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From: Z-Man on 7 Mar 2006 16:56
I've found that scooping the mids on our powered mixer gives our band's
vocals nice presence and clairity. It also seems to reduce feedback
from our SM58s. My voice is heavy on low and midrange, so I've also
been taking some bass and mid out of the individual mic channel. This
really helps me sound less nasal and muddy. Is this a good idea, or is
there a better way to EQ vocals? Should I just use the 3-band EQ on
the mic channel and leave the main EQ alone? The only other thing that
goes through the PA is my acoustic guitar, and it also sounds good with
the mids scooped. Our lead guitar is very mid-rangey. Should I buy a
rack EQ for the vocal signal?
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Al

From: George Gleason on 7 Mar 2006 17:29

"Z-Man" <alzachry(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1141768571.259268.313960(a)i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I've found that scooping the mids on our powered mixer gives our band's
> vocals nice presence and clairity. It also seems to reduce feedback
> from our SM58s. My voice is heavy on low and midrange, so I've also
> been taking some bass and mid out of the individual mic channel. This
> really helps me sound less nasal and muddy. Is this a good idea, or is
> there a better way to EQ vocals? Should I just use the 3-band EQ on
> the mic channel and leave the main EQ alone? The only other thing that
> goes through the PA is my acoustic guitar, and it also sounds good with
> the mids scooped. Our lead guitar is very mid-rangey. Should I buy a
> rack EQ for the vocal signal?
> Any suggestions?
> Thanks,
> Al
>

use the main eq to make the system sound good then the channel eq to find a
place for that input to "sit" in the mix
you may find that the eq needed to proper place things in the mix is not the
same eq that makes things sound the most natural
often voices come through live better a bit less full than you would eq
them for a recoding
george


From: Zigakly on 8 Mar 2006 13:51
>> I've found that scooping the mids on our powered mixer gives our band's
>> vocals nice presence and clairity. It also seems to reduce feedback
>> from our SM58s. My voice is heavy on low and midrange, so I've also
>> been taking some bass and mid out of the individual mic channel. This
>> really helps me sound less nasal and muddy. Is this a good idea, or is
>> there a better way to EQ vocals? Should I just use the 3-band EQ on
>> the mic channel and leave the main EQ alone? The only other thing that
>> goes through the PA is my acoustic guitar, and it also sounds good with
>> the mids scooped. Our lead guitar is very mid-rangey. Should I buy a
>> rack EQ for the vocal signal?
>> Any suggestions?
>> Thanks,
>> Al
>>
>
> use the main eq to make the system sound good then the channel eq to find
> a place for that input to "sit" in the mix
> you may find that the eq needed to proper place things in the mix is not
> the same eq that makes things sound the most natural
> often voices come through live better a bit less full than you would eq
> them for a recoding
> george

Agreed, and you should also appreciate that vocal mics and PA speakers are
not neutral in their frequency response. SM58's are hot at 2.5kHz and shy
on upper treble, and MI-grade PA speakers tend to be hot at 500Hz and 4kHz,
weak at the 2kHz crossover point, with weak upper treble as well. The EQ
between the mixer and the amps (I expect your powered mixer has one) should
be set to counteract those inequities and perhaps take into account certain
aspects of your voice if the channel EQ is inadequate, and it often is on
powered boards.

If you have any good recordings of your voice, you should set the mains EQ
to make your voice sound similar to it through the SM58 and your speakers
with the channel EQ set flat (with not so much body like George said), even
if it means compromising the guitar sound. Start with 2.5kHz and 4kHz down
about 4dB, 500Hz down 4dB with the bands on either side down 2dB as well,
and the top band way up, 9dB or so. Don't worry, an SM58 won't feed back
above 8kHz under your circumstances.

And you're right, acoustic guitar pick-ups tend to be hot in the midrange,
but you're better off pulling it back on the guitar's EQ, which should be
1kHz instead of the mixer's 2.5kHz midrange knob. If you can get a full
body sound from the guitar without it feeding back, that would help. To
help with that I generally turn the mains EQ bottom band up maybe 3dB and
turn the vocal channel bass knob down around 5dB.


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