I would like to show how mixing Euro-Pop music differs from
\nmixing regular rock n’ roll. In my experience the following methods
\napply to European Pop-Rock & Caberet shows.<\/p>\n
First of all the stage layout; This will be in three layers: drums
\n& backline at the back, rest of band mid-stage, main attraction
\nright up front. The band may be local, but the main attraction will
\npossibly be 2 or 3 overseas singers and probably their musical
\ndirector with accordion or keyboard.<\/p>\n
Foldback:
\nAs expected main vocal is most important; but for the whole band. I
\nusually use a pair of wedges, set at the front corners of the stage
\nfacing in almost side ways. Nowhere near the singer (who will not
\nstay in the one place anyway) but this allows for a high level of
\nmain vocal volume across the whole stage.
\nNext priority is the M. D.’s instrument, musically this will drive
\nthe band. In a 2 send foldback situation I would use a pair of
\nsidefills set mid-stage and not bother with a drumfill.<\/p>\n
The Mix:
\nNow to mic up the rest of the band. Chances are everyone in the
\nband sings and my first compromise with a 16-ch PA is to use less
\nmics on the drums.
\nMy first trick is to use a Y-lead with the tom mics, enabling me to
\nbe able to squeeze the drum kit into 3 channels. (Kick, Hats, Toms)
\nThe sound of drums within the Euro-Pop genre is not as predominate
\nas in contemporary rock n’ roll. Listen to some early Beatles or
\nRolling Stones for an example. Snare & Hi-hat crisp and thin, Kick
\ndrum and toms should thud, not thump, reduce mids but don’t add
\ntops. Spill from the snare into the tom mics should provide enough
\nreverb on the snare.
\nBass guitar should also remain relatively dull. If you try to
\nachieve definition with a bright, stringy sound it will only crowd
\nthe mix. Tonally the bass and kick should sit underneath the rest
\nof the band.
\nThe Mandolin and Accordion in East European music are the
\nequivalent of Lead Guitar. Mandolin is easy. Generally it will be
\nset up with a decent pick-up plugged into a guitar amp. Mic the amp
\n(or if using a D.I. take a line output from the amp) so that you
\nget any and all effects that the player may use. Boost the mandolin
\nchannel at 4kHz and 10kHz so that it cuts through the mix without
\nneeding excessive volume.
\nAccordion will require some patience on your part. Usually this
\ninstrument will be entirely acoustic and, in addition, the band
\nwill probably want a massive amount of it in foldback. Give the
\naccordion some presence with a slight boost around 2 to 4kHz on the
\nright-hand (melody) mic. If the accordion player is one of the band
\nmembers you probably won’t need a left hand mic as the bass line
\nwill be taken care of by keyboard or bass guitar. However, if he or
\nshe is one of the stars, then definitely consider a second mic for
\nthe left-hand bass. The left-hand side is the end that moves in and
\nout. Tricky. Try putting the mic in front so it picks up the sound
\nfrom the bellows of the accordion. Add definition to the bass sound
\nwith a slight mid-range boost at about 700Hz.
\nElectric guitar is mostly secondary compared to the mandolin or
\naccordion, so keep it low in the mix except for the occasional
\nsolo. Tonally it should sit in the mix below the mandolin but above
\nthe accordion and vocal. If there is one keyboard player I
\ngenerally try for a single line out of his\/her set-up. It’s a
\npretty safe bet that any lead or solo work will involve a louder
\npatch and this part of the mix will generally take care of itself.
\nIf you have two keyboard players on stage, it is your lucky day.
\nThe one closer to the front of stage has replaced the acoustic
\nproblem of piano accordion. Use 2 D.I. boxes for a stereo sound as
\nthis keyboard should dominate the band mix most of the time.<\/p>\n
Above I discussed how I mix the caberet sound that is Euro-Pop.
\nAnd now finally, the all important vocal:
\nIt has to be larger than life and very loud.
\nThis is what I call Caberet; Volume-wise the band sits lower than the
\nvocal.<\/p>\n
Step one as described earlier is to tune the PA for
\nmaximum vocal level.
\nStep two is eq to suit the voice, either 2kHz presence for male vocal
\nor 1kHz to boost the chest voice of a female vocal.
\nThirdly, a huge spacious effect.
\nMy favourite is what I call Reverberant Delay. This is not delayed
\nreverb but an audible delay that also feeds back into your reverb.
\nTo achieve this, the delay must return in a channel rather than an
\nauxiliary input. This is so eq and reverb can be applied to it,
\nmodifying it to a realistic but huge echo effect. Roll off the tops
\nof the delay with a 3dB cut to 4kHz and a 6dB cut to 10kHz, dial up
\nthe reverb send on the delay channel to about 5, use a delay of
\nanything between 260 to 340 ms with about 30% feedback (2 or 3
\naudible repeats). On your reverb machine, choose a large hall type
\nreverb of about 2 seconds with no pre-delay. This is fine for a
\ncontained drum and accordion reverb and perfect to transform the
\ndelay into a cathedral type echo that seems to hang in the air well
\nbehind the vocals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MIXING EURO – POP MUSIC PART 1: THIS IS NOT ROCK ‘N ROLL I would like to show how mixing Euro-Pop music differs from mixing regular rock n’ roll. In my experience the following methods apply to European Pop-Rock & Caberet shows. First of all the stage layout; This will be in three layers: drums […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1576,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1577","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1577\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bssound.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}