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Standard 2-mic setup
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Here's what the whole setup looked like, except for the PAS on stage left. |
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The sweet spot
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Note the position of the center mic, closer to the band than the two active ones.
A vocalist used to a dynamic mic like an SM57 would position on this mic in exactly the spot where the two
KSM27 patterns intersect. Note that the center mic is not connected - it's a Shure 515 we borrowed from the
hotel's AV department, and it's there just to give the bands a visual reference point. We told most of the bands that
it was a dummy, but they focused on it anyway because that's where the band sounded best. A band experienced with the
setup wouldn't need the center mic, but it was important here so bands would sound good from the beginning on their 30 minute
showcases.
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Performer's eye view
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Here's what the performers saw. Note the rotation of the KSM27s, which varied from 45 to 60
degrees toward the center depending on the room and the band. We were able to use the angle of these mics as a volume control -
rotating them during a solo vocal made the lead voice louder and softer by moving the sweet spot relative to the singer's
position. |
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Doyle Lawson trio
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Here's Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver grouped around the mics singing a trio. They're centered
on the dummy mic and far away from the sweet spot, with Doyle and Jamie singing relatively far off-axis. Every band ended
up in this configuration for their trios, and the individual voices were easy to locate by ear and as close to perfectly blended as I've heard from any sound
system. |
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Barry Scott sings lead
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Almost everybody in Doyle's band sings lead. Here's Barry Scott working that disconnected mic,
in this case an SM57. |
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Trio around the mic
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Here's the trio in a tight pattern inside all three mics. This arrangement gave the best
results. |
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Mandolin lead
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Doyle's mandolin break, aimed at the center mic. |
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Quartet singing
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Quicksilver is known for its gospel quartets. Terry Baucom on the left is singing bass and
normally gets a mic to himself. In this arrangement, he's singing close to a KSM, but about 90 degrees off-axis.
His wife, an award-winning bluegrass DJ, was in the audience and said she loved the way his voice sounded. |
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A capella quartet
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Doyle's a capella encore. We didn't hear a bad vocal mix in three days, and this one was
spectacular. I'd tell doubters: "wait for a vocal harmony, and close your eyes to listen". The natural panning effect
of the two mics and PAS units gave a stereo effect that sounded unlike anything I've heard in 30 years of listening to
bluegrass. |
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The Paisleys duet singing
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Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass, another nationally prominent bluegrass act,
singing a duet into the system. |
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Fiddle break
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TJ Lundy takes a fiddle break. Way off axis, but he came through just fine. |
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Banjo break
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The Barton Brothers and Overdrive from California. Normally a banjo played in this position would
overpower the band. Not here. |
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Work that dummy mic!
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Jami Lampkins wailing into the disconnected Shure 515. Whatever else this trip accomplished,
we may have been responsible for a big increase in 515 sales! |
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More solo singing
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Another shot of Jami singing. When she turned her head, her voice moved across the stage.
This was a little disconcerting. |
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Duet singing from the Stringdusters
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| A six piece band like the Stringdusters, whose arrangements use split breaks and quick changes,
is a nightmare for a conventional sound engineer. Here, on the last night of the showcases, it just worked. The Stringdusters
were also one of the first bands to try the system, before we had gotten the mic placement right. The performance pictured here went
far better than their first one. Notice how uncluttered the view of the band is. Things would be even better without the center mic.  |
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Colorado's Hit and Run
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Hit and Run from Colorado was a last-minute substitution. They settled right in to the system.
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The Dobro slides under for a break
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The Dobro slides in on the left for a break. Off-axis, but easy to hear.
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Miller's Crossing
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New York band Miller's Crossing takes their turn. They're joined on mandolin by Michael Cleveland, IBMA's
fiddle player of the year for a couple of years. Michael is blind and couldn't work the mic, so we activated the SM57 and
moved it off to the side. His sound was hard-panned to the audience's right, but that's where he was standing so it
didn't sound too strange. |
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No dummy here!
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Without a center mic to guide on, Marjorie Kelting sings her lead directly into one of the
KSMs. James King had done the same earlier on a guest song with Dan Paisley. The hard pan of the lead voice does sound
odd. |
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Miller's Crossing trio
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This band's trio worked the mics better than the solo. Note how clean the stage looks with only
the two real mics visible. |
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Fritts Family setup
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One of the odder setups of the week. The Fritts Family has one standing and three seated musicians, with the
two seated on the sides playing through amps. We added a Sennheiser aimed directly at the center musician to give his voice
a little more balance in the mix, since he couldn't move closer to the mics to sing lead. His mic was fed directly into the PAS on
stage right, but his voice was also picked up by the two KSMs which pulled it a little closer to the center of the sound field.
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The Fritts Family
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The Fritts Family sound checking.
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