Oliver Tuku Mtukudzi show

On Friday we undertook the sound at an Oliver Mtukudzi concert in Leicester.  There was a capacity crowd of almost 2000 people in attendance.  Oliver is incredibly famous in his native Zimbabwe, having produced more than 40 albums.

For front of house speakers we used the in-house Logic systems line array, Ethos VA series, which provided good cover to most of the venue.  There was a gap in coverage in the middle of the dance floor, so we used 2 Martin Audio Wavefront W8C speakers as front fills to cover this area.  The front fills were driven from a QSC amp rack with a BSS Minidrive processor.  The front fills provided an amazing mid-range punch to the centre of the dance floor area.

Sarah-Beth Campbell mixing front of house on the Mackie 80 Series

Front of house was mixed on a Mackie Onyx 3280, with various outboard, and monitors were handled by a GL2000.  Six mixes were provided to the stage using B&C loaded ASS Spektra monitors, powered by QSC CX702 amplifiers.

Monitor world handled by a Allen & Heath GL2000 with various outboard

We also provided the backline for the event, including a Sonor drum kit, Vox AC30 amplifier, Trace Elliot Bass amplifier, and congas.

View from the drum kit prior to doors

Thanks to engineers Nathan Vedder, Joel Middleton and Sarah-Beth Campbell the event went very smoothly, with the headliners playing a blistering 2 hour set to an incredibly enthusiastic crowd. We can't wait for the next show!

Oliver gave a great performance as ever

Party for Brian Eno using LD Systems gear

Last week we did the sound for a party for Brian Eno.  Mr Eno is a world renowned musician, composer and producer.  He started out in the 70's with Roxy Music and later went on to work with diverse artists such as U2, Talking heads and Coldplay, as well as many successful solo projects.  He is recognised as one of the pioneers of ambient music.

Lounge in pre-dinner mode (i.e. with carpet)

It was his daughters 21st, and for the occasion a marque had been set in the garden and connected to the house.  The lounge was to offer a reception area for the guests, and then later to be converted into a disco / dance area.

Lounge in after dinner mode (with mirror dance floor)

Amp rack in the lounge for laptop connection

In the lounge area we used a system consisting of 2 x LD Systems LD-V12 speakers, and 2 x LD-VAPS215 Sub-woofers, powered by 2 x LD-6P6K amps.  The controller was an LD-DPA-260, for which Adam Hall supplied the EQ curves, cross-over points and settings.  We tweaked these slightly by connecting our laptop to the DPA-260 on the day.

The bay window proved just large enough to accommodate the subs

LDV-12 Speakers behind the star-cloth

All the speakers had to be hidden behind star-cloth, which fortunately was fairly transparent acousticaly.  The system was incredibly punchy in what was a fairly modest size room and everyone seemed to really appreciate the sound.

Adjusting the DPA-260 by connecting a laptop

In the marque, there was a requirement for a radio mic for speeches, as well as music playback.  Not just any music - a piece composed especially for the occasion by Mr Eno himself and never before played in public.
For the Marque we selected used a four speaker system, hiding all the speakers in the lining, or as you can see from the picture, in the catering & production area.  We used LD Premium LDV-12 speakers, powered by a LD-6P6K which proved to be a perfect match for the requirements.

T-Rex and friends attended

Seating in the marque for around 60 guests

Although we tested the system prior to the party, we were only handed the CD less than an hour before we needed to play it, and were unable to test as guests were already inside.  The instructions given were, "Play it loud.  Loud loud." We certainly tried our best to do this, and happily the LDV-12 speakers gave us the volume we needed without becoming at all harsh.  Brian Enos music was naturally very well received, with several people in tears.  Brian came up to us as the event was finishing to thank us for the sound, and said it was spot on, and how  he understood how hard it can be to get the volume levels right.  The equipment certainly worked in our favour on this occasion.

LDV-12 Speakers - used the tilt mechanism to good effect!

2 of the speakers on tall stands, pointing through the lining to next door

Modest production area for the marque

Amazing food was served at the event!

Thanks go to James from Pulse productions for contracting us on this job, and to Assistant Sound Engineer Sarah-Beth Campbell for mixing the speeches and generally being invaluable on the day.

If you need sound for an event, please feel free to contact us.  Visit our website at www.soundtruth.co.uk and  "Like" our new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/soundtruth

How to use a compressor

This article is taken from my website, which may be of interest if you're looking for PA Hire.

Compression is an essential tool in modern sound engineering. Most commercial recordings will have compression on just about every instrument. In the world of live sound, many amateurs do not correctly understand the best use for compression.

Compression should be used in the first instance to help achieve a sound without harsh or unexpected peaks that cut though and ‘grate’ on ones ears. The human ear is actually more sensitive to these mid-range frequencies. The main culprit here are vocals. This is because vocals have a lot of mid-range frequency content, and because singers (even good singers) often unintentionally vary the distance from their mouth to the microphone, effectively giving their voice even greater dynamic range.

Adding compression limits the dynamic range, evens out the small variation in microphone position, and provides a smoother sound for the audience. You can achieve a similar effect by ‘riding’ the fader on the vocals and listening, but it’s pretty hard work, and the singer can catch you out.

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suggested settings for vocal compression:

• Ratio 3.5:1
• Adjust threshold so the gain reduction is showing 3-9 dB during singing.
• Adjust the limiter so it cuts in only on the peaks, if at all.

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suggested settings for tie clip mic:

• Ratio 8:1
• Adjust threshold so the gain reduction is showing 3dB or less during talking
• Adjust the limiter so it cuts in when the gain reduction gets to 9dB (un-clip the mic and move it closer to your mouth to do this)

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suggested settings for bass guitar, or electric guitar:

• Ratio 2.5:1
• Adjust threshold so the gain reduction is showing 3-6dB during playing

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suggested settings for acoustic guitar:

• Ratio 4:1
• Adjust threshold so the gain reduction is showing 3-6dB during playing
• Set the limiter to cut in when the gain reduction gets to 9dB

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It’s important to remember that using a compressor on an insert will affect the signal sent to the monitors as well. Too much vocal compression may be annoying for an experienced vocalist who expects the monitor to get louder as they approach the mic. Although, in the case of an experienced vocalist, less compression (lower ratio) is normally needed to reign in the sound!

Use of the attack and release controls can change the way the compression behaves. It takes a while to become familiar with the effect of the controls, and with what works and what doesn’t. In most cases, a fairly fast attack and a medium or slow release is the way to go. We would suggest you leave your compressor set on auto if it has this feature, and if not, leave the controls at 12 o’clock!!

Compressors can be used for a variety of other applications, even across a whole mix. This can have un predictable effects – in general it’s best to restrict the use of compression to a few key channels, unless you really know what you’re doing!

Help, my speakers are blown!

If you've worked with, hired, or used sound systems for long enough, you'll come across this scenario.  In my case, two powered subs came back from a PA hire job not working.  A quick test with a multimeter across the terminals of the drivers and a smell of burning confirmed the worst... basically the voice coils had melted.
This is about the most common reason for a speaker to blow.  In my case, the unsupervised DJ had ran the system into the clip lights all evening.  Even with limiters, this can cause square waves to pass through to your speakers, which is bad for both the voice coils and the speaker cones themselves.
The only remedy in the case of a melted voice coil is to replace the driver.  The cost could be from £20 to £400 depending on the speakers you have.  Of course, more expensive equipment is less likely to sustain this kind of damage, but it can still happen, and it's even more expensive when it does!

Driver from a Yamaha MSR800W sub-woofer

Blown voice coil removed from the driver