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Can you hear yourself onstage?
- Thread starter Sleeping Giant
- Start date
IEM FTW
but if you cant get those i just use cheap ear plugs which cut out the other noise and it actually helps me hear my bass.
but if you cant get those i just use cheap ear plugs which cut out the other noise and it actually helps me hear my bass.
rockstarbassist
Inactive
After travelling to Nashville this past summer, I looked into getting one of these. Mine is on order. Every bassist I've seen use one of these says it made a world of difference. They can hear themselve more clearly and at lower volumes.
You can see more here:
Atlas Stands | Get Maximum Tone With Atlas Hardwood Amplifier Stands
I think the house rig at the Opry has something like that.
When I was there few years ago I went up and checked it out but couldn't tell who made it. Looks cool if not a tad froo-froo for me..
Good concept though.
yes i can hear and feel mine 25 feet in front of it, usually the pa takes over as the main sound i hear farther away than that. i like to hear myself live as well as i hear myself at home jamming to cd's. it takes alot of gear unfortunately.
I think the house rig at the Opry has something like that.
When I was there few years ago I went up and checked it out but couldn't tell who made it. Looks cool if not a tad froo-froo for me..
Yes, that's exactly where I saw the first one, then I started seeing them everywhere. These stands are strong and can be taylered to your liking.
Can't wait to get mine.
It's definitely tough to hear yourself as a bassist. Though I am by no means a gritty vet, I've played enough gigs to realize that bassists don't often get a monitor. It has only been recently that I sometimes get my own monitor (typically only when we are opening for a really well-established act that sells a lot of tickets).
It's a little unfair that we are so often overlooked in terms of monitor selection. Life isn't fair, unfortunately.
My advice; tough it out and really solidify your parts. If you know what you are going to play, even if its just a general idea with ultra-non specific roadmaps, then you will execute it much more effectively. If you have sections for improvisation, you just have to trust yourself and listen to the rest of the band. Then again, a bassist should always be doing that anyway!
As far as your guitarist using too much low end; frequency cancelations like this can sometimes make a great band sound like garbage (and no, not that band Garbage, who certainly understand frequency cancelation). Spend the time in the rehearsal room getting the sounds perfect. You can play all the right notes at all the right times, but if the sound isn't tight, the performance won't be either!
But there isn't much you can do other than tough it out. It's like the age old adage goes..."The harder you work, the more likely it is your band will soon be playing venues that can afford an extra monitor for the bassist."
It's a little unfair that we are so often overlooked in terms of monitor selection. Life isn't fair, unfortunately.
My advice; tough it out and really solidify your parts. If you know what you are going to play, even if its just a general idea with ultra-non specific roadmaps, then you will execute it much more effectively. If you have sections for improvisation, you just have to trust yourself and listen to the rest of the band. Then again, a bassist should always be doing that anyway!
As far as your guitarist using too much low end; frequency cancelations like this can sometimes make a great band sound like garbage (and no, not that band Garbage, who certainly understand frequency cancelation). Spend the time in the rehearsal room getting the sounds perfect. You can play all the right notes at all the right times, but if the sound isn't tight, the performance won't be either!
But there isn't much you can do other than tough it out. It's like the age old adage goes..."The harder you work, the more likely it is your band will soon be playing venues that can afford an extra monitor for the bassist."
You've got quite a problem on your hands here - no cash to buy extra equipment, a guitarist that won't work with you and a band that won't agree for you to go through the PA. I honestly don't think there's a solution. If the gigs pay well and you enjoy being in the band otherwise then it might just be a case of putting up with it.
Okay, I'm sure you probably already know this, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet, so...
A bass wave is a LARGE wave... sometimes over 40 feet. You can't hear an incomplete wave. This is why the back of the room is getting crushed in bass and you hear/feel nothing. Those guys blasting rap with the crushing lows in their cars can't hear it either... that's why it sounds like crap when the car passes by.
The advice to boost the mids and/or highs is to shorten the waves to a frequency that can be heard at close range.
Another pet peeve for me, as I get this problem with guitarists.
An amplifier speaker is VERY directional. It's why players can be cranking but the audience can't hear it if they're not standing in the path of the speaker's output. YOUR KNEES CANNOT HEAR...only your ears can. If it's pointing at your knees, you won't hear it; if it's pointing at your ears, you will.
Second part is accurate to a degree, first part isn't accurate at all.
Bass cabs don't have to be that directional, but due to the beaming principle, most of them are quite directional with upper mids and highs up until the tweeter takes over, assuming your cab has a tweeter. So yes, aiming them more to your head will help immensely.
But bass waves absolutely do not need to be fully formed in order for you to hear them. This is an old myth that has been repeated for decades, and it's simply not true. If it were true, headphones wouldn't work.
Unless you use in-ear type.
Another thing to try special ear plugs for musicians, the type with a centre hole to let wideband frequencies through, but attenuates the sound down to a comfortable level.
Have you ever tried "less is more" with the band, start off with only drums, then slowly add everyone else, only with enough level to hear yourself. Try having a practice where you all see how quiet you can all play.
What the f*** is the point of playing in a band if you cannot hear what you are doing? The idea that someone could even accept not being able to hear their musical contributions like that makes me feel bad for them. Stand up for yourself and the work you do.
If you are listening out of monitors, do something with the mix or the band's eq in general. Suggesting iem's reminds me of a long time ago when I played with people who didn't actually know how to play music, they would always suggest playing a song and then also insist we playthe recording along with us. You couldn't hear anything like this, so I spent probably seven hundred dollars(a lot when you're fifteen with no job) on a PA setup to realize everything was inaudible because there was so much total low end in the room. If you aren't using monitors at all then I'd say you need some.
If you are listening out of monitors, do something with the mix or the band's eq in general. Suggesting iem's reminds me of a long time ago when I played with people who didn't actually know how to play music, they would always suggest playing a song and then also insist we playthe recording along with us. You couldn't hear anything like this, so I spent probably seven hundred dollars(a lot when you're fifteen with no job) on a PA setup to realize everything was inaudible because there was so much total low end in the room. If you aren't using monitors at all then I'd say you need some.
I've been having his problem as well, I run a Markbass CMD102P which is a 2x10 combo. I've tried it on the floor pointing at my ankles, on the floor tilted back at my head, and on the floor on its side pointing at my legs, and I have a hard time hearing myself.
It doesn't help that we run Bose's with subs which are also behind me, so I am all the FOH low frequency stuff, not just my own.
On my last gig, I emptied out a plastic bin I was using for storage in my garage, looks like this (Buy.com - 9.50 Gallon Heavy Duty Attached Top Storage Container) and put it on the stage (upside down for stability), then put my cab on that sideways, and I heard myself much better. So for me at least the fix is raising the cab and putting the drivers vertical.
Oh and I already have been running with my EQ flat, which on my amp/cab accents the mids.
It doesn't help that we run Bose's with subs which are also behind me, so I am all the FOH low frequency stuff, not just my own.
On my last gig, I emptied out a plastic bin I was using for storage in my garage, looks like this (Buy.com - 9.50 Gallon Heavy Duty Attached Top Storage Container) and put it on the stage (upside down for stability), then put my cab on that sideways, and I heard myself much better. So for me at least the fix is raising the cab and putting the drivers vertical.
Oh and I already have been running with my EQ flat, which on my amp/cab accents the mids.
Oh and on hearing protection - I wear Hearos. I tried regular disposable foam plugs but they block too much - I couldn't hear my band mates off mic when they were calling out set list changes!
If you don't think you need hearing protection, play a gig wearing just one earplug, then at the end of the night take it out and so how much louder and clearer everything is in the ear that was protected. That's how much damage you are allowing your ears to take!
And on general loudness issues, my band keeps the volume limited to "loud enough to rock, quiet enough for the bartenders to hear their orders". This requires us all to manage our volumes. If I am feeling like I can't hear myself after sound check, I'll ask the guitar player to turn down a bit rather than turning myself up. This keeps the general volume level limited which keeps the venue owner happy (which gets us asked back).
If you don't think you need hearing protection, play a gig wearing just one earplug, then at the end of the night take it out and so how much louder and clearer everything is in the ear that was protected. That's how much damage you are allowing your ears to take!
And on general loudness issues, my band keeps the volume limited to "loud enough to rock, quiet enough for the bartenders to hear their orders". This requires us all to manage our volumes. If I am feeling like I can't hear myself after sound check, I'll ask the guitar player to turn down a bit rather than turning myself up. This keeps the general volume level limited which keeps the venue owner happy (which gets us asked back).
rockstarbassist
Inactive
What kind of color/options did you get on yours? I wonder if they could make one with like a rubber or spray-on coating for them so it wouldn't get dinged to death.
I bookmarked that link because I thought about it some over the weekend and technically I could just pop out my rear 2 casters (my amp is in a rack w/ our guitar stuff off-stage) but this would be probably a better/cooler option.
rockstarbassist
Inactive
Nope.
The little earbuds you got with your iPhone are not the same as a good set of playback cans or top-level in-ears.
What kind of color/options did you get on yours? I wonder if they could make one with like a rubber or spray-on coating for them so it wouldn't get dinged to death.
I bookmarked that link because I thought about it some over the weekend and technically I could just pop out my rear 2 casters (my amp is in a rack w/ our guitar stuff off-stage) but this would be probably a better/cooler option.
Yeah, I'd like to see one of those with a duratex coat, to match cabs. Think that would be really cool.
rockstarbassist
Inactive
If my in ear setup ends up working out and I sell off one of my cabs I'll shoot them a custom request with something like that and see what they say.
The Low Rider model looks to be what's tailored for bass.
Word. I was gonna say, sometimes the best way to hear a crisp and clean bass line is to use some top notch headphones.
