Guitar Speaker Gig

Guitar Speaker Gig

do you use ‘in-ear monitor’ at gigs/performances?

we’re thinking of getting one because our last gig sucked.
the drums were way too loud. both the bass amp and Guitar Amp was on the far left of the stage. i was on the right. i couldn’t hear anything other than the drummings and my vocals. i thought i was singing too loud because the speaker (for the vocals) was next to me. so i tried not to sing as loud.
well it turns out, people couldn’t hear my singing very well. and the sound engineer said he’s already turned my vocals all the way up.
i’m not really happy.

any tips at all?
do you think we should invest in the ‘in ear monitor’? i know it’s really expensive. is it worth it?

Still referring to that troublesome gig? I know how it feels

In-ear monitoring is definitely worth the expense in my experience. This is a good investment, in particular for someone who tends to strain the voice, or for bands with lots of vocals and loud backline/live drums.

The only downside with in-ear monitoring (apart from the cost obviously) is that you may feel that you lose some direct contact with others – including the audience. It may take away some of the “feel”. This is not really a big deal, but it might take a little time getting used to for some folks.

That said, it is not that hard to achieve a more balanced sound on stage with traditional monitoring also. It does require enough time for sound check, a qualified sound engineer who knows the set-up, some on stage experience and the willingness to compromise.

It’s a little harder to do anything with the volume of live drums, apart from using separators – usually not practical at all… A lot of folks tend to turn up their bass and guitar amps to be heard over the drums … a bad idea. This tends to make the volume on stage too high for a balanced front of house or monitor mix.

When the backline (amps) are turned down to a more manageable level, then the players may need individual instruments turned up (or down) in their monitors. Yes, this indicates that all instruments may be present in the monitor mix.

Some folks like their monitor mix to be almost identical to the front of house mix. Others, me included, prefer not have their own amp sound in the regular floor wedge monitor mix. When we use in-ear, I will need my Guitar Sound there too. Also on larger stages, it may at times be needed to have some of your own instrument in the wedges/floor monitors.

Anyway, you will likely want the vocals in a monitor mix to be heard over instruments, so there’s always a compromise needed. The monitor mix is very seldom “balanced” like the front of house mix should be. So, you will need to play and sing with what you manage to get in the monitors (like your vocals seemingly being too loud).

When you have a comfortable monitor mix, you will need to trust the sound guy/gal. There’s nothing you can control from the stage after all apart from keeping your levels consistent and doing small visual cues to the sound engineer/s.

As for your vocals being too loud. This is something that should have been corrected at the sound check. If you want your vocal up or down during the gig, you will need to have a cue with the person at the desk. Usually it involves pointing to your voice and then pointing up or down.

Be aware that it is not always possible to turn things up. Mikes may begin to feed and there’s not always more gain to give. Consequently, the person at the desk may need to turn everything else slightly down, rather than boosting one particular thing.

It all comes down to experience and having a good communication between the stage, the band members and the mixer.

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