
#1
Low End When the Band Is Right On Top of You
I sometimes mix live broadcasts at this venue where they have a "control room," but it's got next to no treatment, it's barely isolated at all and it's very close to the stage. To make matters worse, the performance room has a node at around 100 - 120 Hz. The fundamental of a guitar's A string is 110, as is the first harmonic of a bass' A string.
In this control room it's pretty easy to balance the mids and highs, but the low end is just this big indistinct mush. I've tried hauling in trapping -- had about 100 cubic feet of it in there last night -- and it does little or nothing. Should I give up on treatment (and trying to get the owner to pay for it), and just try to ballpark the bottom with headphones? That sort of works if I can record a bit of soundcheck and then play it back without the live racket in the room, but I can't always do that.
In this control room it's pretty easy to balance the mids and highs, but the low end is just this big indistinct mush. I've tried hauling in trapping -- had about 100 cubic feet of it in there last night -- and it does little or nothing. Should I give up on treatment (and trying to get the owner to pay for it), and just try to ballpark the bottom with headphones? That sort of works if I can record a bit of soundcheck and then play it back without the live racket in the room, but I can't always do that.