Isabelle
What was it look like furniture wise,did they have that cool mulitcoloured checked flashy floor thing,DJ,bar,ect?
Answer
Disco Bars were mid to late 70's dependent on your location . Sixties Nightclubs still has plush comfortable chairs, often wood or flock wallpaper. Sixties Clubs were often like a hole in the ground with little or no air, sweating brick walls, and heaving mass of bodies - Dancing. In many cellar clubs Drink was non alcoholic.
Live Beat Groups were the Sounds of the Clubs with the latest imports played by trend setting DJs on the Sound System which had a Bass Speaker set up designed to get the walls to shake. A UV light was the attraction with a follow spot if space allowed and any flashing lights were a had operating the switch.
In the Night Clubs music was supplied by a single pianist to a full Dance Band dependent on size and status but never lighting other than soft,romantic and flattering.
Disco had the first of the Lighting Control Boxes and Sequencers the old Moving lights prior to that were from Slide Projectors and Slides with Different Inks Projected { Early Pink Floyd were the Masters}
So which do you need the info on . The 60,s Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Animals from Uk
or The Disco days as per Saturday Night Fever
Disco Bars were mid to late 70's dependent on your location . Sixties Nightclubs still has plush comfortable chairs, often wood or flock wallpaper. Sixties Clubs were often like a hole in the ground with little or no air, sweating brick walls, and heaving mass of bodies - Dancing. In many cellar clubs Drink was non alcoholic.
Live Beat Groups were the Sounds of the Clubs with the latest imports played by trend setting DJs on the Sound System which had a Bass Speaker set up designed to get the walls to shake. A UV light was the attraction with a follow spot if space allowed and any flashing lights were a had operating the switch.
In the Night Clubs music was supplied by a single pianist to a full Dance Band dependent on size and status but never lighting other than soft,romantic and flattering.
Disco had the first of the Lighting Control Boxes and Sequencers the old Moving lights prior to that were from Slide Projectors and Slides with Different Inks Projected { Early Pink Floyd were the Masters}
So which do you need the info on . The 60,s Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Animals from Uk
or The Disco days as per Saturday Night Fever
I have no idea on what PA system to buy?
Will
So my band is getting ready to play some gigs and record, but we have no idea what we need (I'm a guitar player). I know we need a PA System, but do we need a mixer? What is it used for? How do I set it up? Can I get a loud, and cheap, one at guitar center? How many speakers does the PA need? Just tell me everything...like I said, I'm a guitar player.
Answer
Ok.....this may take some explaining.
a lot depends on what style of music you play, how many members in the band, how many sing, how big a venue you will be playing. Then you have what kind of recording are you talking? live recording (which means you need at least an 8 channel multitrack recorder) or recording is separate from your need for a PA?
Whew LOL
Now, for small to medium venues like nightclubs, you will find that you really don't need to turn your amps up very high.
In most venues, our guitar amps never got much above 4 on the volume pot.
Any more makes it uncomfortable for patrons and is just too loud.
We used a small portable PA. since we only mic'ed the lead guitarist(he was the boss and the band was named after him), my lead vocal mic, the keyboard players mic and the conga player had 2 mics.
I think we had a 6 channel PA. The PA head itself actually is a kind of sound mixer.
The only reason to use a sound mixer board is in a large venue. The stage amps actually are not too loud. All amps and the drums would be mic'ed up and then the main PA system actually is the main volume source. then a sound engineer will mix the output for the best sound.
If you play a venue that needs a sound board, the club itself will have one for you to use.
So, really, if all you are doing is clubs, parties, etc....then all you need is a 4 or 6 channel PA. Depending on how many vocalists you have.
This one for instance, would be more than enough for most needs
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Phonic-Powerpod-620-Plus---S712-PA-Package-630487-i1395801.gc
six channels on that one.
If you want to record live, then you can use a 8 channel multitrack recorder, Use the PA and the line out for each channel you use to the recorder and then stage mic the drums and amplifiers. Set a baseline recording volume for all channels. Later you can mix the recorded tracks and raise or lower volumes for individual instruments or singers.
Before you play, test all your vocal mics and adjust the volumes. Have each person test his own mic, so you can adjust for each person's level. Usually you want to speak loudly say 3-6 inches from the mic so that you don't have to eat the microphone when you sing. Set the volume on the PA loud enough to be heard clearly, but not distort.
The 2 speakers are enough. you shouldn't need stage monitors if you have the PA set up right.
Basically, if the singer can hear himself over the music while playing, then it's more than enough for the audience to hear the vocals clearly, so he doesn't have to shout and overmodulate so that he can sing naturally.
The worst thing you can do is have an amp war onstage with the guitarists.
I was in a band in the late 70's where me and the other guitarist had matching 200 w Peavey stacks.
But our PA was a pimpy little 100w system from the mid 70's with like 4 8-inch oval speakers in each 5 foot long box. Made for school speeches and things like that, not for a loud hard rock band.
As the gigs or rehearsals went on, each guitarist would fiddle with his volume to be heard better. Then the other guitarist would turn HIS amp up to balance it out, and so on....By the end of the night our 200 watt amps were at 7, and the poor lead vocalist was screaming into the mic, and you could barely hear him and it was horribly distorted.
So....for most clubs you just need a decent PA 100watt 4 channel minimum, 2 speakers and mics and mic stands. Guitarists should use boom stands. Or one like the link above.
You can get one at GC for $200-300 that will be good enough.
Don't worry about the gear whores on here that will try to tell you to spend way too much money for something you really wouldn't need.
For an example of how it sounds with a similar PA set up and a vocal mic and the guitarist mic'ed up, check out this live recording from a band I was in. I did the sound setup. The recording is in the middle of a nightclub using a video camera's onboard stereo mic. no mixing or processing. It's primitive recording but gives you a good idea of proper PA sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Irw-8R9-q4
Ok.....this may take some explaining.
a lot depends on what style of music you play, how many members in the band, how many sing, how big a venue you will be playing. Then you have what kind of recording are you talking? live recording (which means you need at least an 8 channel multitrack recorder) or recording is separate from your need for a PA?
Whew LOL
Now, for small to medium venues like nightclubs, you will find that you really don't need to turn your amps up very high.
In most venues, our guitar amps never got much above 4 on the volume pot.
Any more makes it uncomfortable for patrons and is just too loud.
We used a small portable PA. since we only mic'ed the lead guitarist(he was the boss and the band was named after him), my lead vocal mic, the keyboard players mic and the conga player had 2 mics.
I think we had a 6 channel PA. The PA head itself actually is a kind of sound mixer.
The only reason to use a sound mixer board is in a large venue. The stage amps actually are not too loud. All amps and the drums would be mic'ed up and then the main PA system actually is the main volume source. then a sound engineer will mix the output for the best sound.
If you play a venue that needs a sound board, the club itself will have one for you to use.
So, really, if all you are doing is clubs, parties, etc....then all you need is a 4 or 6 channel PA. Depending on how many vocalists you have.
This one for instance, would be more than enough for most needs
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Phonic-Powerpod-620-Plus---S712-PA-Package-630487-i1395801.gc
six channels on that one.
If you want to record live, then you can use a 8 channel multitrack recorder, Use the PA and the line out for each channel you use to the recorder and then stage mic the drums and amplifiers. Set a baseline recording volume for all channels. Later you can mix the recorded tracks and raise or lower volumes for individual instruments or singers.
Before you play, test all your vocal mics and adjust the volumes. Have each person test his own mic, so you can adjust for each person's level. Usually you want to speak loudly say 3-6 inches from the mic so that you don't have to eat the microphone when you sing. Set the volume on the PA loud enough to be heard clearly, but not distort.
The 2 speakers are enough. you shouldn't need stage monitors if you have the PA set up right.
Basically, if the singer can hear himself over the music while playing, then it's more than enough for the audience to hear the vocals clearly, so he doesn't have to shout and overmodulate so that he can sing naturally.
The worst thing you can do is have an amp war onstage with the guitarists.
I was in a band in the late 70's where me and the other guitarist had matching 200 w Peavey stacks.
But our PA was a pimpy little 100w system from the mid 70's with like 4 8-inch oval speakers in each 5 foot long box. Made for school speeches and things like that, not for a loud hard rock band.
As the gigs or rehearsals went on, each guitarist would fiddle with his volume to be heard better. Then the other guitarist would turn HIS amp up to balance it out, and so on....By the end of the night our 200 watt amps were at 7, and the poor lead vocalist was screaming into the mic, and you could barely hear him and it was horribly distorted.
So....for most clubs you just need a decent PA 100watt 4 channel minimum, 2 speakers and mics and mic stands. Guitarists should use boom stands. Or one like the link above.
You can get one at GC for $200-300 that will be good enough.
Don't worry about the gear whores on here that will try to tell you to spend way too much money for something you really wouldn't need.
For an example of how it sounds with a similar PA set up and a vocal mic and the guitarist mic'ed up, check out this live recording from a band I was in. I did the sound setup. The recording is in the middle of a nightclub using a video camera's onboard stereo mic. no mixing or processing. It's primitive recording but gives you a good idea of proper PA sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Irw-8R9-q4
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