Stage volume

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heavision

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I started a similar thread on another forum but I’m curious what you guys think.

How do you like to dial in your shit live? I’m especially curious about volume. Do you like being at a level comparable with the drums? I mean the actual level from your rig, not monitors. Or would you rather turn down, mic your cab, and have the sound guy bring you up? Does your rig pull monitor duty on stage?

I know there are some variables to consider; room size/shape, are they micing the drums or not, monitor mix and so on. But in general what’s your ideal set-up? Or what’s your ideal set-up in a specific situation(s), if you like.
 
I always turned up loud enough to hear my rig with the drummer...I side washed the rig also since we had a sound guy. I tried in ears but I was so used to playing with a loud stage volume, I have to have the sound swirling around me.
 
At this point we ALL are on in-ear monitors. No stage volume whatsoever. There is a wedge for the vocalist, as he likes to interact with the crowd and needs to hear guitar and keys, as well as his voice.
Honestly, never been happier.

I do understand Racer's comment, yet competing with the drums is a losing battle, he always has cymbals. Plus, if my rig was too loud onstage, there was nothing in the mains. Literally, the crowd was hearing STAGE VOLUME. That's just not good and makes it very difficult for a sound man to mix the band. Consequently the crowd has a "worse" time at the show.

My experience is the HUGE majority of sound men want less on stage and want to mix the band through the mains, the end.

If you are playing for you, that's cool...but if your playing for the crowd, just turn down and let the FOH boxes do the work. The crowd will thank you and so will your sound man.

As with all subjective posts, YMMV :thumbsup:
 
Usually just vocals in my monitor. I can hear our drummer and bass player just fine. I give my amp a decent bit of volume, but also position/angle it in a way that I can hear it without having to compete with the drums. I want to make sure the engineer has control of how everything sounds out front, including guitar.
 
Best thing I found was switching to open back cabs. Band members could hear me better and I could hear me better from any area of the stage. As long as I can hear everyone else I am good. Don’t really need to hear myself that much, hate hearing guitars in the monitors.
 
Greazygeo said:
Best thing I found was switching to open back cabs. Band members could hear me better and I could hear me better from any area of the stage. As long as I can hear everyone else I am good. Don’t really need to hear myself that much, hate hearing guitars in the monitors.
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Hmmm never considered the open back cab thing...I need some of the other guitar in my monitor depending on stage size. We're still 100% amps on stage although I we occasionally talk IEM's; our singer does use them. I had a guy fill in for me a few months ago and he was like WTF? you guys still use amps ??? :ROFLMAO: Yep....Wizard MC25 every time all the time.
 
if we're playing w\wedges, it's usually just my vox, the other guitar player's rig, and the lead vocals. I get enough of my guitar just by proximity. If we're direct or on a stage where we can use IEM's it's a mix of everything with my guitars out in front a little. i usually still try to keep a FRFR or something on stage just so I can rip out an ear and hear the house.

Then there's the tiny gigs where I just have my DRRI and I'm about 2 ft away from the singer so I don't keep much in the wedge lol
 
My band has the good fortune of playing mostly larger rooms where we can still use 50 or 100 watt heads and 4x12 cabinets and have them at decent volume. Also not a fan of my guitar coming through a wedge. Wedge will have a touch of stage right guitar, lead vocals, drum pad, and predominately my vocal.

If we play a smaller room we all can downsize our rigs accordingly. My smaller rig is a Mesa vertical 2x12 and a Wizard MC25.
 
I'm used to playing dive bars, where you're not guaranteed to get nicely working monitors or a decent sound guy.

I turn up loud enough that I can hear myself alongside the drummer. It helps having a tone that cuts through the mix well, so that volume doesn't have to super loud.
 
GtarLover said:
At this point we ALL are on in-ear monitors. No stage volume whatsoever. There is a wedge for the vocalist, as he likes to interact with the crowd and needs to hear guitar and keys, as well as his voice.
Honestly, never been happier.

I do understand Racer's comment, yet competing with the drums is a losing battle, he always has cymbals. Plus, if my rig was too loud onstage, there was nothing in the mains. Literally, the crowd was hearing STAGE VOLUME. That's just not good and makes it very difficult for a sound man to mix the band. Consequently the crowd has a "worse" time at the show.

My experience is the HUGE majority of sound men want less on stage and want to mix the band through the mains, the end.

If you are playing for you, that's cool...but if your playing for the crowd, just turn down and let the FOH boxes do the work. The crowd will thank you and so will your sound man.

As with all subjective posts, YMMV :thumbsup:
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Long ago I switched to slant cabs; I got tired of having to turn up soo loud all the time. It was a revelation being able to hear myself so much better. My stage volume decreased a metric ton. Straight cabs are cool; thick sounding but you absolutely fight the drummer 100% of the time. Not so with slants.
 
I pretty much always played live at practice level volumes. There were a few exceptions if I knew the monitor, and sound guy was capable, or if we brought our own sound guy.
 
cobrahead1030 said:
I'm used to playing dive bars, where you're not guaranteed to get nicely working monitors or a decent sound guy.

I turn up loud enough that I can hear myself alongside the drummer. It helps having a tone that cuts through the mix well, so that volume doesn't have to super loud.
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This.

I use a half stack and 100 watt head loud enough to peel paint, and angle the cabinet towards the drummer.

This is a function of the gigs I play, not being a bunch of old guys in sandals covering "la grange" at the county fair.

Generally speaking, the monitoring is bad if it even exists, so I dial in for "making sure the drummer can hear me first, then making sure the crowd can"
 
Racerxrated said:
Long ago I switched to slant cabs; I got tired of having to turn up soo loud all the time. It was a revelation being able to hear myself so much better. My stage volume decreased a metric ton. Straight cabs are cool; thick sounding but you absolutely fight the drummer 100% of the time. Not so with slants.
Click to expand...

I used to run a 2x12 on top of my 4x12 basically as my own monitor. I had it on it's side so it was standing vertical.
 
I like to say fuck it, haul this behemoth on stage, and drown everyone out; even the crowd.

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I hate almost everything about IEM's. My band recently ventured into this shit, and they suck. The only thing I like - having a click track in my ear.

Rock'n Roll was at one time supposed to be loud, obnoxious, and even painful to the ears. A full body experience. These days it feels like it's more about "re-creating the record". Tracks upon tracks, zero stage volume, and more choreography than a Paul Abdul show. /end rant :poop:
 
Times have probably changed. During my active era, we always had the rigs as loud as they needed to be. I only had a bit of vocals to the monitors, to hear myself and the snare if the drummer was further away on the big stage. No technician has ever determined the stage volume for us. I also worked as the sound engineer for a few years and I never bothered any band with the stage volume.
 
dooredge said:
I hate almost everything about IEM's. My band recently ventured into this shit, and they suck. The only thing I like - having a click track in my ear.

Rock'n Roll was at one time supposed to be loud, obnoxious, and even painful to the ears. A full body experience. These days it feels like it's more about "re-creating the record". Tracks upon tracks, zero stage volume, and more choreography than a Paul Abdul show. /end rant :poop:
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This is what I was getting at.

I’ve always gigged a 100 watt and a 412. MV or PS100 allows me to dial in a good volume/balance with drums and everything else. This apparent trend of taming or neutering live guitar rigs—to turn a rock show into a “safe space” or whatever—fucking sucks. Still plenty of places to play that IMO do it right, but this new calmer, safer approach seems to be becoming more prevalent. It’s a shame.

Let me clarify something: I’m not talking about volume for volume’s sake. I’m talking about live mix that sounds good and is huge and punchy and envelops the audience—in a good way. Doesn’t have to be painful necessarily, but air should be moving. It should be engrossing and a little overwhelming—in a good way—and you just gotta cross a certain volume threshold to get there. We provide earplugs at our shows to anyone who wants them, by the way.
 
heavision said:
I started a similar thread on another forum but I’m curious what you guys think.

How do you like to dial in your shit live? I’m especially curious about volume. Do you like being at a level comparable with the drums? I mean the actual level from your rig, not monitors. Or would you rather turn down, mic your cab, and have the sound guy bring you up? Does your rig pull monitor duty on stage?

I know there are some variables to consider; room size/shape, are they micing the drums or not, monitor mix and so on. But in general what’s your ideal set-up? Or what’s your ideal set-up in a specific situation(s), if you like.
Click to expand...
i'm sure i'm in the minority here, but we all run modelers to FOH and into our band's IEM mixer, including the drum mics (and levels)
all our stuff is preset before we even get to the venue no matter the size
it's saved a ton of arguments (on-stage and pre-show) :p
 
I have to be louder than the drummer. I want it balanced as if im listening to a real album . IMO it’s no different. I’m listening to music how I like it but I’m just playing it
 
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