Guitars in the monitors and how much?

[crispete]

Here's my problem. The other guitarist in the band seems to think the monitors are an extension of his amp (a fender 75, I use a Bassman reissue ) and it sounds to me as if his guitar sound coming from the monitors is louder than what his amp is putting out (or the vocals for that matter). I've always thought a guitarist gets his main volume from his amp then a little was added to the monitor for the drummer or someone on the other side of the stage. Am I wrong about this? I kind of think too much guitar in the monitor makes it harder to hear the vocals right? Right now from my monitor in front of me his guitar is louder than his voice.

 

This has been bothering me lately but maybe it's a non-issue, I'm not sure.

[tlbonehead]

 

Here's my problem. The other guitarist in the band seems to think the monitors are an extension of his amp (a fender 75, I use a Bassman reissue ) and it sounds to me as if his guitar sound coming from the monitors is louder than what his amp is putting out (or the vocals for that matter). I've always thought a guitarist gets his main volume from his amp then a little was added to the monitor for the drummer or someone on the other side of the stage. Am I wrong about this? I kind of think too much guitar in the monitor makes it harder to hear the vocals right? Right now from my monitor in front of me his guitar is louder than his voice. This has been bothering me lately but maybe it's a non-issue, I'm not sure.

 

I agree with you. Do everything else before you resort to adding much guitar to the wedges. Does he have his amp situated in a way that he can't really hear it? Is it up in the air or tilted so that it is pointed at his ears sonewhat, and turned in so that the other members can hear it? Of course, if you have a separate mix for monitors, then I'd just let him suffer and just keep his guitar out of your monitor.

[crispete]

Right, I think getting his amp closer to him (up on a chair or something) and pointing his monitor right at him and away from me will help. I don't sing in this particular band so keeping the monitors away from me might help? This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy. I've asked him to just turn up his amp if he wants to hear his guitar more but he won't. Some people have it all figured out already you know. How do I address this issue without being undiplomatic? How do I keep his guitar out of my monitor and still in his?

[tlbonehead]

 

Right, I think getting his amp closer to him (up on a chair or something) and pointing his monitor right at him and away from me will help. I don't sing in this particular band so keeping the monitors away from me might help? This is the kind of thing that drives me crazy. I've asked him to just turn up his amp if he wants to hear his guitar more but he won't. Some people have it all figured out already you know. How do I address this issue without being undiplomatic? How do I keep his guitar out of my monitor and still in his?

 

He has his amp sitting on the floor blasting at his legs? How smart is that? As for your last post, that's what separate monitor mixes are for.

[crispete]

 

He has his amp sitting on the floor blasting at his legs? How smart is that? As for your last post, that's what separate monitor mixes are for.

 

 

Not very smart. I'm not sure how to do a seperate monitor mix but that sounds like a great idea. We've played on some small stages lately where I might see the drummer needing a little guitar in the mix but no one else. Small stages suck for me.

[tlbonehead]

 

Not very smart. I'm not sure how to do a seperate monitor mix but that sounds like a great idea. We've played on some small stages lately where I might see the drummer needing a little guitar in the mix but no one else. Small stages suck for me.

 

We always sidefill our amps enough so that the drummer gets a piece of the action. As for separate mixes, you just use a separate aux out for each monitor mix(your mixer would need to have more than one aux/monitor send) then each one has its own dedicated EQ and power going to that mixer. That way, you can control how much of anything going through the board you want in each particular monitor mix.

[Phil Clark]

Any rock band that I have ever mixed the guitarist almost invariably wants guitar in his monitor, despite the fact that his amp is putting out enough volume to make it possible for me to pull him completely out of the mix and still be able to hear it clearly. Fortunately 90% of my mixing is for a Jimmy Buffett tribute band and the guitarist keeps his stage volume down, and wants guitar in his monitor to conteract the stage volume of the Drums and Bass and Percussion.

 

Working with different bands though has driven home a valuable lesson. Every musician needs to hear something different in their monitors in order to do their jobs. And it is my job (running both FOH and Monitors from the FOH position) to give them what they need to be able to do their job. So I don't question what they need, I simply give it to them as long as I can keep the wedge from feeding back.

[tlbonehead]

 

Any rock band that I have ever mixed the guitarist almost invariably wants guitar in his monitor, despite the fact that his amp is putting out enough volume to make it possible for me to pull him completely out of the mix and still be able to hear it clearly. Fortunately 90% of my mixing is for a Jimmy Buffett tribute band and the guitarist keeps his stage volume down, and wants guitar in his monitor to conteract the stage volume of the Drums and Bass and Percussion. Working with different bands though has driven home a valuable lesson. Every musician needs to hear something different in their monitors in order to do their jobs. And it is my job (running both FOH and Monitors from the FOH position) to give them what they need to be able to do their job. So I don't question what they need, I simply give it to them as long as I can keep the wedge from feeding back.

 

I've done high energy rock stuff live since about '74:cry: and I've never wanted my guitar in the monitors. If I can't hear it, it tells me that I've done a poor job situating my amp/speakers.

[crispete]

I do agree a touch of guitar in the monitors is good, makes it more "spatial" if thats the correct term, for what I'm hearing. I will though always contend that too much will drown out the vocal and that's counterproductive. I remember we were getting some sort of feedback somewhere in the monitors last gig that I am going to track down. Good advice so far!

[TimmyP]

The combination of the amp and the guitar in the monitors should not be so loud as to:

 

Make it difficult to hear the vocals on stage.

 

Make it difficult to control the FOH mix.

[twostone]

I'm right the opposite I prefer smaller stages it's less {censored} to run thru the monitors and their's plenty of spill from the guitar amps 9x out 10 we just run vocals only on small stage set up. Sounds like the ole guitar volume war. How ever we're doing another out door festival again. Last year's totally sucked as far as monitors way to much guitar couldn't hear vocals at all. Mainly all I heard was spill from half stack amps and drums and piercing guitars blasting my head off from the monitors . This year I'm bringing in side fills so I can hear WTF going on. The main band sound guy said we have to provide our own but at least I'll be able to hear the WTF going on.

[abzurd]

 

How do I address this issue without being undiplomatic? How do I keep his guitar out of my monitor and still in his?

 

 

Well that's pretty easy if you have ability for seperate monitor mixes and have your own dedicated monitor. You just don't put any of his guitar in the mix. No real need to be diplomatic beyond politely telling him you'll put what you want/need to hear in your monitor thank you very much.