Not sure where this belongs, but it IS in a church ...

Not sure where this belongs, but any help would be apprieciated

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Hi All. This may be a dumb question, but I'm not a technician, and my frustration level is growing.

Working on a stage volume thing in a VERY live room with a VERY loud drummer (who has hearing loss). My Vox Ac15TV is set on half-power, turned around, all but facing the floor, with a blanket over the back in an effort to control stage volume ... not kidding. I'm also working with another guitarist, who runs a Fender BJ facing him (louder than one might think). Problem is, of course, that we can't get enough vocals in the monitor, especially for the drummer.

My question is: There is a GREAT video of SRV playing Voodoo Chile on YouTube. It's a take, probably wasn't broadcast. But--these guys are MOVING SOME AIR! How in the heck do they have enough poop in their monitors? We all know Stevie often played full-on, and I think he's using Dumbles in this vid. Yes, he's a god, and nobody wants to hear ME play that loud, but loud is loud.

How do they do it?
Thanks,

'coon

Wow, you are lucky to play that loud at church. Last sunday I had my DR-Clone on 1 (Vol) and the sound guy comes in and complains about how loud everything is :roll:

I'm not exactly sure what your question is, could you rephrase it?
thnx
Ben

I guess it's really hard to know what the question is. I know I wasn't very clear.

How can I get enough vocals with a loud backline?

Pros can do it, what are we missing? Equipment? Technical telent? Both?
Thanks,
'coon

Cage the drummer. No kidding. Cage him in plexiglas with a couple of mics 4' above the top of the cage and give him headphones. That'll help tons.

I doubt I'd be able to answer your question, but for anyone to be able to, we'd need more info about your PA. What kind of watts have you got in the mains and monitors? Are there sperate amps for the mains and monitors? Also, what monitors, how many, and where are they located?

A couple months ago I ran sound for my bands in a sitch where we had to provide our own PA. I was running a 50W tube head into a halfstack for my guitar rig, the other guitar rig was a 100W SS modeler (Vox Valvetronix) into a halfstack, and a couple hundred Watt SS bass head into a 2x15. We made do with two monitors, one for the drummer, set up on a chair, and one for up front, set on a floor as a side fill. Mains were powered by a 200W head, monitors by a separate head, not sure the wattage, maybe 100W-200W.

In this shot you can see the monitor for the front, used as a side fill, with the lyric book sitting on it, in the lower right-hand corner of the pic.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs196.snc1/6609_109890778878_512618878_2136600_2417921_n.jpg

Crude but effective. And yes, we play loud.

Thanks for the responses, all! As for the system,
Behringer Eurodesk (3224?--can't remember the model #)
Crown 802--half feeding 2 JBL JRX 115s, half feeding two SoundTech 1x12 w/horns on the floor in front.
Peavey PV-4 for 2 wedges in the back, one for drummer, one for keyboardist
Peavey CS-800--half for a PV sub and half running a second monitor for the drummer

I'm not a technician, but the one advice that helped me the most is to make sure that the monitor is really facing you, and that there is nothing between you and it (such as music stands and stuff). Than adjust the volume to your stage level. Always worked for me

In the church I play in the "stage" volume is kept at a minimum. We have a lead guitar player a rhythm guitar player, a drummer, a keyboard, a bass and two vocalists. lead guitar has his amp right next to him facing him and runs it through a Line out to the house. Rhythm guitar player has his amp behind him facing to the side (away from the congregation) and mic'ed. The drummer uses electronic Roland V-Series drums running straight to the house (through a stereo DI) and has his own monitor. The keyboard player goes straight into the house (through a stereo DI) and has her own monitor. The bass player plays back next to the drummer and has his bass amp angled and facing him and runs it into the house via Line out. The vocalists use in ear monitors.

Because of the Roland V-Drums we can keep the "stage" volume down to a real minimum. If your drummer doesn't have electronic drums nothing you do will decrease the instrument volumes until you cage the drummer in plexiglass.