I need some guidance. I am the director of a 3A marching band program that has achieved a 1st division. However, after competing at Area and observing the bands at State, it is obvious that we must expand our front ensemble. There were no electronics at all in our show. None of the soloists used mics. We own one marimba and one set of vibes. Maybe an additional marimba is feasible for next year. We also need the set-up with suspended cymbals and the like. Right now we have three students in the front. They are good players. They will all be returning next year. Percussion and electronics are weak areas for me as a director. Fortunately, I have some really good help in the percussion area, but not a full time director. What electronics should I invest in? Speakers, sound board, mics? This is so incredibly out of my comfort zone, I am very old school (52 yrs old). The asst. director also has very little experience in this area. But these students deserve the opportunity to be competitive. We’ve already made great strides, including a more contemporary approach to the marching show, but we have to do more. I’m willing to take the leap. Where do I start?
I would call the guys at Sweetwater. They are great and can talk you through all the stuff you will need. Christian Good is a great guy and was really helpful in getting us set up three years ago.
You will need to buy speakers, sound board, microphones, cables, amps (if passive speakers), a power source (generator or battery system), wireless system (optional), and then a speaker cart to throw it all into. Highly suggest Stadium Creations for your cart.
Lastly, if you have a kid that plays piano decent, then you will need a synth. If you don't and you plan on having percussion students play a synth part, look into buying a MalletStation. This will allow your percussion student to continue to develop as a percussionist and not have them pecking at notes on a synth. There are cons to it, mainly you will need to buy a computer and the malletstation can be a bit finicky.
This is something most people I believe have to gradually build up. I'll give a few suggestions, but I would highly suggest reaching out to Andrew Werst at Microphonics - he's a great source for both info and the equipment.
1) You will need a mixer, speakers, and depending on speakers - amps.
Mixer: If you can swing it, a Yamaha TF3 is a good overall mixer that will last a long time. The TF1 would work for what you’re using now. Behringer makes some cheaper ones, but I don't think they last as long as some of my friends' talking. When we started down this road, we had an Analog Yamaha mixer that worked okay, just not as user-friendly.
Speakers: There are two types of speakers, passive and active. Passive require external amps that you keep in your mixer cart, active have them built in. With passive you can just run a speakon cable from your amp to them, while an active speaker you'll need to run a power cable to too. At this point I feel like active speakers are becoming more common than passive, but I've been happy with our passive speakers personally.
A couple years ago we bought our Mackie DRM series array speakers (2 12's) and 18" sub. I've been more than happy with them, but they're pricey for starting out. We used some cheaper Yorkville's for over a decade that would be worth looking at. Yamaha always makes good speakers and products, and JBL also has good speakers.
Amps: Only necessary if you get passive speakers. I like our old Yamahas, I feel like they're a good solid choice for amps if you go that route!
What you might find a good way to do this is look for a used setup. Some schools and corps will sell complete sets as used gear - might save you half or more. The setup I just mentioned would be about $12,400 from Sweetwater with no carts or discounts from them on the gear.
A cart will run you $3k-$5k, but if you have a good welding teacher at your school you could build for cheaper.
Microphones: I really have settled on the AT2035s being the best all-around mic for front ensemble and soloists. It's my go to. I've also liked some of the Audio Technica Pro 37 and their instrumental mic that I can't think of the name on. The old standby used to be the Shure-SM57, but I'm not a huge fan of them personally and you won't see many of them in use these days.
You also need cables too. If you contact Andrew who I mentioned before, he can create a turnkey system ready to go for you. I highly recommend giving him or Cristian Good at Sweetwater a call. Julie Romeo at Romeo Music is also a good lead to contact.
2) Other electronics:
We have gotten a lot of use out of our MalletStation setup. You can use mainstage with cheaper keyboards to unlock more sounds too. You will need at least a Macbook Air to run Mainstage though. (A lot of people use Mac Mini's too)
3) Wireless:
I highly recommend starting with the basics first and planning on soloists being plugged in to start. Know that when you start going down the wireless rabbit hole you're going to be dropping $1k per channel minimum to have it be mostly fool-proof. We have about $5k I think in our 3 wireless mic pack systems. Actually more with the mics we've purchased. That's a phase two process in my mind.
