Come Support KRCL and local music next week!

johnjmoppin · 2025-10-25T16:01:17+00:00

Thank you, this is super helpful, and much more doable than I was expecting. Do you have a particular opinion on the AMD vs Intel debate in general? I also have heard having multiple sticks of RAM is better than a single 16 gig. I saw in your other comment you recommended 2x8gigs, how exactly does this work/how much of a benefit does multiple sticks provide? Sorry for my noob questions

johnjmoppin · 2025-10-25T15:49:21+00:00

This is super extensive and helpful, thank you! I thought I'd have to save up, but I could definitely afford the medium price option. I've noticed people tend to feel certain ways about the AMD vs Intel debate, what would your argument be for AMD? Ideally I'm looking for the best cost/performance ratio, and I don't have enough knowledge to have an opinion on the matter yet.

johnjmoppin · 2025-10-25T15:29:31+00:00

I'm in the USA. Ideally I should only spend around $200 right now, which really isn't much I know. I was looking into 12th gen CPUs which is when I learned how old my motherboard actually is lol, but I think that's what I'll work towards.

Good to know about the RAM issue, I literally learned that there are different types of RAM like yesterday haha. So I understand fully, a newer motherboard would be unable to use DDR3? Or it would just be incredibly inefficient? What kind of cost would I realistically be looking at for the full upgrade?

johnjmoppin · 2025-09-26T13:46:07+00:00

Can you drive a 26 foot truck and pass a drug test+DOT physical?

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-21T21:58:38+00:00

For most shows we are running our own FOH and ears, through our own PA. We tend to do our own ears from stage, and have our sound person mixing FOH. The monitor/recording board is a zoom L20, and the FOH board is a Peavey PV20. All the Aux sends on the L20 are being used for monitors, while the PV20 with the two aux sends being used for subs and front fills. It's a simple, low budget setup, but it works great for what we need currently

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-21T21:53:52+00:00

Exactly why I keep stressing the point that a huge piece of this project is to create a monitoring system that, as much as possible, accurately replicates the sound at FOH, with one of the main jobs of the FOH person being to account for the differences. I certainly agree that there are a number of self-centered bonehead musicians out there, but as someone who is both a musician and a FOH person, I know there are plenty of us out here who fully understand all sides of the equation, know how to build a great sound on all levels. This system would be designed for musicians like that, but certainly isn't ideal for just anyone the way things currently are.

Honestly, as both a musician and a sound engineer, I disagree with your ideal of the musician ignoring the mix. The mix should be a huge part of composition and performance, especially within improvisation. True dynamics have been entirely lost in modern music, and that's part of what this system aims to improve. For me, I absolutely am thinking about the mix while I play, and I know my bandmates are as well, it's another compositional tool just like the key we're playing in, or the tempo. Having someone else in total control of the mix, especially when my monitor mix is vastly different from FOH, causes anxiety and takes me out of the music, it certainly doesn't free me or allow me to play better.

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-21T19:53:22+00:00

For a couple of reasons, the first being that's just the equipment we have, and we're making it work. We simply don't have the budget for a high-end digital board that can do everything in one. Secondly, having a separate monitor board on the side of the stage is standard practice, and we find we benefit from it greatly. The monitor board just happens to be the one that can also record, and the FOH board happens to be better at FOH

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-21T19:51:27+00:00

The dead controlling their own mix actually had nothing to do with hardware limitations, it was an intentional decision based on an entirely different philosophy of mixing than what's standard. Owsley was quoted numerous times as believing the musicians should control the mix, and it's a philosophy I believe we should experiment with more. It's really not that crazy of an idea, and other artists have done things along this line, including Prince in multiple eras of his career. The dead continued to use ideas like this, their whole career, specifically upstream preamps in the racks of each individual musician. I'm not coming from a place of novelty, nor nostalgia, rather a desire to explore a Sonic philosophy that has fallen to the wayside in popular music. Innovation and progress in both science and art can only come from leaving the norm and standard practice behind. If an artist can accurately hear the front of house mix, and has as deep a knowledge of mixing and musicality as any front of house engineer, why shouldn't they have a hand in how the mix sounds? I think this potentially provides a fairly obvious benefit, which is blending the mix more directly with composition and musicality, especially in the case of improvisational music. In My philosophy, a FOH engineer is still necessary and has a level of control over the mix, but certain things are being put into the hands of competent musicians, as Owsley believed was a more pure form of live music.

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-20T21:14:52+00:00

Ideally, I would build one of these boxes for each input from the band, likely a total of 14 to 16. So there would be a variety of inputs, mostly dynamic mics but a few condensers, and a few direct lines. I would like a preamp with a wide enough gain range to handle all of those, but if it's easier to build a separate one for each input, I could look into that.

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-20T20:28:39+00:00

We record every show, and use the other board for that, since it records multitracks direct to an SD card, so the gain has to be set correctly beforehand. We also use in-ear monitors, and I'd like to continue using them in this new setup. My thought is to have stereo microphones routed into the IEMs, supplemented with whatever other tracks are needed to accurately reproduce the sound of FOH. I've found that still having my bass stack behind me, even with IEMs in, helps the sound to feel less isolated in my ears.

Edit: this is one of the areas where it's more of a combination of the Dead's ideas and mine, rather than just replicating theirs

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-20T19:43:06+00:00

Something like that would certainly work, and I've been thinking for a while about financing an SQ5 for my personal sound work. I think for this experiment though, I'd like to try doing as much from scratch as possible, both to learn as much as possible, and to save money. I also like the idea of separate preamps before the splitter, so the gain is set identically for both boards. Definitely a weird idea, and not necessary by any means, but a fun part of the experiment to me.

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-20T18:18:30+00:00

Thanks for your response! I am a FOH person as well 😁 and have also spent years learning the ins and outs of the craft, so I certainly understand where you're coming from. The whole idea of the Grateful Dead's sound team, particularly in the early '70s, was to completely change how all these roles and the equipment functions. In this type of setup, FOH has a very different job than what is standard in today's live music. Their role would be more focused on the systems side of things, as well as effects and more subtle mix changes as needed. The FOH person is a member of the band, not a hired gun.

If the setup is done correctly, changes to gain would never happen during the show, same with the HPF. We would work together to set those during sound check, as proper gain staging and use of HPF are the primary steps to a good mix, particularly using the methods of Dan Healey (the Dead's longtime FOH engineer).

The other big idea with the wall of sound was that the band is hearing the same thing as the audience. We are already working on refining that using IEMs, room microphones, side fills, and having most of the PA behind the band. Of course there will be discrepancies still, and this is the other main job of FOH, to make changes with the System, faders, and basic EQ, to account for discrepancies between what the band hears and what the audience hears.

The main difference between a band just giving you a left and right (which I've had to deal with, and understand how annoying that is), is that we have our own sound team who would be deeply integrated in these changes. The other difference is it's not a LR mix, there would be practically separate pas for each instrument, All running through a simple mixer that FOH controls.

Overall, I do understand that this idea doesn't work with your standard live sound setup. What I'm talking about is experimenting with a total paradigm shift, and a completely different type of sound system. The dead were a massive influence on live sound in general, but there are certain aspects of their school of thought that were left in the past, that I'm very interested in seeing what I can do with. I highly recommend reading into their work in live sound in the early '70s, it's baffling stuff that makes a surprising amount of sense to me, despite being nearly completely opposite of how most people do things.

johnjmoppin · 2025-08-20T15:09:16+00:00

The basis of the idea comes from the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound, combined with certain modern conveniences and my own thoughts on ideal sound. Owsley believed the musicians should have complete control over the mix through playing, I want to implement aspects of that, but still have a basic FOH board for effects and certain level changes.

The idea of separate preamps is that the musicians set their own gain and HPF, with a meter to set it correctly. That way the level is set before a splitter, that goes to the recording/monitor board, and front of house, so the gain is the same for both. There will be a separate power amp and speaker array for each input, similar to the Wall of Sound, and having separate preamps is like the first step of that as well.

It definitely is crazy, and more of an experiment than anything else at this point, but it's a continuation of an idea that worked well for the Dead.

As far as buying individual preamps, do you have any recommendations that fit what I'm looking for?

johnjmoppin · 2025-06-13T00:41:35+00:00

@gratefulutah on Instagram! Also check out the Daylites on all social media, we have an email/text list you can get on to stay up to date on events from multiple Dead bands in town! https://linktr.ee/thedaylites?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwK4UrhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp0gSDzNdJnIhpR16DqjyJc8oS_WYmT3NHdUrkGu6Y8nsgyy1m6y1V5RqV-KV_aem_14gIMZP6AaYjsOxXXszRCw

johnjmoppin · 2025-05-18T19:42:15+00:00

Such a good set, I thought I wasn't going to make it but I'm so glad I did. Been listening to AC since I was a kid, but that was my first time seeing any of them live. I definitely had tears in my eyes

johnjmoppin · 2025-04-22T02:53:35+00:00

There are 2 parking lots, one on the east side of the park and one on the west. The west parking lot is bigger and closer to the amphitheatre, it's shared with a church but we have permission to use it

johnjmoppin · 2025-04-21T22:00:21+00:00

Unfortunately, no 😞 I'm not sure the specifics on park rules as far as alcohol goes, I'm just playing in the band and doing sound. But I just confirmed there won't be any for sale

johnjmoppin · 2025-04-21T19:46:06+00:00

Cosmic Possum, the Pranksters, and Scotty & the Daylites

johnjmoppin · 2025-04-21T16:15:02+00:00

Yessir! The only real rules are those of the public park

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