Sound Help

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SpinCin

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Mar 15, 2008
307
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Chicago
www.angelswithanedge.com
Good Morning Folks,
I have a ceremony & wedding this Saturday. B & G JUST called & have some changes.
They have a friend who plays the electric guitar & sings. They want that person to perform 3 songs during the ceremony.
Guitar person does NOT have sound equipment & keeps saying she can just plug in to what I have.
What I have: EV ZLX12, Alesis Multimix R12.
Since I know NOTHING about that sort of sound, what else do I need????


HELP!
and THANK YOU!
 
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It's highly likely your gear will be fine .. the missing pieces are the mic, stand and cable (maybe you have those) for singing and the cable and DI box (to match impedances) for the guitar. The musician may have those already, so best to talk to them if possible.

Some performers NEED a floor monitor and it appears your Alesis has Aux sends, so if you have a small powered speaker, that might be needed as well.
 
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the reply! Yes, I have the mic & stand. I asked them to bring the cable.
So I DO need a DI box. Am assuming I can pick this up at my local Guitar Center.
 
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for the reply! Yes, I have the mic & stand. I asked them to bring the cable.
So I DO need a DI box. Am assuming I can pick this up at my local Guitar Center.
The DI box isn't absolute, a lot depends on how your mixer preamps are with the differing impedance .. migh work without, but the DI box helps in many cases. Active or passive doesn't really matter in the short distances you're talking about.

If the performer is planning to use a small guitar amp, their amp might have a DI or line output that would work without a DI box, so you might just need a cable (usually 1/4" to 1/4" TS mono). Or you can just put a second mic in front of the guitar amp instead, many musicians prefer the sound of the guitar that way.
 
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Thanks Steve & thank you for the suggestions! I know she doesn't have an amp, just her guitar & a cable.
I'll go to GC & see what they have.

Thanks again!
 
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One suggestion, be proactive on telling them where they're going to plug in (and stand). If you mamby-pamby around, they'll try to make you their roadie and want you to set them up 50 ft away, bring a music stand for them to use and request that you provide a bottle of water for them to drink. I usually just setup a mic/stand a few feet away and tell them to hand me the end of their guitar cable, which I then plug in. BTW, make sure they show up in time to test it out ahead of time. Back in April we had a guitar/singer that showed up at the last second and she had a bad guitar cable. Had to hold a hand-held wireless mic to their guitar after their cable made all kinds of pops and noises thru my sound system.
 
That will work .. I think LiveWire is a GC brand. If you don't have phantom power on the Alesis, make sure to put a battery in.
 
Thanks for your help! FYI - I had issues with the DI Box. There was a lot of distortion. There was someone else there that knew more about sound than I do & they nixed the box. The DI Box is going back to Guitar Center.
 
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In case it all goes to hell that morning....
go with microphones for vocals and the guitar.
If you only have one mic,
it is possible to place it somewhere between their mouth and the guitar (near the hole of an acoustic guitar)
You may have to sound check the mic in different positions before it sounds the way you want.
(and make sure it doesn't feedback)
But DEFINITELY call the performer to go over details first!