Members thecrunge Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 Do you find that your band is satisfied with everyone having the same mix in their monitors, or is it important to have a separate monitor mix for everyone? Or maybe one for the drummer and one for the rest? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 Seperate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 Usually 2 or 4 mixes. I prefer my own, though as a bassist, i have my own amp so i'll share. Keys usually depend on a seperate mix to hear themselves well. Drums are pretty much guarenteed to have their own.-greg- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 I'll take one good monitor mix over somebody struggling with more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 Originally posted by agedhorse I'll take one good monitor mix over somebody struggling with more. Man, ain't that the truth!I'm set up for two, mine and the bass player's. The drummer creates his own using headphones. But they are usually set so that a single mix would sound about the same. Outdoors and large wide stages, I usually have a third sidefill mix for any instruments that need a little extra on stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 Sidefill's are a good "cover your ass" mix option and in a festival situation sometimes a good sidefill mix plus drum mix is better than struggling with a bunch of wedges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6Imzadi Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 My band uses 4 mixes. That's all I can get out if my mackie 2404. The other 2 sends are dedicated to efx. They just let me know what they want more or less of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 My guitar player and Keyboard player are both older and have some hearing issues, I got tired of having them ripping my head off every time they approached the mic, so we went to 2 mixes, GUitar and keys are hot in their wedges, with the drummer and I toned down, in my mix (shared with the drummer) , the drummer and myself are hotter, with the other two toned down a bit. I don't require a lot of monitor, having started playing/singing with no monitors, so I felt it was best to give them the volume they need and not have it killing my hearing as well..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarharv52 Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 We do a lot of 3 part vocal harmony so we just use one mix to hear the blend which is important for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaBender Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 I work with a couple of different bands. Both are low volume compared to some of the stuff that's out there nowadays. In my electric blues band, we have one mix with vocals only. In another outfit I play with, there is usually some acoustic guitar in the monitors, but again only one mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 Originally posted by agedhorse I'll take one good monitor mix over somebody struggling with more. absolutely. and not even when someone is struggling with more, simply because sometimes that's what you need. The band will often blend their harmonies better..and I can argure to keep stuff out of the monitors like drums in a tiny place( they always ask, don't they) and guitars. "we've only got one mix boys" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 Originally posted by agedhorse I'll take one good monitor mix over somebody struggling with more. I agree with this as well:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slang Posted November 6, 2006 Members Share Posted November 6, 2006 A piece of advice I read in some gig mag (?) years ago has served me extremely well - "It must sound like a band where-ever you stand on stage." That being said, for a full band, I'll typically do four mixes, but none are ever loud enough that when you stand in front of a given monitor that it sounds like a solo act on that part of the stage - they're just 'unbalanced' enough so that each person can hear their own thing comfortably over the level of the others, but can still hear all other parts well. Remember... that's why they call it a "Band" ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted November 7, 2006 Members Share Posted November 7, 2006 Originally posted by agedhorse I'll take one good monitor mix over somebody struggling with more. I'll take four good mixes over one generic mix. We use three. We have 5 people. We all sing. I'm all the way on stage left, and the bass player stands next to me. We share a mix. It has only vocals and acoustic guitar. The drummer has his own mix. He has vocals, acoustic and a bit of electric guitars. The other guitar player is stage right and the singer is next to him toward the center. They usually share a mix too. It has vocals, acoustic and a bit of my guitar in it. Personally, I hate my electric in the monitors, but the drummer needs both guitars and the singer needs a bit of mine. With one mix, the drummer would have to have trouble hearing everything properly, or we'd have way too much guitar on stage. I suppose one is okay if it's what you're used to but seperate gives you so much more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted November 7, 2006 Members Share Posted November 7, 2006 Originally posted by Slang A piece of advice I read in some gig mag (?) years ago has served me extremely well - "It must sound like a band where-ever you stand on stage." Hmm, monitors are for cueing, mains make it sound like a band in my opinion. I could care less if it's balanced onstage as long as everyone hears what makes them comfortable. Often with more inexperienced performers you sure don't want to open that door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted November 7, 2006 Members Share Posted November 7, 2006 I agree that if you move from one spot onstage to another, the stage blend should not change drastically. We set our stage levels (on our amps) so that each member can hear all the others, the monitors then bring the vocals up to that level. I can go to the other side of the stage and the blend is pretty much the same, except the guitar player and keyboard player are mixed hotter in their wedges and the drummer and myself are dialed hotter in ours, so the blend would be a little different, but not drastically louder. I have played bigger stages where the monitors played a bigger part, and then the mix changes a bit, but the sidefills are usually cranking out a good band mix so even then it is not too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glepko Posted November 7, 2006 Members Share Posted November 7, 2006 We used to run four mixes. In practices I'm slowly 'training' the band to use one vocals only monitor mix to save time and energy. Once we hit the clubs again I'm sure they'll struggle a bit with giving up "feeling important" that comes with being fussy on wanting more of that and less of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 7, 2006 Members Share Posted November 7, 2006 Soending time on one good simple mix is often time well spent as it has a higher chance of being consistent from venue to venue. IF you have a professional sound guy, or do sound for yourself rather than relying of the house guy, more mixes can be practical. When we provide sound, it's not uncommon to do 8-10 mixes but we have a console dedicated to this, and a guy with 25 years of doing monitors only. But this is not for playing typical clubs, so it's for informational purposes only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted November 8, 2006 Members Share Posted November 8, 2006 Originally posted by glepko We used to run four mixes. In practices I'm slowly 'training' the band to use one vocals only monitor mix to save time and energy. Once we hit the clubs again I'm sure they'll struggle a bit with giving up "feeling important" that comes with being fussy on wanting more of that and less of this. It's not about "feeling important", it's about hearing everything and sounding good. Sheesh. I know I play a lot better if what I'm hearing sounds good to me. I find a bad stage mix very distracting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 8, 2006 Members Share Posted November 8, 2006 Sometimes it comes down to quality versus quantity. I'll take quality all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glepko Posted November 8, 2006 Members Share Posted November 8, 2006 Originally posted by GCDEF It's not about "feeling important", it's about hearing everything and sounding good. Sheesh. I know I play a lot better if what I'm hearing sounds good to me. I find a bad stage mix very distracting. By no means is our stage mix bad. We've only practiced in recent months, setting up as if on stage. By arranging our stage smarter and using only vocals (one mix) in monitors our overall volume is greatly decreased and the sound quality is VASTLY improved compared to the old days with amps facing straight out and a different monitor mix for everyone. The mix changes very, very little when moving around. Vocal volume decreases when not in front of a wedge, as would be expected. And trust me, with our group, it can definately be about feeling important. Damned 4x12's..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slang Posted November 8, 2006 Members Share Posted November 8, 2006 Originally posted by glepko By no means is our stage mix bad..........overall volume is greatly decreased and the sound quality is VASTLY improved...............And trust me, with our group, it can definately be about feeling important..... That's sum's up where I was trying to go when I stated my mix philosophy (a stage mix "that sounds like a band everywhere on stage"). Each of the 4 (soon to be 5) mixes does favour it's user, but by using this method, I was able to substantially reduce the stage volume to the point that the house mix drastically improved. The venue is a small place, so stage wash to the house mix was playing a huge part in messing up the house sound. On electric guitars, I too hate more than a little 'lectric guitar in the mix, as the higher frequencies hurt my ears when their dynamic range "ranges up"! If there's a guitar amp on stage, I insist that it's up on a stool & aiming directly at the guitar players head (the typical 'amp on the floor with the back wheels removed to tip it up at an angle' means the guy 1/2 way across the stage hears it better than the guitar player!). I've found this practice to be the biggest single hurdle in overcoming a stage mix with out-of-control volume. But that's not an issue currently, as our normal e-guitar player goes direct into the system (but I wish he had an amp - I think it sounds better!). I've also put a lot of thought into positioning of everyone on stage with respect to the louder accoustic instruments (eg - drums & piano) so that they won't have to have their monitor louder to hear over them. On another level, for myself, getting rid of highy individualized mixes was also about forcing everyone to listen closer to everyone else, to the end goal of making us tighter (none of us are professional 'anythings'!). Now, I should qualify this all by saying that i'm a rank amatuer! I've been doing this for about 20 years, but never professionally & never big! Ultimately tho, there's "more than one way to skin a cat!" This has served well for me, but whatever works best for your group is the best way! It doesn't hurt to keep on trying different things until you get something that works well for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GigMan Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 Originally posted by bassred My guitar player and Keyboard player are both older and have some hearing issues, I got tired of having them ripping my head off every time they approached the mic, so we went to 2 mixes, GUitar and keys are hot in their wedges, with the drummer and I toned down, in my mix (shared with the drummer) , the drummer and myself are hotter, with the other two toned down a bit. Why on earth would you need to put electric guitar in monitors - they're so freakin' loud coming out of their own stage amps (which can usually be heard all over the stage) to begin with... Of course, I'm a keyboard player - your mileage may vary, especially if you're a guitarist... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 Sorry, we run just vocals in the monitors, everybody sings. Must have been a late night when I posted that. the guitar players vocals and keyboard players vocals are what I was talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members obgust Posted November 10, 2006 Members Share Posted November 10, 2006 A couple of venues that we play have very shallow stages and very wide. Literally our backs are to the wall. It really helps in this situation to have the guitar, keys, sax, and vocals going through the monitor system with as many mixes you can have. Then we'll play a room so small that one vocal mix through a couple wedges is all we need. We haul a trailer of gear and grab what we need depending on the venue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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