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M20d - Overkill For A Solo Acoustic Performer?


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I own a couple L3t's and mainly perform as a solo acoustic act in small venues around town, I occasionally play some larger festivals, block parties, weddings etc.

 

I am very specific about my sound and always messing with the mix, I've been looking at the M20D and trying to determine if this is overkill for what I do. Most of the posts I see are related to "band" set-ups.

 

My current set up for small venues:

  • Acoustic guitar into DI running thru a Voicelive Play GTX - (no effects on Guitar via the Voicelive) back to the DI to a Mackie Profx8
  • Mic running into the Voicelive Play GTX for Harmonies into the Mackie Profx8
  • From the Mackie, Mono out to a single L3t.

For Larger Venues I use 2 L3t's "linked" with everything else connected the same.

 

Thoughts/experiences from any solo acoustic musicians??

 

Thanks

 

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I think you're right. The m20d is not necessary for your setup. Neither is the Mackie. For small setups like that I simply use the two input channels on my L3t side panel mixer.

It also sounds like you could connect your guitar directly to Channel 1 on the L3t, bypassing your VoiceLive for the guitar. This will enable you to use the excellent acoustic guitar 'body' emulation of the L3t. Try it.

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Thanks for the quick response… I do realize that the Mackie is even a bit overkill as well but like I said, I am very particular about the sound and I was not able to get the guitar sound I was looking for using Channel 1. Maybe I'll try again and play a little more with the Acoustic Modeling :)

 

BTW, I cannot bypass the Voicelive since the harmonies work off the key of the guitar...

 

Thanks again!

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Silverhead is correct, I think, too... I have a similar setup to yours minus the Voicelive - 2 L3t, also an L3s, a Mackie Prolive12 (which I use as an inexpensive backup mixer-always good to have a plan B!), and an M20d. Playing my Martin HD-35 into an L3t was awesome. I really like the Variax sound shaping. It fills out the sound of the guitar - similar in a way to my Fishman Aura 16 pedal in some ways.

 

Regarding the M20d - I was sad to find that when you add it to your system, you lose the Variax tones in the speakers themselves - HOWEVER, my guitar sounded pretty sweet coming right out of the M20d using an acoustic guitar preset in the unit. I don't miss the Variax tones QUITE so much now, but still some...

 

I seldom play just on my own, so I need 10-12 inputs and the M20d is great for that. Add in the Feedback suppression (which you also have individually on the speakers, though) and the presets, auto trim, recording and you really have a nice system. I was able to find one on closeout so it wasn't too painful.

 

Larry

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I own a couple L3t's and mainly perform as a solo acoustic act in small venues around town, I occasionally play some larger festivals, block parties, weddings etc.

 

I am very specific about my sound and always messing with the mix, I've been looking at the M20D and trying to determine if this is overkill for what I do. Most of the posts I see are related to "band" set-ups.

 

My current set up for small venues:

 

  • Acoustic guitar into DI running thru a Voicelive Play GTX - (no effects on Guitar via the Voicelive) back to the DI to a Mackie Profx8
  • Mic running into the Voicelive Play GTX for Harmonies into the Mackie Profx8
  • From the Mackie, Mono out to a single L3t.
For Larger Venues I use 2 L3t's "linked" with everything else connected the same.

 

Thoughts/experiences from any solo acoustic musicians??

 

Thanks

Just curious, is there a reason why you're using a DI in front of the Voicelive GTX and then after it into the Mackie?

 

I've always just plugged my acoustic straight into my GTX and then out into either my mixer or into the L2t...

 

Thanks!

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First, I will answer with my opinion, then explain why.

Is the M20d overkill for solo gigs? Not At All!!

 

Why do I say this?

For the purpose of *recording* yourself with extra mics that *do not get sent to the main mix*...

 

I can actually send you a link to my SoundCloud page; I recorded a buddy at his solo acoustic gig, using the M20d, where I had to feed the house PA / sound system which powered the mains and monitors. Came out rather interesting; I didn't even have the input gains set up all - had to normalize all the .wav files just to mix - but the 24 bit on the M20d gives you massive noise free headroom. It's really impressive.

 

I did the following:

 

-guitar into passive DI, XLR to the M20d.

-vocal mic into the M20d.

 

> M20d monitor send 1, vocals only to the house PA

> M20d monitor send 2, guitar DI only to the house PA

 

*then* I added:

-a Shure Beta 57a as a guitar mic, ran it only to recording

-an Audix ADX51 condensor mic as an 'overhead', also only to recording

 

Treat every performance as a chance to capture an amazing multi-track recording of yourself. Treat the main mix like a monitor mix, and make a monitor mix that you can perform well and hear yourself, and always add an extra couple of mics that don't end up being sent anyway, except to the "input channels" that get recorded when you run multi-track recording on the M20d. Point a mic at the crowd, set up a stereo pair around yourself, close mic your guitar, add an extra mic as a 'backup' vocal mic, do a bunch of cool, extra stuff, that is 100% for the recording.

 

You won't regret it. The M20d makes it too dang easy, so why not!

 

Cheers!

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Thanks for the replies, I am new her and not sure how to answer each one individually so I will via this one post...

 

LDBecker:

I don't really use the modeling on the speaker since I go directly from the Mixer to the Line input on the back of the speaker.  I am hoping to add another guitarist and possibly a Cajon to the gigs making it a 3 piece but not all the time so the additional input and presets should come in handy. I really like the Auto Trim feature since I play small venues and  the room changes as it fills up with people, I always seem to have a hard time setting my gain structure in these small rooms.. I think this will really help with the sound when I need to crank it up.

 

Tom:

I have a Takamine DI and originally used it to power the Cool Tube on one of the Taks but a few additional things I found out and really like is the fact that this DI has a Boost switch where I can boost the signal for leads just by hitting the switch. Then I found out using an XLR out of the DI to the board real enhances the signal of the acoustic guitar and the clarity is really awesome.

 

Colonel:

Yes, that is another feature that I was very interested in on the M20, the recording capabilities and the ease of doing this. I would love to hear the recordings you did. Thanks for providing your set up information, that is really helpful.

 

Really appreciate the responses, I am very interested in this and hope I can find a good deal on one soon.

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Here is the link to the M20d recording I did of my buddy Patrick Gemkow doing his solo-acoustic thing at Smoke Daddy in Chicago. I hadn't yet learned how to do the input gain, so the levels were realllly low in the .wav files. 24 bit gives you a lot of headroom apparently, because the levels were loud and clear to the house PA / mixer. Go figure! Makes me realize you want to set your input trim conservatively, you are better off with a .wav file that looks like it's too low, and boost it rather than one that is set too hot and clips! Anyway, forgive my somewhat novice mixing skills, and over-zealous use of compressor plugins.. I ended up mixing this on Adobe Audition because it's what I know, but I am in the process of learning to use my Pro Tools 11 - bit of a learning curve there! lol :)

 

Patrick Gemkow : Live at Smoke Daddy - March 27, 2014

 

If you dig into the extended presets for input sources, there is one in there for cajon! The drummer I jam with actually builds cajons, pretty cool instrument. We did some recording at his rehearsal space, he was on drum kit and his son was playing the cajon - but I didn't have the M20d long at that point, and had not yet learned how to adjust the input trim settings

 

Here is a link to the Facebook page for his custom cajon designs - the guy is a top shelf carpenter, his primary business is home remodel and renovation - good stuff!

 

TDC Custom Cajons

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use the thru on voicelive....still get vocal fx that way

 

Yeah, the VoiceLive gear is pretty cool like that. I am looking at adding the new VoiceLive3 to my rig - for me, among other things, a big selling point is that you can run a dual-mono two XLR output - one with the dry voice, and one with the FX on the vocal. That's one thing that is a nightmare with those cheaper vocal processors - 1/4" outputs are NOT good to run vocals through! Especially if the stage has a snake to get to the FOH mix.

 

I don't have a major issue with the pitch correction stuff; but personally, I want the soundguy to retain control of a dry version of the vocal - just in case, and also because it's a good way to still hear where your actual pitch is in relation to what the pitch correction is doing.

 

Will let ya'all know when I get that added to the rig! The MP-75 mic they make also looks like a cool idea, allows you control over certain parameters of some of the TC Helicon gear, like the VoiceLive gear.

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Yeah, the VoiceLive gear is pretty cool like that. I am looking at adding the new VoiceLive3 to my rig - for me, among other things, a big selling point is that you can run a dual-mono two XLR output - one with the dry voice, and one with the FX on the vocal. That's one thing that is a nightmare with those cheaper vocal processors - 1/4" outputs are NOT good to run vocals through! Especially if the stage has a snake to get to the FOH mix.

 

I don't have a major issue with the pitch correction stuff; but personally, I want the soundguy to retain control of a dry version of the vocal - just in case, and also because it's a good way to still hear where your actual pitch is in relation to what the pitch correction is doing.

 

Will let ya'all know when I get that added to the rig! The MP-75 mic they make also looks like a cool idea, allows you control over certain parameters of some of the TC Helicon gear, like the VoiceLive gear.

just like "Joe's Garage" line..."You'll love it"! I had 2 & now #3 cheers

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