Submitted by ChilliWarmKangaroo t3_z3pkmb in Music
I have a garage which me and my band play in, we have drums, guitar amps, blah blah blah. But we need something to plug our microphone into because we can't hear it over the drums and guitar. And ideas?
Thanks! But what do I do with the oa system
You plug your mic into the PA system, which works as an amplifier for your mic. There's usually multiple channels on then so you can use more than one mic if you want
So the PA system is like an amp. It will have channels for mics or instruments to be plugged in. Each channel has mix and volume controls to get the right mix for your speakers. The PA will run this signal to loudspeakers.
Craigslist or your local Music Go Round/pawn shops should have you covered for fairly cheap. You will need a mic (shure is a good brand), XLR (microphone) cable, speaker cables, a PA unit and speakers
You need a small mixing board and one or two powered speakers. Go to Guitar Center or any music store. You’ll be spending a few hundred dollars. If it’s just for vocals in the garage you should be able to get a 4 channel mixer for around $150, and a cheap but useable powered speaker will run about $350. You’ll need a few cables too. If you only need one or two vocals most powered speakers these days have two inputs with their own volume controls, you just won’t be able to eq anything. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.
I have like 20 bucks to my name haha, I was hoping for some magical solution. I tried using guitar amps before lol
You can do that with an xlr to 1/4 inch cable, but it won’t sound very good. Unfortunately it costs money to make music. I just looked on the GC site and there’s an American audio speaker for $170 that would probably get it done in a garage setting.
To add to this, if you can afford it, you can get a complete new system on musiciansfriend or sweetwater at a reasonable price. It will be a low-end system but a starter system doesn’t need to be top of the line, and what you can get for a few hundred bucks should be sufficient for band practice and gigs in small venues.
Do you play an instrument or just sing? If you’re also a guitarist, maybe you have a spare guitar to trade for a PA?
Yea i am but all my other guitars are like 200 dollar used peices of shit
I feel your pain. We sang through a bass amp in my high school punk band until we got a new bass player whose parents bought him a PA. Do you have any rich friends who play?
No I have no friends :/
a 2-channel mixer and a powered speaker will work famously well. if everything in the jam space still gets too loud, there are slightly more complicated setups that'll give the singer comfortable control over the dynamics (e.g. a Behringer MA400 Micro Mon, headphones, and a 2nd mic that only acts as a room mic and only sent to the headphones, etc.)
percygreen t1_ixmusdo wrote
You need a PA system. Check out Craigslist or pawn shops for a cheap one if money is an issue, or start researching a really good one if money is not an issue.