Live stereo looping (was Re: DON'T TRUST THE SOUND MAN)

["Michael LaMeyer" <mlameyer@rcn.com>]

That's been my experience.  I've been to outdoor shows where I
literally could not hear one or more musicians because the
engineer had them panned too hard.

FWIW, YMMV, I've heard great sounding shows in mono, but most of
those bands were more of the straight up rock variety.  You only
need to be concerned with relative levels and phase
cancellation, as opposed to relative levels, phase cancellation,
and stereo imaging on two independent channels.  I think it's at
least a small order of magnitude more complex to mix stereo
live.  I actually think going quad would just as easy to get a
decent balance, as long as you didn't have too many statically
panned elements.  But the performance space has such a huge
impact.

Looping performances tend to have a different aesthetic than the
rock band, and I'd want to do my mostest to carry off a stereo
performance.  I suspect that more subtle panning of select
textures, using stereo panning to create motion for some
elements, and a fairly narrow spread for the base elements of a
peice might be the first tack I'd take.

What have been other people's experiences with playing stereo
live?  I know we've had a whole quad/oct monitor discussion
before, but I'm still interested in a discussion like this.
Anyone else?

Thanks,

Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark" <sine@zerocrossing.net>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2001 12:17 AM
Subject: Re: DON'T TRUST THE SOUND MAN


> Most PA setups don't do stereo for the reason that (especially
outside) you've
> got people all over the place that want to hear the full mix.
If you've got a
> lot of stereo information going out, you risk that people on
one side are pretty
> much not going to hear half the mix.  Aside from my webcasts
and small cafes, I
> always go mono in larger clubs.
>
> Mark
>
> whiteoakstudios wrote:
>
> > I just give the sound man a stereo feed and use my own
in-ear monitoring -
> > at least then it sounds good to me and I just tell the sound
man/woman to
> > pan hard right and left, with no eq.
> > It takes a real idiot to mess up those instructions - though
last time I
> > played out of doors and followed the above I came down from
stage and asked
> > a freind how it went and he said"fine but I though you could
have done more
> > with stereo placement". I replied that the sound was
bouncing all over the
> > place - turns out the PA man runs it all in mono!!
> >
> > Gareth
> >
> > just got in from my gig opening for SUGAR DADDY AND THE BIG
BONED
> > GALS.....went in 2 hours early for a sound check....."we
supply all the
> > speakers etc.".....the sound guy took all my inputs and
rearranged them in
> > my
> > mixer and sent it out to his console.....for about 2 mins
this sounded ok
> > (total sound check) but i was worried and not quite
happy.....i am not a
> > great or even good player, but i do pride myself in "my
sound".....WELL,
> > 8:00
> > o'clock comes and the first note i hit sounds like *shit*
and i begin to get
> > worried.....this is nothing like what we had set up and his
configuration
> > totally freaked me, things were not where they should have
been.....where
> > was
> > the sound guy, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.....yikes, the show must
go on and no one
> > wants to see a 53 year old man cry, although i was sweating
like a pig in
> > the
> > sahara, so thankfully they could not see my tears.....IT WAS
AWFUL, i had no
> > control of anything, boy does that make you feel like being
> > adventuresome.....then after cutting it about 10 mins. short
everyone comes
> > up and says "wow that was cool " and LIES to that
effect.....thankfully the
> > WILD TURKEY (sorry no scotch) kicked in and i did not burn
my guitar and
> > rang.....i will never play through someone elses system
again.....in fact,
> > this solo thing is getting to weird, i need other warm
bodies to help the
> > tunes out.....sorry for such a goofy post but if i cant
share this with you
> > all who can i share it with.....:(m
>