The Steel Guitar Forum

Typically,What do you guys have in your monitor mix and what level.Example all vocal, or bass and drums w/only lead vocal,only your vocal.How do you like your mix?Tony

Moved to 'Electronics' section.

I am not a gigging steel player, but have been a bassplayer for <mumble> years, and do sound work as well.

My experience is the bare minimum in monitors that you need is best. Bass is best avoided.

I start with *just* vocals and work from there. It is better if guitarists then have their amps pointed at their heads - their sound is aimed directly at them rather than out to the crowd. most of the time there is enough of everything flying around for most people to hear what's going on, and I may only need to put a little guitar back to the drummer for example.

The reason for keeping monitor contents down is that when it comes down to it, the vocals are the money channels. They MUST sound good, loud, and clear. Anything else gets sacrificed in the mix for the vocals - By that I mean when a compromise is needed it is the guitar, the bass or whatever that gets tweaked rather than the Vox.

More noise on stage WILL get picked up by any mics that are open, and will muddy both the monitor and FOH sounds. Typically these days even a small band on a biggish stage will have at least six mics available.

My personal preference for monitors is in ear monitors (that's like a little walkman instead of a dirty great speaker). There are a number of reasons for this. They include reducing the chance of feedback, I prefer the sound, and I can often get much closer to what each player needs. As an indication of the better sound, on stage as a bass player I am used to hearing mud. Often I can tell that I am playing, but telling if I am in tune is a challenge. With the in ears, I can tell what I am playing. The down side is that it can be a little isolated - you year off mic stuff less. You can get round this by an "ambience mic" - I use a little realistic PZM somewhere near the front of the stage and just put it into the in ears to give the room sounds. The other bit is that it is weird when you move or turn and the sound goes with you. They do not suit everyone, but I like them.

------------------
Absolute beginner!
Bennet Freshman E9 3+3