Banjo Dynamics in a Newgrass Bluegrass Band - pt 1

I want to discuss my take on BANJO dynamics or being heard in a NewGrass / Bluegrass Band. And in particular my experience playing in NEVAH, Maine's own Progressive NewGrass, Bluegrass, Prograssabilly band. This will be in several parts … each one describing a "different" approach to solving my banjo sound.

To start with Nevah is an 8 piece band, hardly your typical Bluegrass Band. Our instrumentation is more a progressive newgrass, country, with a twist. Our music selection is hard to pin down to any single genre  … we have: An acoustic lead Guitar, Electric Bass, Mandolin, Banjo, Pedal Steel, Drums, Percussion, Flute … and we double down with acoustic rhythm guitars, dobro, sax, penny whistle and all sorts of percussive devices.

NEVAH at the Blue Hill Fair

Plus we have anywhere from 2 to 5 part vocal harmonies … lots of vocal sound along with the instrumentation. I dare say we've filled up our 16 channel board and are ready for 24 channels plus.

NOW, here was my personal dilemma … my banjo, a beautiful - very loud Stelling Sunflower - was getting drowned out. Acoustically speaking if you stood in front of the instrument (6 to 8 feet away) you would vibrate from the intense sound, however, when performing live I was never able to get the sound to be heard over all the other instruments. Everyone is plugged in, amplified, etc … and due to many factors I will touch upon I just couldn't deliver the sound I wanted.

Stelling Sunflower (oops - one solution revealed)

The factors were simple to identify:

1) My lack of experience performing with a lot of electrified instruments …
2) My lack of banjo mic-technique
3) My desire to be able to move around while playing
4) For some reason I couldn't hear myself
5) I know nothing about sound … I thought you simply play and let the sound technician take care of everything.

Once I identified the factors I was able to attack the problem.

My first Banjo Sound solution:
To amplify my banjo without any cost, I thought would be to simply raise the banjo up near my vocal microphone and play harder. This proved to be difficult, very difficult … for me. The Stelling Sunflower banjo is incredibly well made, heavy, and I could never get it close-enough to the raised Shure SM58 microphone and at the same time play to my best ability (another story, another time).

Second Banjo Sound Solution:
Therefore, when the initial solution failed to provide adequate sound I figured that by putting another mic in place I could play into it and be heard without any problem. After all I'd seen countless banjo players do this effectively. So, I purchased an extra mic, put it on a stand, aimed it at my banjo and during setup, sound checks, it was fine - very nice, really good-ish. However, during the show I tended to back away or move from side to side and the sound would get lost. Not the microphones fault, merely my own. And of course you didn't want it turned up too loud because then it would drown out everything or pick up unwanted noise. And without a dedicated sound person at all performances there would never be any consistency.

Next Blog: Third Banjo Sound Solution