Advice for Looping Percussionist: was Help needed with RC 50 connectionsset-up

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Hi Andrea,

I've toured all over the world as a multi-percussionist
and here's what I've found works:


Buy yourself an AKG C1000s microphone ($200 (USD) each or sometimes
available for 2 for $300 USD)

It's a condenser but it comes with a little plastic 'focusing' cone that 
you can
screw on that turns the mic into an ultra hyper cardioid pattern (thus 
eliminating
most feedback).

I'd also highly recommend that you invest in a decent set of
in ear monitors (for just your own monitoring).     Using
open ear plugs you can hear the other instrumentalists but you can
control your own volume with no danger of feedback whatsoever.

Do not be fooled into buy the expensive in ear monitor headphones.
Just invest in a good set of in ear headphones for a stereo.
I use a Shure wireless system.  It was relatively inexpensive (around 
$400 at the
time I bought it), it's light weight and it's amazing.

You can set up off stage at a music festival and get your sound 
completely dialed
in without disturbing anyone.   It has so radically reduced my anxiety 
touring
around the world when you are faced with really tough festival 
conditions and no
time to set up.

Additionally, I recommend that you either purchase or have someone
wire you a mic cable that has a silent on-off switch and then have the 
discpline
to continually turn your microphone off when you are not recording your 
loops.

There will be some venues where you will get feedback because of the 
particular
acoustics in the room.

Because of this I try to take either a Shure Beta 58 ($180 USD) or , 
better yer,
a Shure Beta 57 ($175 USD) to use instead of the C1000s.

You can pick them up cheaper and the Shures generally are very rugged so
buying a used one generally is a good bet.

The Beta Shures not only have a better frequency response than the older 
SM57 and SM58
(I've seen tablas sound like god with these puppies) and they also 
reject feedback at much higher
volumes than the older Shure SM57.

My last piece of advice for you is to be very, very careful if you use 
any kind of
frame drum..................the large parallel surface of the drum can 
be an instant
reflector for feedback coming from the monitors.

Some frame drummers (and other percussionists) will additionally use 
something
like a Schertler pickup that sticks inside of the drum.

Personally,  I just don't think this solution gets the nuance one needs 
from the drums
and, additionally, one cannot take advantate of the proximity effect 
that a good dynamic
microphone has which can be a great way of nuancing a performance.

A trick I love is to bring the mic right down on the frame drum or 
ghatam so that
it begins to feedback at the pitch of the fundamental frequency of the 
head.
By bending the head one can 'play' the feedback to end a song effectively.

Good luck and don't hesitate to write me if you need more advice along 
these lines.

yours,   Rick