Live Sound - Vocals are buried and unintelligible

[KTOKTO]

Hello,

I need some help troubleshooting the quality of my vocals during our gigs. The rest of the band sounds fantastic but the vocals sound like I'm singing with a blanket over my head.

If we increase the volume on my slider on the board, it just gets louder but is still as unintelligible as before

My speaker setup is two omnitop 15s with piezio array and one titan 48. Behringer 1832usb mixer, behringer 31 band eq, bbe xover, behringer europower amp.

I can clean it up a little by using the high, mid, low, dials on my channel on the mixer but not enough. I am a rookie on the tech side of things but it feels like I could clean things up if I had an additional 31 band EQ on just my vocals.

The vocals coming off the board to our behringer monitors sound crystal clear so I don't think it would be a cabling or mic issue.

Any suggestions? I will try to get some recordings posted so I can better describe what is going on.

Thanks!

[Bruce Weldy]

Sounds like the mids. If you have sweepable mids on your board, cut the gain way back, then start moving the frequency knob until the mush goes away. Then you can adjust the gain back up to where it sounds best.

[Greg Plouvier]

What's the curve look like on your 31 band? Are the tops keeping up with sub?
You may need to goose the level on your BBe crossover going to the tops.

[BoostFab]

you definitely need to EQ vocal for live setup, to get it through the mix, put the 31band or para-eq on the vocal channel insert. this is a quick dab at it, but it can be more elaborated.
- apply low cut to the channel, to avoid rumble
- 150 HZ .....boost give vocal a punch, but depends on the individual
- 250 / 350 ..... cut back to get rid the boomy vocal
- 400 ~ 800 ......play around this range and cut back to get decrease the boxy- causing lack of definition
- 1k / 4k ...... cut back a bit to get rid of the nasally/honky vocal sound
- 5k .....boost helps get the vocal through the mix, more presence
- 7k .... cut back help get rid that strong "s" sound
- 12k ......boost this a bit to add more air to the vocal

I think para-eq and a compressor is a great investment. If you use a compressor, make sure it's after the EQ.

[Greg Plouvier]

If you think you need a 1/3 octave eq inserted on a voc channel something is out of whack - your pa is not tuned right.

[KTOKTO]

Thanks Greg.

I definately know something is out of whack. I'm going to start with Bruce's suggestion tonight and see what happens. I don't want to add any new equipment in to the mix until I rule out everything with the existing setup.

I'm just stumped why the monitors are clear when plugged in to the same mix.

[Bruce Weldy]

If you think you need a 1/3 octave eq inserted on a voc channel something is out of whack - your pa is not tuned right.

+1

[Greg Plouvier]

I'm just stumped why the monitors are clear when plugged in to the same mix.

The main speakers are not tuned properly. I would encourage you to get that right first.

[KTOKTO]

Sounds like a plan. I will empty the trailer tonight and start from the ground up and take some picutres of the board, eq, etc and sketch up some diagrams.

Thanks again.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I'm just stumped why the monitors are clear when plugged in to the same mix.

You can't run monitors and mains with the same EQ, their responses are totally different.

[jswingchun]

I'm just stumped why the monitors are clear when plugged in to the same mix.

The main speakers are not tuned properly. I would encourage you to get that right first.

+1. Have you done anything to make sure your system has a (fairly) flat response? That needs to be the first step when using any system.

[guitarkeys.com]

Easy fix -

Do vocals sound good when no music is playing? Fix it so they do.

Once you get that fixed, then just crank the vocals to the appropriate level in the venue and mix to the vocals cutting instruments that step on them.

Problem, if everyone starts playing and you can't hear the vocals ,even with no instruments in the PA, then turn the amps down and reduce the stage volume.

Jamie

[88h88]

+1. Have you done anything to make sure your system has a (fairly) flat response? That needs to be the first step when using any system.

Stupid question alert: So flatten the response for the tops so you have a baseline measurement. Say use an RTA to do the job, let it run until it's 'flat' and just use that preset to tweak per venue?

[KTOKTO]

Should I just bite the bullet and get something like a Behringer DEQ2496?

[Dan30]

Should I just bite the bullet and get something like a Behringer DEQ2496?

Take advantage of guitar'd center's return policy and give it a shot. If you don't like it return it.