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zemlin 28 May 2007

Most of my FOH work is at or near charity level. Some jobs are no charge, others I charge very little. Once or twice a year I might make a few hundred on an FOH job. I have no mains or monitors - don't have the space to store them, haul them, and since I basically don't get paid for this stuff I can't justify the cost. If I need them, the client rents them.

Most of the gear in my kit was bought for recording work. I have one small rack of stuff just for FOH work.

A&H Mixwizard 16:2dx
100' 16x3 snake
ART graphic EQs
PreSonus ACP88 compressor
SM58s
SM57s
(1) Sennheiser e865
(1) Beyer M300
An assortment of SDCs
The LDCs usually stay home unless I'm recording the show.

Most of what I do is acoustic music - bluegrass, girl singers, folk singers, celtic, etc.

One of the concerts series I work which relies very heavily on my piece of the puzzle will occasionally drop a check in my hat with the understanding that I will use it to improve my system.

I think they're going to send a check my way soon, so my question is ... how to I use the money so it will best benefit my FOH kit? The last check they gave me went to help buy the PreSonus compressor. I don't know of any additional hardware I should buy - the one thing that comes to mind would be an effects unit, but the A&H has some built-in basics that seem to get the job done.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is some better vocal mics. I do a lot of female vocalists, and if they come toting mics it's usually a Beta87. So I'm thinking maybe a Beta57 or two would compliment my collection. Recently heard a woman using a Beta58 and like the sound of that mic as well. The Sennheiser works well on male vocals, but often doesn't fit female voices well.

So, for a basic FOH kit, do I spend my "bonus" on mics, or is there some bit of hardware I should consider that would make my job easier? Anything that would benefit my recording work in as well as my FOH jobs gets extra credit.

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BobRogers Mon, 05/28/2007 - 18:25

My choice - Accessories- stands, cables, an oriental rug, gaffer tape, adapters, velcro cable ties,..., what am I missing? Wine glasses, a case of good Shiraz...

My opinion of the Beta87 is that it is a mic that a singer should buy for him or her self if it fits, but its not a great mic locker item. For the people who it works for - a 58 works well with a little eq tweak. In the studio, I've almost always found that a LDC beats the 87. (With that said, I have a beta 87 for my daughter and the guy lead singer in my praise band has one. They both frequently push their range to sing lead (natural alto and baritone respectively) maybe that 's the key factor.)

As far as effects units, I agree that the it's not worth upgrading the A&H effects unless you are talking about a "very" large (as in 2-3x the compressor) check.

AudioGaff Tue, 05/29/2007 - 23:48

I do a fair amount of semi-pro FOH gigs but I also get tricked/guilted/begged to do low budget FOH gigs on a regular basis as well. I have a small setup I bring to every gig just for this kind of thing. A handfull of SM57's, a cheap DI, portable CD player. SPL meter, rack with a decent reverb, digital delay, RTA and measurement mic, 1202VLZ, 8-ch 100ft XLR stage box snake, sometimes a dual channel compressor and the usual odds and ends like a few mic stands, xbrace stand for FOH rack, spare mic cables and interface cables/adapters, mic clips, tape, tools, small flashlight, headphones, power strips, ect. This stuff also serves as part of my remote/location recording rig by adding a laptop, audio interface and other por gear that I may want or need to take.

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