he wants a single channel that can bypass the sound quality of fishy gear so he can achieve a consistent sound that always sounds great no matter where stadium or club. He performs in large locations so range is a must.

What wireless mic do you recommend? Neumann? Seinheiser? Shure? Any others?
What wireless receiver?
What vocal processor? An all in one comp eq de ess would be nice.
Anything else he should get?

I don't believe price is much of an issue, but it'd be nice to get some advice from high to mid end price ranges.

Thanks so much,
Joe

[recordinghopkins]

Nothing can stop the FOH guy from Eq'ing the system or his vocal channel. You play different venues, you get different systems and different rooms and different engineers. The only thing you could do is hire your own FOH engineer, and even then there's no guarantee that venues would be ok with allowing someone to guest engineer. Maybe he can carry his own vocal mic. That's good for hygienic purposes too. Tell your friend not to be such a diva and let the engineers worry about what sounds best in their venue. They mix there every night. If you don't like the way you sound there, don't book any more gigs!

Stick to wired mics if you travel a lot. Wireless looks cool and is very freeing onstage, but it's a real PITA the first time you get interference. It WILL happen. And his voice will sound even worse when you get a blast of static through the mains.

As far as comp/eq/de-essing goes, you're wasting your time if you think you can recall the same settings every time in a different venue with a different system. A channel strip is a good idea, but again, it's something the FOH engineer should worry about, not the vocal talent. If it's just DJ rigs he's working with and not a real PA, then a channel strip might be a great idea, but what works in the studio is not always what works live.

Beta58 + a DBX 286s channel strip (or similar) is all he'll really need. No reason to go with esoteric boutique gear.

[Iamcory]

i would have to assume the different venues are going to create quite a bit of change regardless.

thats what sound check is for