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mechanismo

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Hi everybody,

were a new band and he had our first concert last month. it was at a friends party, so i wouldnt really call it a concert, but anyway, the place was quite small and we had problems with the sound of the voices.

we would like to receive any kind of advice to make it sound better.

Any idea about good guitar amps?

thanks,

have a great 2007!

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Hi everybody,

were a new band and he had our first concert last month. it was at a friends party, so i wouldnt really call it a concert, but anyway, the place was quite small and we had problems with the sound of the voices.

we would like to receive any kind of advice to make it sound better.

Any idea about good guitar amps?

thanks,

have a great 2007!

With regards to amps - be prepared for an avalanche of advice - all wildly differening !!

When you're talking about gigworthy amps, it's really a matter of what sound you are trying to achieve - i.e. there's not much point buying a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier or ENGL Powerball if you are doing Simon & Garfunkel covers. Conversely a VOX AC-30 or a Fender Twin wouldn't be the most ideal choice for a hardcore metal band.

Let us know what you're trying to achieve and we'll swamp you with ideas :up:

And then there's your budget to consider....

Good luck with the band...

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concerts

hi diesel, that was fast!

well were kinda pop-rock but wed like to sound a bit more rock on stage.

we have another concert at the end of this month and well play some of our songs and a few others from other bands so people can sing along and the sound problems wont be heard.

we have a place to play that we share with other bands and theyve asked us to play at one of their concerts, so we have to start practicing seriously. still recording some of the songs though. we record at home so wed appreciate any advice in that area as well.

waiting for answers

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You did not say if it was the voices of the crowd or the sound of the vocal. I presume you mean your singer vocals.

It's important to get a good balance of vocal/guitar/drums/bass etc. You don't need a small fortune worth of gear to do this (although that sometimes helps) Just someone with a good ear that you can trust. And that does not mean the bass players girlfriend/boyfriend either, as they will probably say "the bass needs up a bit'. Trust me on this, I have been there and got the hoody.

Guitar amps....Diesel is right, it depends on your music style. There are extreme ends of the market regarding amps as Diesel stated. However, most amps can do most things within reason. I know I will get slated for saying this, but I think if you are unsure of what you really want/need, try out a Line 6 combo of some sort. you can get some 'reasonable' sounds out of them. One of these might give you an idea of the type of 'real' amp you require. You might not need a vintage fender/marshall/vox etc etc.

Let's now wait!!!!:popcorn:

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And that does not mean the bass players girlfriend/boyfriend either, as they will probably say "the bass needs up a bit'. Trust me on this, I have been there and got the hoody.

Guitar amps.... I think if you are unsure of what you really want/need, try out a Line 6 combo of some sort. you can get some 'reasonable' sounds out of them. One of these might give you an idea of the type of 'real' amp you require. You might not need a vintage fender/marshall/vox etc etc.

Let's now wait!!!!:popcorn:

A couple of good bits of advice from Bri (and yes, I've been there with the amateur sound engineers too :rolleyes: )

If you're at a phase of trying to define your stage sound, a Line6 combo is not a bad idea if it's for practice/rehearsal/informal gig use.

As Bri says, you can experiment with a variety of sounds with Line6 - and they are pretty cheap 2nd hand - I know of a couple that might be available.

I bought a Spider II combo when I started back after a long, long layoff (tendonitis) and use a POD XT Live through headphones at home for practice. Great for composing too, with the PC/Mac based software.

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I'm damn impressed with your myspace songs... bloody good for a band that have never gigged o_O

Judging by your sound, you could use some Fender or Vox in the amplifier department. Although to be honest, I don't see whats wrong with your amp sound right now. It suits the genre.

You can't expect everything to be perfect after the first gig. Just keep playing until you refine the sound. And never expect house party setups to give you anything more than adequate. No doubt your vocals were going through a marshall combo or something.

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I'm damn impressed with your myspace songs... bloody good for a band that have never gigged o_O

Judging by your sound, you could use some Fender or Vox in the amplifier department. Although to be honest, I don't see whats wrong with your amp sound right now. It suits the genre.

You can't expect everything to be perfect after the first gig. Just keep playing until you refine the sound. And never expect house party setups to give you anything more than adequate. No doubt your vocals were going through a marshall combo or something.

I agree - the songs are excellent.

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Hi everybody,

were a new band and he had our first concert last month. it was at a friends party, so i wouldnt really call it a concert, but anyway, the place was quite small and we had problems with the sound of the voices.

we would like to receive any kind of advice to make it sound better.

Any idea about good guitar amps?

thanks,

have a great 2007!

If you state all the gear you used at your performance it would be helpful in alalysing where you most likely went wrong. If your vocals didn't sound good enough it was quite possibly due to the sound system they were going through or the microphone the vocalist used. Otherwise, it is possible the way they were used made them sound inadequit. When I first started playing in a band, i had no clue how to use gear and had the EQ settings turned ridiculous amount in differnet directions. I had no idea what EQ did at that point.

Judging by your guitar tone on your myspace mp3s. I suspect your guitar amplifiers are possibly quite well suited for your style of music.

If you think differnetly, Vox or Fender are worth concidering. Or Peavey Classic/blues series. A good valve amp of that variety would compliment your sound nicely. Worth concidering portability when concidering what guitar amplifier to buy. If you are willing to spend a conciderable amount of money, the Mesa Boogie Lonestar has a wonderful clean sound and overdrive sound which is very 'smooth' and 'clean' sounding in a way.

Also note: 4x12" will sound 98% the same as 1x12" cabinet (with the same speaker type) when mic'ed up closely with a SM57 at a gig.

It also sounds like you are ready to gig, judging by your recordings. Very well done and has nices keyboard pads in the background which add to the atmosphere. The whole thing is nicely atmospheric.

--Mark--

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  • 2 months later...

survived

Hello everybody,

we had our first serious gig a few weeks ago and we survived. it was at a cinema and they were showing films at the same time, so we couldnt be as loud as we wanted, but it went quite ok. a bit nervous at first, but a few pints of guinness and as good as new. 400 people there! we should have brought little cards so people could actually remember out name - will have to try tha next time

finishing some of the new songs, hope to have them ready before the summer, so we can start sending the ep over to some labels.

will keep you informed:up:

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In my experience, the worst problem for making vocals sound back is simply cheap microphones and a cheap PA which isn't powerful enough with cheap speakers, and having to turn it up really far to be heard, thus distorting the sound and battering the cheap speakers. Unfortunately the only way to overcome this is to get better stuff (or hire).

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