For those who attend jams/open mice/club meetings

Ukejenny

Ukejenny

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What is the etiquette for amplification (voice and uke) when you are playing in a group and as a group?
 
Whoops, I totally forgot where I was... Can someone please move this to the Uke Talk board?
 
At our regular jams we don't use amps. Well, except for Karl when he plays his UBass. Open mic you'll want some kind or amplification. I went to one and sound stuff was provided.
 
At my ukulele club meetings no one uses amplification. All the jams I get into are with other acoustic players, so I don't really know what the etiquette is for people who have electric instruments. I have an acoustic soprano that's plenty loud for a mic to pick up, but if I were a picker I would probably want to be amplified at an open mic event.
 
I use an amp with the Kamoa electric, when I play with the local group. I keep the thing pointed at my head to make sure I keep track of how loud it is, and I frequently ask others if I need to turn down. I think I am at a good volume most of the time.
 
I attend three different jams on a regular basis and everyone is non amplified. The U bass player is amplified of course and for the open mike portion there are two mikes set up, one for the uke and one for vocals.
 
The open mics I go to all provide the sound. One's fairly rudimentary, a Marshall guitar amp and two mics hooked up to a PA, with a monitor when it decides to work. Another one I go to has a proper PA system, and all sound goes through the mixing desk which is always manned so you can tweak your sound song-to-song. They even have specialised mics to pick up instruments but all mine have pick-ups anyway. Oddly though they don't really have a monitor and I'm not sure which I prefer. A lot of the time it puts me off but then other times I don't like it if I can't hear myself.
 
At my uke club, only the leaders and those doing an "open mic" song use an amp for voice/uke
 
In our weekly group gatherings the leader has a mike no one else does. The U bass is amped. One or two others may plug in just for fun especially pickers. No one over powers the group. We are an informal bunch. The whole point is to make some music and have fun doing it. The definition of music is organized noise. We pretty much qualify
 
Amp it Up

Yeah, house rules. Ask.

At the open acoustic jam I've been attending, the song leaders rotate in and out, they write the chords on a white board, and have both vocal and instrument amps. Nobody else does, save the bass player. The leader will sing a couple of verses, then break for instrumental solos. Everybody plays quieter so we can hear the solo. Typically, there will be six guitars, a bass, a drum, flute, couple harmonicas, a keyboard, a cello, sometimes a sax, and a tenor uke.

At the jam group I used to attend, I played a classical guitar, and there were two steel-string guitars, a keyboard, banjo, harmonica, a mandolin. All of those were louder than my nylon-stringer, and they allowed as how I should amp up a hair for parity, which I did.

I sometimes go to an electric blues jam. When electric guitars crank, ukuleles run and hide, so you need to plug in or mic up, otherwise, you won't be able to hear yourself, much less be heard anywhere else ...
 
We use two Roland AC-33s which fill the 25' x 40' room fine and one Shure mic. We also have an amp for the U-Bass. We are thinking of getting a mixer so we can add more mikes and amps and control them from one device.

I have no problem with folks playing guitars, banjos, harmonicas, kazoos, tambourines, even shaker eggs...IF they are played competently, are appropriate to the song and don't overpower the ukes.
I felt bad about having to tell an old lady to stop shaking her egg, but it was so distracting and folks couldn't enjoy the song. I guess she didn't take kindly to my request and hasn't been back. :)
 
At the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz, performers on "stage" can plug in if they want to...and it's often best that they do. Unfortunately many beginners have no clue as to mic technique and they drift far off mic too easily. Bear in mind that with 75 to well over 100 people at a meeting, the ambient noise level can get pretty high.
 
That's why I'm asking y'all - I'm making the house rules. We have a small group and had someone with a headset mic and the instrument also plugged in all night at our last meeting. Where I was sitting, I didn't hear much, but others have made comments that it was very loud. This is a really nice guy who has a heart of gold and I'm sure he would not have turned it up too loud, had he known that it was too loud for other folks.

So, I'm asking here what all of you do at your club jams. Not so much open mic, I should not have included that in the OP title. Right now, we do not have an open mic session at our meetings, but we may add something like that to fulfill the need that I sense is arising with some of our players.

I love the enthusiasm. I'm just trying to keep everyone happy, or as happy as fairly and humanly possible.

So far, what I'm gleaning is...

1. If you have a Ubass, you can amp it. (we don't have one but may add one soon)
2. Leaders/soloists are amped and miked at meetings. If not, listen to the leader.
3. Figure out a way to make sure people don't feel they are being drowned out by an exuberant player.
4. Try not to piss anyone off or hurt any feelings.

:shaka:

Am I missing anything?
 
Ukejenny said:
Am I missing anything?
Click to expand...

Nope :) Not unless you get a sudden influx of Ubass players who can't keep rhythm. One good steady bass is great for keeping the group together... but multiple bassists can be a problem. I've known jams that had to implement a "one bass per song" rule. Cross that bridge when you come to it.
 
There are few things as bad as a too-loud bass player who can't keep time or hit the changes properly.

OH, a drummer with the same mis-qualifications...
 
Ukejenny said:
That's why I'm asking y'all - I'm making the house rules. We have a small group and had someone with a headset mic and the instrument also plugged in all night at our last meeting. Where I was sitting, I didn't hear much, but others have made comments that it was very loud. This is a really nice guy who has a heart of gold and I'm sure he would not have turned it up too loud, had he known that it was too loud for other folks.

So, I'm asking here what all of you do at your club jams. Not so much open mic, I should not have included that in the OP title. Right now, we do not have an open mic session at our meetings, but we may add something like that to fulfill the need that I sense is arising with some of our players.

I love the enthusiasm. I'm just trying to keep everyone happy, or as happy as fairly and humanly possible.

So far, what I'm gleaning is...

1. If you have a Ubass, you can amp it. (we don't have one but may add one soon)
2. Leaders/soloists are amped and miked at meetings. If not, listen to the leader.
3. Figure out a way to make sure people don't feel they are being drowned out by an exuberant player.
4. Try not to piss anyone off or hurt any feelings.

:shaka:

Am I missing anything?
Click to expand...

Well 3 and 4 kind of are going to trip one another up .

Human Nature, nobody "likes" to be told not to do something ...the secret is in how they are told...asked...suggested spoken with......and that is all down to personalities as well .

Is the exuberant player exuberant and tuneful ...are they more advanced than the rest of the group and feel stifled ? .... perhaps Solo them ...give them a song to be i/c and ask if they can help with bringing others on.....if they don't want to suggest that they form another like minded and like levelled band....you can't keep everbody happy all the time ...sad fact of life....How somebody reacts to the input also tells a lot about them ..

Bottom line is though...if they do not realise that they are annoying people then they cannot address it....I speak as somebody who has recently joined an established Uke Group....

I may be the "exuberant" player so try and keep it on the down low......I'm very happy to just be part of something musical and so far do not seem to be annoying the rest.
 
Last edited:
Loggerhead said:
Is the exuberant player exuberant and tuneful ...are they more advanced than the rest of the group and feel stifled ?
Click to expand...

The problem is, they are often far less skilled than they believe themselves to be - and almost never have a sense of rhythm.
 
Wicked said:
The problem is, they are often far less skilled than they believe themselves to be - and almost never have a sense of rhythm.
Click to expand...

Oh, well thanks Wicked ...I must be the rhythmless un-skilled plucker of the group.....:eek:..

(I do hope not !!)
 
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