Re: [Harp-L] Best PA setting to play with band

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dennis Moriarty wrote:
<After years of the sound man's grimacing in a club I am going to try and defer to his wish to "just play through the PA mike" <rather than setting up my miked amp. This is a paying gig in a major NYC joint that I do weekly so the opportunity is worth the <degradation in tonal quality if it's the price I have to pay. I must go through one of the house wireless mikes into the PA <without the addition of any added effects so what would give me the most resonantly smooth sound regarding PA settings please? <Thanks. d

Have him cut the level for 80 hZ and below--he will probably do so whether you ask him to or not--and also lower the frequencies from 8 kHz on up by a few DB.   

Acoustic harmonica puts out a LOT of energy above 8 kHz, and so do most vocal mics, so if he doesn't cut a little up there you may give the audience an earache. (When you play through an amp, the combination of the mic and the amp typically cuts out a lot of the energy above 6 kHz, so no problem there.)

You may also want to ask him to give you a little more boost in the 400-600 hZ range, which is what's emphasized by a lot of amped setups. 

Regards, Richard Hunter 

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