Re: was Big Walter back to gear and tone

[Ray Beltran <raybeltran@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 3/5/04 10:44 AM, "harp-l-digest" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> Date: Fri,  5 Mar 2004 07:49:24 -0600
> From: rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: re: was Big Walter back to gear and tone
> 
> I'll second Barbecue Bob's post. I saw James Cotton at the Rockland Blues
> Festival playing through a vocal mic into the PA. The sound was screaming.


It's not that simple...

The time we opened for Cotton, I witnessed first hand just how serious these
guys are when it comes to their sound, even when using a simple vocal mic.
We all got there early for the soundcheck, and Cotton spent quite some
having the soundman dial in the mic he was to use to play harp through.
After him and his band had finished, we took the stage and began our check.
We ran through a number where I did some vocals. I noticed a perplexed look
on the soundman, and after scratching his head for a while, he finally had
us stop. There seemed to be a very definite problem with the mix. Seems I
had accidentally picked up Cotton's harp mic to sing through, as it was
positioned just next to the mic I was supposed to use for vocals. The mic I
was using sounded just plain awful for vocals, as Cotton had it EQ'd for
harp. Seems he spends just as much effort getting his "through the board"
sound dialed in as I do with my amp.

 
> It's nice to have a good sounding, reliable amp. Nice to have a couple good
> solid mics. Nice to have your own gear so you know where to set the knobs for
> a nice loud sound without feedback. The tone comes from the player. That being
> said, > I find the compression from a good tube amp helps-it covers some of my
> faults. I also like a hot mic for the same reason. Doesn't give me that tone,
> just helps me  compensate a little.
> 

Hmmmm....All I have to say is, "interestin'".

Ray.