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How can I hear everybody else? On a budget.

Stranger Danger

Stranger Danger

Feel Like A Stranger
Jan 3, 2010
14,549
14,121
Denver, CO
#1
What is the best way to assure that I can (on stage) hear everybody else? We have a 4 piece with 2 guitars, bass and drums. We run the vocals and acoustic guitar thru the PA. I can hear drums, bass and lead but I am not getting vocals or rhythm guitar. I assume we need floor monitors. Help a new band please. Thanks in advance.
 
#4
What equipment are you running(for each player) and for the PA? What's your budget for upgrades?

Here are some links you may want to check out: (Get more info from the link in my sig. below).

~PA/Lighting
First
1 What size?
2
Configuring
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
1 Upgrading
2

1What mixer is your band runnin'?
2
QSC K series PA discussion
Microphones

Low cost lighting

~FOH
Working with the "sound guy"
Cheap vs. Expensive DI
Working a DI
1 Learn live sound mixing
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Link Removed
Frequency ranges of band instruments
Link Removed
FOH vs. on-stage sound
Solving odd feed back situations
Isolating Head/Cabs from stage/each other

Best wireless?
First
 
#6
I am running my bass thru VT bass pedal into Bassman TV 210 (300watts). Lead player - Strat and Traynor (30 watts). Rhythm-Martin with onboard pre and whatever house PA were playing with. We have a PA in the rehearsal room (its one of those Kustom kits and its only 300 watts) and its good for the room but we cant play out with it.
 
#8
StrangerDanger said:
...and whatever house PA were playing with.
Click to expand...

Do you run the PA? If there's a sound person in charge, ask for the floor monitor mix you need. If they have no floor monitors the club is in trouble.

If you're talking about hearing everything at rehearsal, rearranging your gear so you can hear everything is pretty easy. It may take a bit of experimenting for the correct placement. Getting the amps/speakers tilted back or raised to ear level sometime helps.

+1 on turning down at rehearsal. I suggest getting sound board (usually at a hardware store) to put around the drums. We used a 4'x8' sheet, cut in half, connected to two halves with wire and put them in front of the drums. It works wonders for cutting the noise down so everyone hears better and they can turn down.

Putting the drums in the corner with soundboard on the wall behind the set and some in front would probably be better. Mic'ing the kick drum a bit might help if you can't hear it. Getting the drummer to play with dynamics is probably a good thing. If he can only play loud, then your band has more problems then you realize. Playing the same volume all night at a gig gets to sound like a freight train. Good drummers know about and used dynamics all night long.
 
#9
Run everything through the mixer and use In-ear monitors. If you run the entire mix into your headset, you can hear everything a lot more clearly. The mix is also consistent no matter where you stand on the stage since you do not need to rely on hearing everyone's individual amp. Guitar amps tend to be directional, so you may not be able to hear them if they are not aimed in your direction.
 
#10
mambo4 said:
The absolute cheapest way to hear everyone is to have everyone play quietly. Good luck with that tho.
Click to expand...
We started working with a very good producer recently.
He is adamant about all of us playing more quietly - and we're not a super loud band to begin with, by any means.
But when you turn it down you can hear a lot more without ear fatigue.
You can hear the vocals (what a concept!)
And you can hear the other musicians and lock your parts in much more strongly.
 
#11
We mic'd the kick tonight and had one of the PA speakers slightly pointed toward us at an angle and it worked like a charm. For the first time outside rehearsal I could hear the Martin and that was huge. We sounded great tonight. Thanks for the input and I will definitely bring some of this stuff up to the others.

On a side note, I had a blast tonight. I feel really good about our stuff and I think for the 1st time we were able to replicate the rehearsal room sound on stage and it was really exciting. Thanks again.
 
#15
Stumbo said:
Cheap club. I guess you could bring your own plus an amp. Doesn't seem right to me.
Click to expand...

There are obviously better places to play but since this is a new band we have to establish a name and the ability to bring people in to spend money before we get booked at the better places. We are taking what we can get at this point. What I am more concerned about is finding a simple solution to the problem of not being able to hear the vocals and rhythm guitar. Wishing we played better clubs is good but we arent just yet. We still want to sound good.
 
#16
big90sbasshorns said:
I know it sounds totally counter-intuitive, but try some earplugs. I have no idea why it works, but it does (for me at least).
Click to expand...

Me too... I think it's a matter of my ears not being overwhelmed by the louder stuff. When the plugs are in I can pick out whatever I want, but when I sing backups/harmonize, I mostly hear only my own voice.

Negotiating with everyone else to quiet down is the best case scenario, but I think we can agree that often times, that's a utopia that is unattainable. My drummer just hits 'em harder as he gets more "into it" and I often play without PA help, so I need to run my sound loud enough that we can stay linked up. Plugs keep it civilized on my end.
 
#18
i just picked up a carvin powered monitor (LM12a) that i think its fantastic. we run the entire band mix into our own monitors and its perfectly clear (4 piece cover band). it's fairly light too, and wasn't overly expensive. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Our singer uses in-ears, but I guess im just old school...nothing goes in my ears, cept my elbow
 

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