[1960strat]

I am not real happy with the sound of the vocals i am getting through my PA. They sound boomy/bassy and not that great. What vocal effects do you guys use to gt a crisper, cut through the mix sound.

[Dozin]

We use a Carvin system. Love it

https://www.carvin20.com/products/singl ... uct=RX1200

[1960strat]

That rig looks alot like my yamaha emx860. Do you use the effects in it or go with outboard effects? Also, i use an audiotechnica Pro3L mic. the crappy sound could be the mic too.

[myoung6923]

A good mic is a great place to start. But also good effects to clean up vocals are, a decent equalizer, compression and delay/reverb. With all of these set correctly you should be able to get the vocal sound that you are looking for.

[strumminsix]

IMO FX don't yield "a crisper, cut through the mix sound".

A decent mixer, minimal reverb. Use an EQ to cut not boost adjust the tonestack to shelve off some lows.

FX won't do it.

[GratefulPat]

i have the same question but im going from an amp to a small mixer to mic, what can i do to get them "crisper"

[1960strat]

yeah you are probably right. i should start tweaking the pa eq before i go buying more stuff.

[myoung6923]

IMO FX don't yield "a crisper, cut through the mix sound".

A decent mixer, minimal reverb. Use an EQ to cut not boost adjust the tonestack to shelve off some lows.

FX won't do it.

You're right that effects won't make the vocals crisper, but a good eq most certainly will. The difference between most onboard PA eq's and a good rack unit are just night and day. As well as... a good eq rung out for one room will ring out different for another room. So, the more control that you have over the eq frequencies - 10 channel vs. 31 channel - can totally make the difference between ok vocals and crispness. Also, a good compression set right will give the vocals a great sound and take a bit of bite out of the sudden loud vocals and such - finishing it off with a good delay and reverb and you've got a great sound. To me, all of these things are absolutely essential in a decent PA setup weather it be a small rig for acoustic or a big rig for a full band. It's really the difference between sounding like a garage band and a pro gigging band

[strumminsix]

IMO FX don't yield "a crisper, cut through the mix sound".

A decent mixer, minimal reverb. Use an EQ to cut not boost adjust the tonestack to shelve off some lows.

FX won't do it.

You're right that effects won't make the vocals crisper, but a good eq most certainly will. The difference between most onboard PA eq's and a good rack unit are just night and day.

Hmmm, don't know if I agree. In my experience if you have a crappy signal coming from the mixer no EQ'ing is gonna save it. Totally agree if you have a troubled band if you will say dip around 500 or so to nix the mud but if you don't have a decent sound coming from the board EQing will usually just make it worse by over compensating.

To the OP - get a good board with things like:
Control over the input gain
multiple toneshapers hi, med, low, etc
channel control of FX
on board reverb
on board global eq

Run quality cables and good mics

Start there and I'd guess most of your problems would be gone.

[kenneybonz]

my better half and i gave each other a nice dynamic mike for christmas stocking stuffer... doubt it makes the stage playing cut but it sounds great in our music room.. it is a samson which seems like SAMashes brand name but it sounds great.. we are only adding a bit of reverb to it as this is a new foray.. but we ARE having fun with it.. that is the best part...
anyway, happy new years all!!

[Dozin]

That rig looks alot like my yamaha emx860. Do you use the effects in it or go with outboard effects? Also, i use an audiotechnica Pro3L mic. the crappy sound could be the mic too.

We use the effects in the unit. They really sound great.

I believe what makes a good pa is power. That's what makes your vocals clear and crisp. The Carvin 4 HIGH CURRENT AMPLIFIERS deliver 300 watts RMS at 4 ohms each. A total of 600 watts is delivered to your main speakers (300 watts each for the R/L if played in stereo), plus two 300 watt amps to drive your stage monitors for a total of 1200 watts. This is the kind of output required for today's professionals to maintain purity and integrity of sound.

[strumminsix]

... 1200 watts. This is the kind of output required for today's professionals to maintain purity and integrity of sound.

Do you mic and broadcast your instruments thru the PA?

[myoung6923]

... 1200 watts. This is the kind of output required for today's professionals to maintain purity and integrity of sound.

Do you mic and broadcast your instruments thru the PA?

That 1200 W is not exactly correct. It's 300 W per channel if used in stereo - so, 300W main left, 300W main right, 300W monitor left and 300W monitor right. There's actually 4 separate amps in that unit - so it's never actually putting out a single 1200W signal.

And I totally agree that it's much better to have the power that's needed and then some - even if it's not always used it's always better to have the headroom. If you are driving an amp up past 80% or so of it's headroom then your sound will suffer.

I also agree with Strummin's sentiments a bit earlier - essentially: garbage in = garbage out. You have to start with decent mics, cables, board and amp. Then you'll have the room to adjust your sound pretty well.

[Dozin]

Yes, your correct it is broken down into 4 seperate amps at 300 watts with a total of 1200watts.

Strummin, right now we're not sending the instruments through the board. We just got this unit. My friends band has the same unit and they send everything through it and it sounds awesome. The drummers have their own mixers then send it through the board.

[High Peaks]

What would cause the vocals to sound like they are coming from the bottom of a well. The band i play in has had this problem a lot. Too much mid?? Bad effects??