Pillar to Post

Our local folkclub prides itself in giving our visiting artists all the bells and whistles when it comes to providing sound for our iconic Victorian venue. A hard room to play at the best of times, so we spend a bit on hiring the right gear for the job and having done a few dozen decent sized concerts now we (me and my team of hardworking, unpaid techies) believe we have finessed the venue. It's a wide, high vaulted room with inopportunely placed pillars but we've found the best layout, built a stage platform and arrange the room accordingly. It's a great venue when everything is working.

15:00 The boys turn up and we start lugging the speakers in (2 JBL Concert series), place them on their plinths, angle them just so - experience has taught us this is critical for uniform coverage of this widish room.
15:30 We're running out the multicore and plugging in the amps - about a kilowatt per side. The thing we know well is that big is always better where folk and acoustic music is concerned. No other music, except perhaps classical music, is more demanding of power for its wide dynamic range (soft to loud) and intolerance to any form of distortion or unnatural artifacts. "Headroom" is key and we strive to keep the sound warm, real and uniform across as much of the room as possible. To do this you ideally need big speakers gently moving swathes of air through the space to avoid peaks and troughs in different locations. It's those annoying peaks that listeners percieve as "too loud".
16:00 The lights are going up and the sound system is ticking over nicely with a CD playing through it. Lines, mics and di's are checked, the desk is EQ'd and things are looking good.
16:30 We're onto the housekeeping, taping down leads and packing cases away. Time for a celebratory beer. No hitches, callbacks or toolkit breakouts.
17:00 Soundcheck time. Enter the Talent, who look aghast and say, "We won't be needing that, this is not a rock and roll gig. We've brought our own gear."

I have to say, I was reasonably impressed with how good their own system sounded given it was one tenth the size of the system we were now packing up. Apart from being annoyed at the wasted expense (money and time) I was sad that, given how good this group was, we couldn't have made them sound as good as they could have. Needless to say, tiny speakers on a stick were never going to cut it in front of 50 plus people spread across a room as wide as this. As expected, intelligibility fell right off 30 degrees off axis, so unless you were right down in front, it was a bit of a struggle.

I suppose it comes down to a matter of trust, really. When you turn up at an unfamiliar venue, do you trust that the locals have got it sussed or do you manage what you can with what you've got. The problem here was that the detail of who was doing what was not sorted out by their agent at the time of booking. We both made assumptions.

Beware of Fake Shure Mics

From the Trademe site, a reseller points out the salient differences between the real SM58 and the typical fakes that abound.

"Be aware that there have recently been quite a few fake Shure SM58's on trademe, if you buy one of these you may as well just go down to Dick Smith and buy a $20 mic as that's all it's worth.

"If you have bought a SM58 on Trademe and are concerned that it's a fake then have a look at the pictures on this auction. In all these pictures the one on the left is genuine, the one on the right is fake. If yours is not identical to the one on the left in all aspects then you've got a fake.Take a look at the metal ring under the grille, if it is flat then it's fake. If it is contoured like the one on the left it could be real but it's still not gauranteed. And yes they even copy the warranty card too although this is different to the genuine one.

"If your mic comes with a cable packaged in the box then it is also sure to be a fake as real ones don't come with a cable. Most of the fakes are of the switched version so if you have a bought a switched one then be even more careful.Lets face it if it seems too cheap then it's likely to be a fake, no-one in their right mind is going to be selling a real SM58 for less than $180 unless it's stolen or fake, just look at the cheapest price you can buy in the US, add on the shipping and do the maths!!"

Other references:

http://www.electromusic.co.uk/Shure_SM58.html

reviews.ebay.com/Fake-Shure-Listings-Zero-tolerance-for-thieves...

reviews.ebay.co.uk/Fake-Shure-Mics-SM58s...

Shure Shuts Down Counterfeiters

Fiddle Pick-ups

The question was asked:

> ...does anyone have any advice on the best way to amp up a fiddle?

And an answer came:

It's a bit like asking, "What sort of computer should I buy?". To which the response should be, "What do you want to do with it?"

So. What do you want to do with it?

If, as I suspect, you want to play pubs and clubs and earn money, the best (imho) way to go is an "in the slot" bridge pickup and a preamp. They give pretty good sound on most fiddles when set up properly, are non-invasive and non-permanent inslatations which don't damage the fiddle, although they will have some small affect on the acoustic sound of the instrument but that's usually only noticeable to the player. Fishman is one maker. The good thing about them is they are bullet-proof, don't readily feed back, you can install them on the bass or treble side of the bridge - whichever gives the best sound (it's different for different fiddles, there's no rule of thumb) and they sound like a fiddle to the average pub-goer. Sometimes they even sound very good. Whatever the sound lacks can be ironed out, first with the preamp then with the mixing desk. They're prettymuch plug-and-play.

If, on the other hand, you want to be Ken the hoose and you're playing concert situations and want your instrument to sound like your instrument but louder (the ideal), then a clip on microphone; ideally one that doesn't mount on the fiddle itself will be great. The equation is simple: the more you spend on this mic, the better it will sound. BUT. (See, it's a big but.) You will be restricted in sound pressure levels, especially with foldback. So if your band is loudish, you're going to run into problems hearing yourself. However, for a Ben the Henhoose style of thing, where the fiddle is key and accompaniment is in proportion (small and kilted), it can be a good option. A friend of mine had a $16 Dick Smith computer mic on his fiddle and it sounded amazing (giving lie to the equation above).

If you want to keep your fiddle for fiddling and not pub-gigging, another option is to aquire a $300 cheap electric violin (there are plenty on trademe). They're quite playable - easy to adjust the bridge for best action because the usual acoustic considerations don't apply, just hack away at the bridge with your pocket-knife. They sound a bit artificial, but they do sound very pubsy/pogueish and you can use effects with them easily. They are surprisingly playable and essentially disposable.

My last bits of advice are: don't get anything that sticks to the body of your fiddle unless it cost you more than $500. And get a carbon fibre bow, they're pretty cheap and much better than a wooden bow of the same price (after about $800, wooden bows are better), it wont break or split if you drop it and can stand a fair bit of gig abuse.
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Then Kenny Ritch (fiddleplayer of Ben the Hoose) said:

Ah, yes, good advice as always Mike Macaroni. I've got an Accusound uni-directional microphone (have a look here: www.accusound.com) and it's a lovely piece of kit. A touch pricey but gives a very faithful representation of the sound of my fiddle. It attaches to the fiddle using a small clip on the tailpiece.

Actually it only attaches to this small clip if you remember to take it with you. If you forget it, as I did at Whare Flat, you steal some gaffer tape from Mike and use that. Works wonders.

Sound Advice

As we wind down and do the wash-up from the Whare Flat Folk Festival, thinking about ways we can improve aspects of how we run the event, I often wonder how many performers and artists think about how they can improve their game.

My main role is as sound engineer, one of three or four that do the entire festival. It can be quite tiring because, unlike other gigs, you're doing everything on the fly. Especially in the evening concerts, you never know who is going to step up and with what ("Two mics on the drones please and the hurdy-gurdy pick-up needs a pre-amp,") or with whom ("and joining me onstage is the festival choir..."). First priority is just to get everything going so the performance can get underway - no luxury of soundchecks, so it's particularly helpful if the performer produces a bit of signal from their instrument, confirm that it's going then leave it alone while we do the next one. When musicians are alert to this it's amazing how quickly we can get the perfomance underway and start tending to the niceties of tone and timbre.

Good performers make this process easy and painless. I say 'good' performers recognising that there are fantastic musicians who can be completely unhelpful, albeit unwittingly. Here are some things that we soundmen and stage managers really like:

• Say to the audience, "How's it sounding out there?" This is extraordinarily helpful to the engineer because we can take a vote to see if we're doing a good job and maybe get some advice from the audience as to what we're doing wrong.
• Ask the audience, "Have we got time for a couple more?" No one's more aware of festival time constraints than the audience and after all they're enjoying you more than they could possibly enjoy the next act. Or you could wear a watch.
• Just bring your instrument. Rest assured we'll have a full range of leads, guitar straps, pre-amps, spare strings and a tuner backstage. Anything else we can help you with?
• Insist on the very best condenser mic for your thumb-piano, we want it to sound good. You'll know there's enough of it in the monitor when your ears are bleeding from the feedback.
• Just because the soundman is mixing from in front of the speakers doesn't mean that your suspicion that your vocals are too loud is incorrect. In this case just stand back from the mic. About a meter and a half is good.
• In the rare event that you get a sound check, use it to your full advantage, be as entertaining as possible and take the opportunity to rehearse a few numbers you're unsure of.
• Always mention how hot it is under "all these lights" and that that's the reason your instrument is always out of tune. Say, "It was in tune when I bought it!" We love that one.
• When thanking the organisers of the festival for having you, don't forget to say, "Shame about the weather." This is a useful reminder to us to not be so slack about it next year.

Fortunately none of our guests are anything but cooperative and generous and this is the case New Zealand wide in my experience. It hasn't always been the case. I learned very early in my music career 1) it isn't all about me, 2) the festival organisers are working hard to keep it all running smoothly and aren't out to frustrate me, and 3) the soundman is my friend.