Backline
Backline (from English ; in German, back row ) is an internationally used technical term from the fields of stage technology and sound technology . The backline is part of the sound system for concerts by musicians and music groups. The term is used in light music , especially in rock music and pop music , to summarize that part of an amplifier system that is used by musicians directly on the stage. These include guitar amplifiers , bass amplifiers, the associated loudspeaker boxes and the like. Such devices traditionally stand behind the musicians on concert stages (hence the name) and are usually aimed at the audience. Is sometimes called backline all of the required music groups on the stage set and simplified (English: Equipment ) including the drum kit called. Other musical instruments used on stage can also becountedtowards the backline .
The backline is different from, which also belongs to public address systems Front-of-House - (FOH) and monitoring equipment. The former serve exclusively to provide sound to the concert audience, the latter exclusively to provide sound to the performing musicians.
Before the development of specialized public address sound systems ( PA for short ), backlines also had the task of providing sound to the concert audience. The backline was also used for monitoring on very large stages . On smaller stages, this often means that the backline has a negative impact on the sound of the FoH PA and the sound engineer at the mixer has no way of compensating for this. Especially with pop and rock music, it is important to authentically reproduce the specific sound of the amplifier system in combination with the instruments through the FoH and monitor system; The sound properties of tube amplifiers for guitars, for example, naturally meet completely different criteria than those of a PA system .
The backline can also take on monitoring tasks, but is only suitable to a limited extent. From an acoustic point of view, the instrument boxes are set up as a so-called sidefill . The actual monitor sound should primarily come from the specially designed monitor system, which provides each musician with his special monitor mix . Sometimes the loudspeaker boxes of the backline are completely or partially isolated and microphones are used , for example in soundproof housings, standing under the stage, or simply directed towards the rear. Nowadays, many bands also use so-called modeling amps, which no longer need special instrument boxes, but which are connected directly to the mixer of the FoH-PA, which is the simplest solution for the sound engineer at the mixer.
It is not uncommon for the backline today to be a dummy and consist at least partially of unconnected amplifiers and loudspeaker boxes or only their empty housings ("dummies") .
A stage technician known as a backliner is responsible for the construction and functioning of the technology on and behind the stage and is commonly assigned to the job description of the roadie .
literature
- Jan-Friedrich Conrad: Lexicon sound reinforcement. Live sound and PA systems - the entire technical vocabulary of applied electroacoustics. PPV Medien, Bergkirchen 2004, ISBN 3-932275-14-4 .