Mixing Live Acoustic Instruments

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ccc96

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I just got a new gig as house sound guy for a local venue, and its a bluegrass folk and country place. I come from the metal and rock side of mixing (vocals on top, lots of distortion and loud as hell) and this is a whole new world to me. The problem I've been having is that I get a decent mix, but never can get close to what I hear in my head. I've tried EQ'ing and compressing and mic placement and reverb and lack of reverb and cant see to get it right. Any tips would helpful, thanks.​
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Coop​
 
I frankly think there aren't too many live sound heads on these forums. Or at least I haven't really seen much discussion about the topic during all the years I've been here - just saying so you won't take the possible lack of answers as a sign of people being unkind :)
 
I haven't done a ton of work with live recordings,but the best way to start would be to capture the sound that you hear as best as you can before you begin to mix it.

I don't know what you're setup or the space you're working in looks like, so I can't give specific mic placement tips. However, when working with a jazz band I found it very useful to place players in certain locations and distances away from others players so that I could have better control over recordings despite any bleed from other sounds.

That was for a studio recording, so it may or may not be useful for a live show.
 
Try to find out and understand the acoustics of the room with and without people - that's 50% of your sound before mic placement and mixing!
After that, try to capture all instruments as acoustic as possible! Compress those drums the hell out of it and make a soft buss compression for the rest of the instruments! Try to have the most space for vocals as possible while mixing!
Careful with the high end and most careful with the low end!
 
ccc96 said:
I just got a new gig as house sound guy for a local venue, and its a bluegrass folk and country place. I come from the metal and rock side of mixing (vocals on top, lots of distortion and loud as hell) and this is a whole new world to me. The problem I've been having is that I get a decent mix, but never can get close to what I hear in my head. I've tried EQ'ing and compressing and mic placement and reverb and lack of reverb and cant see to get it right. Any tips would helpful, thanks.​
Coop​
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I have heaps of live sound experience (going back to 1977) as well as studio and location sound

what instruments first of all (include no of separate vocal parts)? serious question.

How are you bringing them into the foh console? i.e. mics, pickups, what?

mic positioning for each instrument? if you're not sure take a ton of pics at your next gig and share them with us afterwards

what outboard gear do you have for the FOH console? type, model, no of each (including how many channels per box)

if recording, are you recording to two-track or using the direct outs on the console (if it has them) or the sub groups?
 
Most are DI straight to Yamaha rio3224-d which is connected to A CL-3 board, which is fully digital and has all compressors gates eq's etc I need. Bass is always DI, yet to mic a cabinet there yet. Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar, all DI. Sometimes the Banjo and guitars have amps, but is rare and are usually a 1x12 mic'd with a sennheiser 609. Drums arent a problem, rare to have a full kit anyways there. 32 channel input, 64 channels on the CL-3. Recording i use Nuendo live (came free with the CL-3) on my Macbook Pro and records all tracks coming into my FOH board. CL-3 controls all 5 monitor mixes. 58's all across for vocals. House speakers are all NEXOs. Hope this helps, Thanks.

Its a tall, open room. Two levels, second level is a balcony over looking stage. All pine. I mean all pine. 300-400 hz tone that resonates everywhere, and gets hard to get rid of when every instrument is picking it up.
 
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so based on this, the instruments are fitted with pickups (either regular coils or piezos) - these can have some problems of their own especially if going direct to the di's

model and make of the di's?

as for that 300Hz/400Hz tone that is resonating have you tried to put a sharp notch filter across all channels?
 
This may not be helping as Its probably been said but one thing to point out is make sure your mics are actually in phase and correct before you start experimenting with all these different effects you say you're using. If you're getting too ahead of yourself in the checklist it'll all just pile up and become a mess. Phase before anything else.

Dont forget the 3:1 rule with mics! Assuming you know what it is since youre working in live sound.
 
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