Live production

Live production is something I'd like to start expanding on in my arsenal of production. I'm not talking about like light techs and fog machines and shit but I'm talking about solid pre's for your shit. You're playing in a practice space foamed with high quality sound foam and 4 or 10 sound blankets to boot as well as a room only big enough to fit 10 comfortably or 20 snug. It's going to sound a lot different when you're on a stage projecting out against who knows what the hell... half pipes because the venue is an indoor skate park... non-proofed glass because the place is usually a cafe in the afternoons... high ceilings, cement floors, room made mostly of porcelain, who knows. Live production sound determines who will buy you're CD.

I personally try to stay away from things that add major watts to my set up. No tube pre's, no "sound maximizers", nothing like that at all. That just drives a muddled sound of shit out of your usually nice sounding cabs or speakers. I try to deter myself from heavy beepboopboop shit... no Nord electro pre's or Line 6 rack pods. That stuff also drives your tone to an empty puddle of crap anyway.

I'm almost a "purest" in a sense where going through a gate/comp and an EQ is all you technically need... there are a few other things you might really want but in my opinion,This dbx 166XL is a beast on stage. This compressor will filter you to a really rich clean if you use it right. My rig, I only have one channel on my amp, so this works perfectly... you can rig an A/B or A/B/Y box to these guys and mod your boxes a little so your channel switches to the right 166XL if you are eccentric... but if you're using a one channel amp (especially these old Fender's) this is essential for live sound as well as:

dbx 231 might be overkill for some people, but the advantage to a 31-band EQ... you have 31 bands of EQ and not 15. I have to admit, I am pretty set on using my Alesis DEQ-230, but again... 31 band EQ is not essential. ESPECIALLY a dual channel 30-band EQ like I have... but it can be practical and very useful if you're limited to a minimal amp (like me :D). EQ's are necessary.

There are only a few other things I'd venture out to try. Although I said I don't really enjoy "sound maximizers", there are a few that filter you through a super light chorus or phaser so your notes have a very very distinct clean pinch to them that you can only get when you're back in your own proverbial "shed". I can't think of one off the top of my head... but you can kind of get the same effect by stacking enough comp/gates and limiters on each other if you're lucky. Or we can all cash out on a UA 1176 and take that on the road with us......... cough cough.