Communicating with the soundman
Hey David,
Last night I was at a jam session, and there was a regular harmonica player that came along, he plays there usually, but this time he came in, took the microphone, and it fedback like hell. so the soundman ran towards him and started "educating" about him about not cupping the mic, basically he told him to play acousticly. "if you do *this* (cup) it will feedback" he told him. the harmonica player tried to tell him that *that* is the way you are supposed to play harmonica but he couldnt communicate well. It made me remember that you said that cupping and the overtones that it creates is the definition of feedback or something like that, and it made me also think about what one should do or say to the soundman in that situation, could he have said something from the soundman's "vocabulary" that would have made him understand what needs to happen in order for the feedback to stop?
sorry for it being so long:)
Thanks!
Gotcha, you actually reminded me that before he went up a lady sang and complained constantly that she wasnt being heard so I think he cranked it up ALOT.
Thanks:)
Hello again crazymilk. It would be uncommon for a harp player to just go up and grab the vocal mic and cup it. You would want to tell the sound person that you're going to hold/cup the mic, so please bring the volume way down to start, including the monitors. You play a little bit until it sounds good to him/her and then you check the monitors that it's at a good volume.
Most times there's no sound person, so unless you know where the PA head is and can confidently dial in those things for yourself, then it's best to just play in front of the mic, not holding it, and playing acoustic.
In regards to the sound man not willing to allow your friend hold the mic, he should of helped him out. Most likely he went on the defensive when your buddy just grabbed the mic without saying something.