My Church Gig

I think one of the worst events in the history of mic’ing acoustic instruments was the moment someone first slapped a microphone inside an acoustic guitar. There. I said it. Hey, I’m no expert. Heck, I’m only a decent guitar player. I know this. And you’re right, Mr. Acoustic Guy, there are quite a few phenomenal acoustic guitar players with proven tone, studio and live, with internal mic systems. Let me just point out that I’m one of thousands of church engineers across the country who get to mix everyone else. Weekly.

Now, I’m not against microphones inside guitars but honestly, things are a little out of control. Ever since it turned into a mainstream trend, the sound of an over-blended internal mic has become the Lawry’s Seasoned Salt of the guitar world. All food at my grandparents’ house tasted the same thanks to that stuff. Every time I hear the inside of an acoustic guitar I try to get away with just a little sprinkle on top of the mix because it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I fear this unnatural sound has become so common that the general public accepts it as a great guitar sound. Please friends, I beg of you… choose the red pill.

Well, I hope you’ll forgive the hyperbolous intro but I do want to make this a memorable post about acoustic guitar tones. I think it’s important.

After the jump: the best tones I’ve gotten to mix and why I think they’re good.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had a change of heart this year.  It’s been a long road but I finally hit my bottom.  I admitted that I am powerless over mic cable knots and that setup had become unmanageable.  I came to believe that a method greater than my own could restore me to sanity during setup times.  I made a decision to turn my cables over to the care of this method as I understood it.  And man, is my life better!

I used to hate seeing mic cables wrapped with the ends plugged into each other.  The loops looked unnecessarily large and sloppy.  The loop was never as circular as with not plugging the ends into each other.  Well, this summer I reached the end of sanity untangling perfectly wrapped cables.

Watch this video.  If you already know how to wrap over-under then just watch the first 20 seconds to see the magic.

Over / Under Cable Wrap Technique from Michael Yeung on Vimeo.

He says, “You’ll notice as I uncoil this that the cable is connected on the outside of all the loops therefore the entire thing comes loose when I undo it.”

Knots happen when when a loose end finds its way through some spaghetti.  The odds of that NOT happening with loose ends are slim when you have many hands handling cables.  (On my other planet Cornerstone I’m the only one who touches cables at all but they said I have to live here for now.)  If the ends are together, creating an infinite loop, the cable has little choice but to come apart neatly.

Committing to a style of wrapping isn’t a solution unless you commit to the complimentary style of unwrapping.  The way to unwrap this one is to grab the ends like a handle and toss out the whole cable.  I can toss out a cable, run it, and dress it (even with a nice excess wrap) in under 30 seconds.  God knows I’ve spent up to 2 minutes per cable some days and that eats up a lot of time.  And the cost is more than time.  It’s easy to underestimate the effects of personal frustration on your ability to concentrate, subconscious personal interaction, and the vibe you spread when the band arrives.  (Don’t mix angry; people get hurt.)  The best thing you can do for your band is to be ready and sitting around when they arrive so you can help out without them feeling like they’re interrupting you.

Cable wrapping techniques sound like nit-picking to anyone on the outside but, believe you me, a $10 cable can bring down a $200k sound system.  An old, abused cable will have you chasing your tail trying to solve audio bugs even to the point of replacing perfectly fine gear.  You can judge the quality of an engineer from the way they care for  cables.

OK, off to re-wrap a few cables!