This is a guide to setting up and running sound at the Blacksburg Contra Dance. \u00a0I expect this will be revised and refined periodically.<\/p>\n
The YMCA dance hall is a rather hard-surfaced place, between the wall of windows, the wall of mirrors, the wall with windows to the outside, the plain drywall fourth wall, the wooden floor, and the corrugated steel roof. \u00a0We do what we can to soften this, as described below:<\/p>\n
We generally set up the band more or less in line or offset a bit house left of the line of pillars, up by the plain wall, farthest from the main door. \u00a0The presence of the mixer and house speakers at this end of the hall is a sign.<\/p>\n
Move the carpet \u00a0section over to where the band will be sitting. \u00a0This helps protect the floor from the stands and chairs that the band will use. \u00a0The carpet is usually near where you’ll put it, but over in front of the door with exit sign at that end of the hall.<\/p>\n
Set up chairs for the band. \u00a0You’ll probably have to wing this, but generally speaking, one per person is good. \u00a0Sometimes you’ll use fewer. \u00a0The band will know how many seats they want from us.<\/p>\n
Mixer\u00a0is located at what we will think of as the top of the hall, on top of a dark brown wooden cabinet on wheels. \u00a0It lives there, and thus does not get packed up at the end of the night.<\/p>\n
House speakers are hung already. \u00a0Leave them there. \u00a0Make sure they haven’t slipped and are pointing downwards (this hasn’t been a problem since some string was added to help hold them in place). \u00a0They’re already wired into the soundboard.<\/p>\n
Mic standards are in a locked golf club hardcase labeled Mark Lattanzi in the back room. \u00a0You will be told where to get the key. \u00a0Mic stands should be returned to that case at the end of the night.<\/p>\n
Cables and microphones are in a yellow suitcase in the back room. \u00a0Microphones should be in faux leather cases, usually two to a case. \u00a0Cables will be loose in the suitcase, but should be secured with velcro straps. \u00a0Learn to recognize the cables that live in the suitcase so we get them all back at the end of the night and don’t accidentally abduct anyone else’s cables.<\/p>\n
Monitor speakers should be in the back room. \u00a0They may be in cardboard boxes with the tops cut off.<\/p>\n
Mixer appears to be a Mackie 408M or 808M. \u00a0I’ll have to \u00a0verify. \u00a0In any case, it works fine for the most part, but channel 8 is shot and the level-setting LED is stuck in the on state. \u00a0 House speakers are already plugged in.<\/p>\n
Microphones are a selection of Shure mics, some SM58s in the mix. \u00a0They can be used for the caller, any vocalists, and any instruments which do not have pickups. \u00a0Expect four or five microphones.<\/p>\n
Expect on the order of seven\u00a0XLR-XLR cables and three 1\/4-inch phone-plug – 1\/4-inch phone-plug cables in the suitcase.<\/p>\n
Try to run cables on the shortest path that’s out of the way. \u00a0I typically run one batch of cables on the back wall, and another along the front of the band area, just behind the monitors. \u00a0A tidy cable run is your friend and makes it easier to avoid stepping them and to troubleshoot when they’re not working.<\/p>\n
Before you plug anything into the mixer, make sure you reset the board to a default state. \u00a0That means knocking the input gain, monitor out, and mains out knobs to 0 for each channel, and setting the monitor and mains volume knobs to 0. \u00a0Set the equalization knobs (blue) on each channel to the center. \u00a0There should be a slight detent you can feel at that position. \u00a0Set the equalizers for the monitors and mains flat.<\/p>\n
Make sure that Phantom Power is disabled until the band asks for it. \u00a0This isn’t likely to cause a problem, but there’s the risk that a band will bring a piece of equipment that will respond to it poorly, so don’t turn it on unless they ask for it. \u00a0You may need to prompt them by asking something like, “Do you need phantom power?”<\/p>\n
Plug the monitors into the back of the mixer. \u00a0You can run them separately from the mixer, but it works just as well to daisy chain one off the other.<\/p>\n
Mains should already be connected. \u00a0Pay close attention to which is which if they are not, and then you should probably plug them back in.<\/p>\n
With respect to arranging the band on the mixer, Matt and I recommend plugging in the band members in the same order that they’re sitting, so that the left-most band member is on Channel 1. \u00a0If a band member plays more than one instrument, we recommend that you set up the primary instrument as the band member’s lowest-numbered channel and the other as the next highest channel. \u00a0If a band member plays two roughly equally, but puts one house left or house right of where her or she is sitting, we recommend you use the placement of the instrument as a guide. \u00a0Whatever works for you is fine, but I find this system works fairly well.<\/p>\n
Plug in the caller mic. \u00a0We recommend setting the caller on Channel 7 and letting the band use the first six. \u00a0This is conveniently\u00a0consistent with putting the caller house-right of the band.<\/p>\n
Once everyone is plugged in and ready to play, you’ll need to get levels from the band. \u00a0They will probably expect to hear themselves immediately, even though I’d prefer to bring up the monitors later. \u00a0As such, you’ll need to guess at the right levels for the monitor in both the individual channel settings and the overall monitor volume. \u00a0Err on the conservative side and adjust upwards as needed.<\/p>\n
You should first adjust the input levels until they are only occasionally tripping the input level light. \u00a0You may need to encourage them to play as hard as they expect to play during the dance. \u00a0Expect that even with urging, the band will likely not be playing quite as loud as they will once they get into the dance and account for this in your settings. \u00a0It is generally safe to move quickly up to around the halfway mark on the knob and adjust from there. \u00a0The majority of players need the gain set past the halfway. \u00a0Keep this in mind as you’re trying to get monitors up quickly to make the band happy.<\/p>\n
Once the band is reasonably happy and you’re seeing the occasional level light flicker as they play, move onto the house. \u00a0You can get a start on this by just listening to the house audio as you’re standing at the board. \u00a0When you have something that seems like and ok start, go out onto the floor and listen. \u00a0You should be going out onto the floor to listen and then returning to the board to make adjustments a number of times. \u00a0Keep in mind that an empty hall will sound louder and seem echoey by comparison to a hall full of dancers. \u00a0Also keep in mind that the sound will be different at different places in the hall. \u00a0Listen to the band house audio from where the lines will be.<\/p>\n
Once the band is set, you’ll want to set up the caller’s mic. \u00a0It is not uncommon to do this just before the dance starts, so be prepared to make a quick guess to get the caller talking to the crowd, then adjust as needed. \u00a0You’ll want to be sure the caller can be heard clearly everywhere in the hall, but is not too loud.<\/p>\n
About now is when you need to start thinking about balance and equalization in the house. I operate on the rule I learned in concert band that you should be generally be able to hear every single instrument, which means no one instrument should dominate the others. \u00a0You’ll want to make sure the band and the caller are balanced so that dancers can hear the caller clearly and that the caller does not overwhelm the band. \u00a0For equalization, you want to make sure every instrument and the caller all sound ‘good.’ \u00a0That’s a very subjective thing, but the answer is to go out and listen to the band in the space. \u00a0 I’ve found that most fiddles need to have the highs knocked down to keep them from being too piercing, \u00a0I often tinker with the caller, as I’ve found a number sound a bit muddy through the system, and that knocking out some of their lower range can improve clarity in the hall.<\/p>\n
As you’re adjusting, make sure you wander the hall to listen to the sound in a variety of places. \u00a0As you walk, you’ll find areas of constructive interference, where the sound is especially loud, and you might even find a few places where the sound is especially soft. \u00a0Be sure to listen to sound near the lines of dancers, and pay special attention to the sound at the end of the hall, where it tends to be softest. \u00a0You don’t want to blast anyone’s ears, but you want to make sure the band and caller are clear at the bottom of the set.<\/p>\n
The adjustment process takes a while. \u00a0I find that, for a relatively simple band, the sound settles within about two dances, but that a more complex band where players play several instruments takes longer, often three or four dances to get them to play all their instruments and make sure they sound good.<\/p>\n
After you get it to the point where it sounds good, you could keep tinkering all night, but you should at that point consider leaving well enough alone and getting out to dance. \u00a0It is rare that the sound needs to be babysat after the fourth dance. \u00a0Just keep an ear out for feedback and be ready to race over to the board to kill it at the first sign.<\/p>\n
Feedback is the result of some mic getting too close to some speaker. \u00a0Generally, this will happen when the caller stands in just the right spot while walking around or when a band member moves too close to the monitors whilst playing. \u00a0Generally speaking, the best option is to reduce their input gain, though you may consider reducing the volume of that player in the monitors or main, as appropriate.<\/p>\n
If you aren’t getting any levels from an instrument, ask the band member using it if the device requires phantom power. \u00a0It’s not uncommon for them to forget you asked that earlier. \u00a0Have the band member check that the device is switched on, and that it has functional batteries, if it requires them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a guide to setting up and running sound at the Blacksburg Contra Dance. \u00a0I expect this will be revised and refined periodically. Hall Setup \u00a0– Necessary, but Not Sufficient Acoustic Preparation The YMCA dance hall is a rather … Continue reading