Jazz Gig Preparation - Grant

Equipment List



Microphones:

2 x Shure SM58

I have gone for the Shure SM57 dynamic microphones for the vocals as I am aware of their capabilities and reliability as a live vocal microphone. As they are dynamic this reduces the amount of bleed from other instruments. They also provide a very directional polar pattern called cardioid which means it only captures sound that in made into the top of the microphone and stop anything from other sides. This is great for live sound when you want to isolate each sound as much as you can.

1 x Sennheiser e609
I am micing up the guitar am because I would like to have some guitar coming through the PA so I can have a more balanced mix. Also with jazz everyone tends to play quite soft especially a clean guitar sound. If the amp alone doesn't quite give enough by micing it I can put it through the PA and help get a more rounded mix. I have gone for the e609 on the guitar amp as this microphone is a dynamic microphone designed especially for guitar amps and cabs due to the shape of the diaphragm. This microphone has a square body with flat sides meaning it can sit right up against a guitar cab flat. This also mean you don't need to use a stand because you can just hang it over the top of the guitar amp hanging infant of the speaker.


1 x Shure SM57
I have gone for the Shure SM57 for the double bass. I am not sure yet whether the Upright Bass is needed but I thought I would plan for it. The SM57 is great for any music and instrument recording and capturing. I thought I would use this on the upright because it will capture a great amount of the low end and cut through the mix fantastically because of the dynamic cardio pattern. Other options for this would be a bud microphone to clip onto the upright bass or in some cases the bass does have a pick up.


2 x Blue DI
1 x Green DI

The DI Boxes are for the electric and acoustic guitar and the keyboard. The reason I have chosen to use the Di box is to be able to match all my signals coming into the desk. These instruments are all giving an instrument or line level which is not what we wan. With a DI we can change the signal from instrument or line level to microphone level which matches the microphone signals coming in. It also means all the connections coming into the desk are all XLR and makes it much easier to visualise if you have a problem.


2 x Loud Speaker
2 x Sub

These are the main FOH PA speakers and subs. These will be used for the audience so they can hear the all the musicians. This is very important because the balance need to b right other wise you audience is not going to be able to hear everything which could weaken the performance.

4 x Floor Monitor
I have chosen to use 4 floor wedges. This is so that the band can all hear themselves. This is also very important because when you're performing without these its very hard to play properly when you can't hear the other musicians I think this is very important in jazz. I'm an using the 2 outputs from the amp to power  2 sets of 2 monitors. Each pair will be linked with a speakon cable.

7 x Power Sockets

I need 7 on stage plugs for this set up which means I need to make sure that thats available before the show starts. Power points are a massively important feature thats easily forgotten about. 

1 x Mixer
The mixer will be there to receive all the incoming signal and be used to send single back out in a controlled way. We can also use the mixer to balance levels on the audio signal in several speakers.

2 x Amp
We have 2 amps in place for this gig. One is to power the FOH speakers and subs, the other is to power the fold back monitors. These are very important. This does mean that our speakers and monitors are all passive as they are being powered from an external amplifier.



9 x XLR - XLR
5 x Balanced Jack - Jack


I will be needing at least 9 XLR cables on stage, maybe more  just in case. These are for the microphones and the DI boxes. I will also need 5 jack to jack cables for the instrument.