Karaoke Forums

Do live bands use vocal only speakers? What I mean is do they have speakers for the music only and then also speakers just for vocals? Or do they do like karaoke, music and vocals out of the same speaker? Would it sound better if vocals are used with their own speaker? What do the experts think? Thanks

My experiance with bands is that - The music and vocals all come out of the same speakers.  Generally the LIVE music would run thru individual amplifiers ( ie Guitars / Bass / Keys)  Then these amps would be MIKED to go thru the PA system just like the vocals. --- Now I do believe that there are SPEAKERS that are more designed just for MUSIC PLAYBACK ( dj's) versus LIVE SOUND REINFORCEMENT  which would be better suited for Live Music and Vocals.

It varies greatly depending on the mix of instruments and the venue. That is why "live sound" is formally called "Sound Reinforcement".

For instance, typically in a small club you have no need at all to mic drums. If the guitarists cab is good, you won't really have a need to reinforce that; but sometimes a sound man will like a feed in so that he can (somewhat) control the sound.

Usually the guitars will go through direct boxes to the PA, and the drums will be miked depending on the size of the venue. If you have only two mics, it is usually the kick drum and overhead condensers; you might also mike the snares. In a very large venue, they will do multiple overheads and mic the toms as well.

If the venue is very large, everything will go not only to the FOH PA system but to multiple monitor mixes.

So the answer is -- a definite maybe.

It’s not uncommon in small rooms to mic only the vocals to the FOH speakers, and the rest comes from the instruments themselves or their on-stage amplifiers,

But whatever is miced/DIed will get mixed together on the mixer board and sent to the same FOH speakers.  

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of separate FOH (Front-of-House) speakers, one set for vocal and one for instruments, but then again I haven’t seen everything.

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Hate is like taking poison, hoping the other guy gets sick

Bands with limited resourses will often run everything through one PA, ESPECIALLY your typical aucoustic duo or beach band that doesn't need to amplify the drums.

When I played in my band, we ran the vocals through the main PA pretty much by themselves, the guitarist ran through his own half stack, the bassist ran through his own bass cab, and then the whole mix of everyone was routed through the monitors. The overall mix also appeared ever so slightly in the main vocal PA, but was predominantly coming from each individual instrument's cab. We also never played in a large enough venue that we needed to mic the drums.

Now, I have run sound for some well established bands with far more resourses, and most of them would use the same basic concept as my band did above, but usually had a tri-amped main PA and "located" each instrument/voice within their dominant spectrum in the main mix, i.e., voice was dominant in the midrange so it was almost entirely located in the midrange cabs, the bass guitar and drums in the bass bins and slightly in the midrange, the guitar slightly in the midrange and dominant in the high cabs, and the cymbols entirely in the high cabs. That is basically the PROPER way to do it, and even the nationally touring acts do practically the same thing, just with arrays of cabs instead of single pairs.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Bottom Line ...For KARAOKE - Music and Vocals thru the same set of quality speakers

Though if you can afford separate tri-amped speakers, and want to lug around all of that equipment (three to six amps, six to nine speakers, extensive crossover network, etc.), it will certainly sound better

Alas, it just isn't practical for the karaoke world!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

But the sound is unbeatable!  Only way I fly  :D

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Lonman,

Don't I remember correctly that your equipment is semi-installed at your primary gig? I would certainly upgrade my stuff to a multi-amped rig (I own a bi-amped rig that I use for weddings) if I could install my stuff.

I guess I meant that it is completely impractical if you are forced to have a portable rig!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

My mobile system consisted of a tri-amp system - same stuff I ran sound for bands with using 2 18" subs, 2 Peavey SP4, 3 Carvin DCM2000 amps for mains, smaller power amp for 2 stage monitors, and a 18 space rack for effects, crossovers, processors.  
Yeah it may have been overkill, but again, the sound equaled band quality.  Unfortunately, all the undercutting/piracy out here, I could never get a price over $100-125 from any club, so I dropped the mobile side & eventually sold it all for a new venture - but ran that system in most of the clubs & private shows I ran during a 5 year span - did have a set of older SP3 modified to be bi-amped I would use in smaller clubs, but the subs were always there too.

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Lon,
Exactly, The pay scale now for Karaoke from a low of $100 to a high of $200 per night just does not justify Lugging around a trailer load of equipment on a nightly basis. SURE for permanent applications or special events one might one to go the extra. As stated I am sure it sounds awesome.  But those gigs just don't come often enough for me...  Not yet anyway  

  I hope you get paid like what that's worth, Lon....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I do at my main club.  
The other system I would take out for $175 per night (less if I had a multiple in a row nights - bars like quantity deals).  The system was mainly designed for live bands, but even that wasn't paying what it once used to.

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If you wanna have a good cry,





move to Youngstown OH.  

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Hate is like taking poison, hoping the other guy gets sick

nah I think I can cry enough here as it is.

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I can pass along something that seems to be accepted around live sound forums that I frequent…

12” Main speakers are better for vocals than 15” speakers, if that helps any.  

Probably an ideal setup would be 18” Subs and 12” Mains.

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Hate is like taking poison, hoping the other guy gets sick

Good 12" tops w/subs are the ideal set-up for most music situations - including karaoke.  But crossed over correctly & powered properly, a 15" with a sub can sound equally as good.

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sad isn't it... $175 a night....this day and age that's no money, not for the investment u have to put into it...

back when.... we charged $1400 a night for a 5 piece band and worked 6 nights a week.....and the club made tons of money, but they would never tell u that....
seems to me they're making the same with karaoke but only paying out 100 to 175 a night....something's wrong here....

if karaoke is the hottest thing going right now and if u and all the kj's packed up, seems u could get some type of raise out of it,  yes i know about cut throats,  but a good butt woopin' could fix that quick....

used to the bands (good ones anyway) could pretty much get what they wanted within reason....the club owner knew that's where their income was coming from....
now it seems like the club owners have the upper hand and say well if u want do it for this i'll get someone cheaper.....

been out of it awhile so i'm not sure what's going on, but it seems screwy to me....JMO

True,  of course back when,  the PA was Altec VOTT bin stacks too  :)   The soundmen hooked up all that big stuff,  several mics on the drums, horns had mics, boards were large analog Allen & Heath with cables taped to the floor, everything had a channel (of course I didn't have a microphone, at least for any time-span, it kept disappearing).  for large coliseum type venues everything went into the board, and went direct into a PA mix as well as our instrument amps, the house had a system which was integrated with the bands system, the house had soundmen, we had soundmen (or at least a soundman who operated lighting too).  Since high volume sound from amps also bled into microphones stuff had to be mixed accordingly..  Instruments went thru amps, and ran direct, Horns went direct, Whatever it took to balance the sound..Monitor setups etc...


Type of speakers used depends on what you are pushing into the speakers, larger loud bands push hard and cover a lot of frequency area.  We never played any style of rock music that would work with JBL Eon or Fender Passport type setups of course, the speakers would often easily blow out matches, and eardrums. This was R&B, Classic Rock, Funk etc. When you have very high output instruments, several vocalists, a horn section, are mic'ing different drums you are PUSHING A LOT and need speakers that can handle a tremendous load, covering a variety of the sound frequency spectrum. You have multiple sources that are loud. Usually in such a case bands use separate loudspeakers, smaller loud bands might use cabs containing an 18 with mids and horns or with a 2x15 config and 12 or 10 inch mids and horn configs, cabs that can handle several thousand watts per cab.   We had bass bins, mids, and horns stacked.. all separate loudspeakers in bin stacks. Pushing very high wattage outdoors.  Of course back then DB levels weren't as regulated as today.  Things were usually deafening.   You aren't going to see KJ rig (I doubt) that looks like 60's & 70's rock band stacks.  The output was considerably greater for rock bands.  OF course coffee house gigs might've gone thru smaller systems.  In the 70's and 80's sometimes Bose 901's,  column PA's containing perhaps 4x12's per column, sometimes 4x10's or various configs of speakers contained in each column where maybe only 50-150 watts were needed max..  Acoustic guitars and vocals don't push as hard as loud electric rock style with a greater frequency demand and volume load (bass, synth, guitar, sax, bass drum, cymbals, etc)

All depends on venue type, size, style of music, and output.  Electric piano, Organ, and Synth alone are very high output instruments.  As are some of the saxes, etc..  All depends and I believe multiple musical instruments in band settings push a MUCH higher and powerful sound output than what you'll find with playback device playing recorded music, accompanied by a vocalist singing in a karaoke setting.  The speakers must handle considerably greater input if you are in a large room, or especially outdoors with separate amplified instruments covering greater frequency range pushing louder volumes !  Again,  depends on instruments, style, volume, etc.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".