Cave Stage

This is an example of a stage set up on a cave stage.

This is how it looked before we added keyboards, e-drums, a backline guitar amp (low volume, miked), and another vocal microphone. As you can imagine, it was pretty tight once we got everybody on the stage.

Note

We did not use the loudspeakers mounted on the side walls of the stage.

Stage

Here's a cave stage. The stage elevation is 30" (.75 meters). The back of the stage is narrower than the front, and it's not very deep. (approximately 25 feet across the front, 15 feet across the back, 8 feet deep)

Sound Sources

• Four vocal microphones
• Two electric guitars (one with a backline amp, miked. The other running through an amp modeller)
• Sometimes, the electric guitars played acoustic guitars (wireless to the T4S with ToneMatch Presets)
• Electronic drums (with monitors)
• Keyboard (with monitor)
• Electric Bass (direct to the mixer using a ToneMatch Preset)
• T8S mixer daisy chained to a T4S mixer - total - 12 channels available

L1 positions

Given the limited space, I set up the two L1 Pro32s at the back corners. I would have preferred to position them closer to the middle, but that would have encroached on the space needed for the drums and keyboard.

Room dimensions

The room is about 3000 square feet (280 square meters) and approximately 20 feet (6 meters) tall.

Audience

• Up to 150 people set up at round tables
• Audience is dancing, socializing, drinking

Settings

Running five microphones on this tight stage could have been a problem, so I used these aggressive settings for the noise gates

Comp/Gate Noise Gate

• Thresh -35 dB
• Speed 70% (slower Speed (higher value) gives a more gradual cut-off, and this may sound more natural as a singer naturally lowers their volume at times)
• Ramp 100% (so the beginnings of phrases are allowed through by ramping up the volume quickly

No Reverb, Delay or other effects

The room had enough natural reverb that there was no need to add more. On the stage, the vocals didn't sound dry or sterile without reverb because there were ample early side reflections from the stage walls

Stage Volume

We had a reasonable stage volume (not excessive) because we kept the volume low in the monitors for the keyboard and electronic drums. We miked the guitar amp. The other electric guitar ran through a guitar amp modeller to one of the L1 Pro32s. The electric bass was connected directly to the other L1 Pro32 using a ToneMatch Preset.

Everything could be heard well throughout the room.

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