advice re qu pac for 8 piece band

[Ozboy]

Hi I have a Qupac and 2 x QSC KSW 15″ powered main speakers, speaker stands and 8 mics. I have put together a band to do a party (about 110 people). I am considering using the Qupac as the PA system for the band. I don’t have any foldback speakers at the moment but I can get some of those without problems. Band has five instrumentalists and three vocalists. I was considering using just one mic for the drums

Some of the band members are successful professionals and they are concerned that the PA won’t be up to the job, particularly that I need a sub woofer. They know way more than I ever will.

I can hire a full PA if need be, but if it was practical I’d kind of like to do it with the QPAC.

I was looking for some input on what would be a reasonable setup for a one off show of this kind. If I’m in the wrong forum then no dramas.

[Giga]

Agreed on the sub; try to find at least one QSC (active) sub so you don’t need to worry about speaker processing.

Use at the very least one mic for the kick + one overhead unless it’s a really small room, then a kickmic could suffice.

Your singers need their own monitor.

If you have a keyboardplayer, get a (stereo) DI.

Make sure everyone sets up wisely re shootingdirection of amps, that saves you a lot of trouble with monitoring and stagevolume into the venue.

Good luck and have fun !

Giga

[airickess]

What genre of music? Is the party indoors or outdoors?

[necos]

Are you in New Jersey ? I can do sound for you.

[Dick Rees]

No offense, but with little or no experience, DIY sound for a duo or trio would be difficult. For 8 pieces I sincerely advise you to hire it done. Set up your Qu-pac for rehearsals/jamming and learn the hows and whys a bit first. You’ll be doing yourself and your friends a favor.

[Ozboy]

thanks for all the advices and suggestions.
@ Giga: Thanks. I think if I wasn’t playing that is the way I would go. A subwoofer will have to be added to the system I guess.
@ Airickess: The party is indoors
@ Necos: I am in Sydney Australia and not New Jersey. If it goes badly I may move to New Jersey
@ Dick Rees. I am hopeful of getting a good result for a duo or trio, although its true I haven’t mic’d drums before. I’ve had the Qu-pac for a year now and yes there is a lot to learn even having had a small Mackie before. I think for 8 people with me being one of them though you are right on the money. And I will be out of money. Such is life.

[David]

As this is a one off gig, I would personally be wary of spending too much extra on subs. I have been playing in a function band that ranges from 5 piece to 7 piece, regularly playing indoors for up to 200 people. We have played for years without a sub and it has worked OK. It would obviously be better with a sub for the kick and keys (when we use them), but with 15s you may get away with it (we use QSC K10s as the mains). Yes, the musicians you are hiring may tell the difference but of the 110 guests at the party 109 of them will not even notice. At the end of the day, you need to put on a good show for them, not the musos you are hiring.

Do vocalists needs monitors, absolutely yes. Can they provide their own? You have the monitor mixes to handle this.

If you are going to mic the drum kit, you can get by with one on the kick and one good cardioid mic over the the top of the kit. We don’t mic the kit at all as we are good at keeping the volumes sensible to get a good balance. There is a great video on YouTube and part way in he shows the difference between a fully mic’d kit and just a sub and single overhead. You can hardly hear a difference. This is it https://youtu.be/qaZBKzgxl_Q and this bit is about 25 minutes in.

So can you get by with the Qu-Pac for a one off, yes would be my answer.

[Anonymous]

15″ drivers for indoor 200 person gig. I’d suggest you’d be fine without dedicated subs.

Yes, they’ll give a bit more punch – but use the bass player’s amp to provide 75% of his volume, drums can fill an indoor space far too easily IMHO…

[Author]

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