[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Welcome to the Forum, Randall!

Will REW work for PA use? Yes. Is it practical? Usually not. The reason is that REW works by “trial and error”: Take a sweep, apply some filters, take another sweep, see how they worked, set new filters if necessary, etc. Most of us spend considerable time – hours, often – using REW to get our subwoofers just right. In a live situation, I can’t imagine anyone having the luxury of that kind of time to tweak the system. What works better for PAs is real-time analysis, which lets you see your changes on-screen immediately as you make them.

I’ve become concerned about getting the best bass sound possible as well as vocals and instrument support. I just want to set the EQ for the room Flat (or a House Curve) so that I can EQ the Vocalist and Instruments without GOOFY response issues i.e. three note BOOMY bass which betrays my finely crafted Bass Lines.

I can relate. REW may or may not be helpful there. It can certainly show you what the system’s doing with the bass, but it can’t show what your instrument and stage rig is contributing to everything.

That last point can’t be ignored. For one thing, unless you’re playing in really large venues with huge PA systems capable of overwhelming the backline, the stage amp can be detrimental to the bass sounding good to the audience. Often it’s too loud, or EQ’d in such a way that it clashes with the PA system. It’s pretty well understood in home theater that multiple low frequency generators are generally a detriment to clean, articulate bass; few associated with live performing – musicians or soundmen – seem to get that. Personally, I don’t even use a traditional bass amp. (Here’s a link to my rig.)

Then there is the bass itself. I consider myself pretty skilled at getting bass to sound good in a mix (as long as everyone on stage cooperates in that effort – more on that to come). But I’ve seen times when I couldn’t get anything but mush from one bass player, yet after a set change the next one would be fabulously clear and defined. Surprisingly, I’ve seen that the price of the instrument doesn’t matter much in this regard!

There are some practical things you can do to insure your band’s mixes enhance the bass as much as possible.

The main thing to avoiding a muddy-sounding mix, where you can’t pick out one bass note from another, is to limit the bass output everywhere else: every other instrument (except perhaps the kick drum), every vocal, and the stage monitors, too. This includes all stage amps, yours included (since your system has subs – it’s a different matter when you don’t.)

The problem here is that the other musicians usually start howling: “My guitar sounds wimpy.” “My toms sound like cardboard boxes.” Everyone likes that full-bodied sound, but as mentioned, too much low freq generated by a multitude of sources is going to give miserable-sounding bass. It’s fine for an acoustic guitar or a male vocal to have deep, rich lows when it’s just the two of them performing alone. But the more instruments you add, the more you have to mix (read EQ) to make the group as a whole sound good, not the individuals. EQ to make each individual sound “rich” and “full,” and ultimately none of you will when everyone’s playing together.

The other thing you can do is get a good analog parametric equalizer and insert it between your house send and the console. If that’s not possible, use the inserts on the bass channel of the mixer. That way you can fine-tune your bass to the room, eliminating any frequency ranges that might be boomy, or weak, etc. I set mine so that I get linear output from the top of the neck down to the bottom.

Third priority is to help set my crossover points and attenuation for the Tri-Amp P.A. that we’ve assembled.

REW can help with that. You can even use the Radio Shack SPL meter as your mic, since REW has calibration files for it. I assume you want to see where to crossover the sub, as most bi-ampable PA cabinets come with crossover the between horn and mids. Just sweep to see where the main speakers roll out, and set the crossover frequency accordingly.

Regards,
Wayne