Maiden live performance with Fractal FM9s

[Art_Vandelay]

My Iron Maiden tribute band (Peace of Mind, in Minnesota) is playing a Halloween livestream tonight at 8 central. Our other guitarist and I will both be using our new Fractal FM9s for the first time live.

If anyone would like to check it out, it will be at https://fb.me/e/1lma3QqC6, and is free. If you're curious to see if the livestream will be worth your time, we have a number prior livestream and in-person performance videos on our Facebook and YouTube pages.

 

[nksoloproject]

Sounds great! I see your band goes for the 'no backline, no wedge monitors, use in ear monitors' philosophy, which is what I prefer. Nice work!

 

[Gasp100]

The audio sounds freaking incredible! Fantastic job guys!

 

[sws1]

It really DOES sound good.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Thanks, guys. We appreciate it!

Sounds great! I see your band goes for the 'no backline, no wedge monitors, use in ear monitors' philosophy, which is what I prefer. Nice work!

Yeah, that's way we do it in our studio. So nice for each of to be able to create a custom mix with no bleed from backline or wedges. For traditional (live/in person audience) gigs, we still go direct but use the house wedges to monitor. At some point, we plan to move to a rack mixer setup to be able to use our in ears away from the rehearsal studio so we're not at the mercy of the house sound guy and monitors, which inevitably leaves at least one of us with a poor monitor mix.

 

[nksoloproject]

That's cool, I wish you every success! I was also wondering, how did you film the videos with multiple camera angles? Did you have several cameras set up on different parts of the stage and then switch between them with video editing tools or something? I want to do something like that with my band, but still trying to figure out how to do it.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

That's cool, I wish you every success! I was also wondering, how did you film the videos with multiple camera angles? Did you have several cameras set up on different parts of the stage and then switch between them with video editing tools or something? I want to do something like that with my band, but still trying to figure out how to do it.

We used five cameras simultaneously, all connected to a BlackMagic ATEM video switcher. We used the ATEM Mini previously, which has 4 HDMI inputs, and we moved up to an ATEM Mini Extreme recently, which has 8 HDMI inputs. Both are pretty impressive little boxes! The ATEMs let you easily switch between the inputs to go from camera to camera as the show progresses. We have a buddy handle the switching during the livestreams as we play. If you don't have anyone available to man the switcher, you can create macros in the ATEM to have it switch automatically, but we haven't messed with that.

The hdmi output of the ATEM is then fed to a desktop running a program called OBS (Open Broadcast System), which is where the audio and video feeds are merged and passed along to FaceBook or YouTube (or wherever you want to stream it). The Mini Extreme (or the Mini Pro, I believe) also allows you to record the feed from each input to an external hard drive, so you can re-edit it however you want after the fact.

It's a pretty slick setup! Our singer (whose basement recording studio is where we rehearse and do our livestreams) has done most of the heavy lifting in figuring this stuff out, but I've learned a little bit along the way as well. I'm happy to provide some more input if/when needed, or pass it along to our resident video expert if you have questions beyond my modest knowledge base.

 

[nksoloproject]

We used five cameras simultaneously, all connected to a BlackMagic ATEM video switcher. We used the ATEM Mini previously, which has 4 HDMI inputs, and we moved up to an ATEM Mini Extreme recently, which has 8 HDMI inputs. Both are pretty impressive little boxes! The ATEMs let you easily switch between the inputs to go from camera to camera as the show progresses. We have a buddy handle the switching during the livestreams as we play. If you don't have anyone available to man the switcher, you can create macros in the ATEM to have it switch automatically, but we haven't messed with that.

The hdmi output of the ATEM is then fed to a desktop running a program called OBS (Open Broadcast System), which is where the audio and video feeds are merged and passed along to FaceBook or YouTube (or wherever you want to stream it). The Mini Extreme (or the Mini Pro, I believe) also allows you to record the feed from each input to an external hard drive, so you can re-edit it however you want after the fact.

It's a pretty slick setup! Our singer (whose basement recording studio is where we rehearse and do our livestreams) has done most of the heavy lifting in figuring this stuff out, but I've learned a little bit along the way as well. I'm happy to provide some more input if/when needed, or pass it along to our resident video expert if you have questions beyond my modest knowledge base.

Hey thanks for the info, I am going to look into all this and give it a try. That sounds like an awesome setup!

 

[John Quinn]

My Iron Maiden tribute band (Peace of Mind, in Minnesota) is playing a Halloween livestream tonight at 8 central. Our other guitarist and I will both be using our new Fractal FM9s for the first time live.

If anyone would like to check it out, it will be at https://fb.me/e/1lma3QqC6, and is free. If you're curious to see if the livestream will be worth your time, we have a number prior livestream and in-person performance videos on our Facebook and YouTube pages.

I and my band subscribe to the no backline and IEMs philosophy too. Your band sounds fantastic - and I think more people will adopt this way of playing
when they realize their hearing won't suffer and their sound won't suffer.

 

[mudster]

Guitars sounded great. The drum sound was awesome. What IEM system do you use? I'd like to explore that although I don't know if I can budge some of the guys in the band

 

[ChrisP]

My forearms cramped up watching your bass player

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Guitars sounded great. The drum sound was awesome. What IEM system do you use? I'd like to explore that although I don't know if I can budge some of the guys in the band

We use the Behringer p16 system. I don't recall what audio interface and preamps we've got, but the mics and our direct signals all run in those and then into Cubase, which then outputs to a P16-i that distributes the signal to five P16-m personal mixers (one for each of us). The p16-m is what we connect our in ears to, and allows us to dial up a custom monitor mix to our preferences. If you're looking into portable system to use at gigs (as we are considering), something like the Behringer x32 Rack + p16-m's might be a good way to go. There are some additional pieces that would be needed to go along with that, which we're still looking into ourselves. There are some good videos on YouTube that walk through some of the equipment and setup -- here are a few that might be helpful:

 

[Art_Vandelay]

My forearms cramped up watching your bass player

Yeah, I tinker with bass on some rare occasions and don't have anywhere near the endurance needed to get all the way through one Maiden song finger picking, much less an entire set. The Trooper seems particularly brutal for a bassist!

 

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

Do you guys do live shows too? I'm from Minnesota. I'm at school on the east coast right now, but I'd love to go see you guys next summer sometime when I'm back in MN.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

Do you guys do live shows too? I'm from Minnesota. I'm at school on the east coast right now, but I'd love to go see you guys next summer sometime when I'm back in MN.

We do play live shows as well. We halted in person gigs when the pandemic hit, and now that we've been looking to get back out there gigs have been a little slow to come by. We do have one scheduled for Jan 14 at Forster's Dugout, just outside of St. Paul. We're really looking forward to it, and hoping to get more shows lined up soon.

Although we tend to play primarily in the Twin Cities area, we do venture out as well. We were supposed to play at the Duluth Tribute Fest a month or two ago, but lightening apparently took out the PA for the stage we were supposed to play a couple of hours before we were supposed to take the stage, so that was a letdown. We've played up in St. Cloud, and will probably do so again before long. I'm assuming from your name that you're in Brainerd. I don't think we've ever played there -- definitely not in the 3 years I've been with the band -- but its something we're looking into (if you know of venues in Brainerd that seem like a good fit, let us know).

 

[Toolmaster Of Brainerd]

We do play live shows as well. We halted in person gigs when the pandemic hit, and now that we've been looking to get back out there gigs have been a little slow to come by. We do have one scheduled for Jan 14 at Forster's Dugout, just outside of St. Paul. We're really looking forward to it, and hoping to get more shows lined up soon.

Although we tend to play primarily in the Twin Cities area, we do venture out as well. We were supposed to play at the Duluth Tribute Fest a month or two ago, but lightening apparently took out the PA for the stage we were supposed to play a couple of hours before we were supposed to take the stage, so that was a letdown. We've played up in St. Cloud, and will probably do so again before long. I'm assuming from your name that you're in Brainerd. I don't think we've ever played there -- definitely not in the 3 years I've been with the band -- but its something we're looking into (if you know of venues in Brainerd that seem like a good fit, let us know).

Cool! I'm from Minneapolis, but Toolmaster Of Brainerd is an old Trip Shakespeare song - another Minnesota band.

I won't be back until May, but I'll have to check you guys out when I can!

 

[jaceiondalen]

My Iron Maiden tribute band (Peace of Mind, in Minnesota) is playing a Halloween livestream tonight at 8 central. Our other guitarist and I will both be using our new Fractal FM9s for the first time live.

If anyone would like to check it out, it will be at Nox Vidmate VLC, and is free. If you're curious to see if the livestream will be worth your time, we have a number prior livestream and in-person performance videos on our

It really DOES sound good.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

It really DOES sound good.

Thanks!

 

[Droptopandy]

I was in an Iron Maiden Tribute band from 1990-1993....has it been that long. I remember I used an ADA MP1 and never liked it. I finally felt good live when I used a JCM800 half stack.

I still haven't used a modeler direct live, did it feel wierd not having a cab behind you?

 

[* velcro-fly *]

Yeah, I tinker with bass on some rare occasions and don't have anywhere near the endurance needed to get all the way through one Maiden song finger picking, much less an entire set. The Trooper seems particularly brutal for a bassist!

Your bass player is smoking, great band all the way around, nice job!