I'm a sort of utility musician in my school's jazz band. I mostly play guitar (one of two), but I also play bass when our bassist is singing, tuba on New Orleans jazz that calls for it, and hand percussion on some Latin songs that call for more percussionists than we have.
Now, we rarely get a chance to do an accurate soundcheck before a gig. If the rhythm section gets a chance, either the bassist or I will walk to the back of the house and listen while the rest of the rhythm section plays, but we never get to check with the full horn section. When I'm playing guitar, my volume varies wildly as the song calls for it- playing with a pick, playing with my thumb, playing solos, playing chords. I've constantly got a finger on my volume and tone controls. I generally set up the amp for solo lines and rolling down volume and tone to play chords. Bass is usually simpler. Our bassist sets his volume pot all the way up so he doesn't have to find a sweet spot when he rolls it off for silencing between songs. We both have fairly light touches for finger style, so it's usually enough. There's also trying to balance clave volume levels from when the singer is playing to when the horns are going nuts.
I've always tried to keep my volume set at reasonable levels, especially because I don't want to be the stupid guitarist who can't step back into a rhythm role. However, on listening to some recordings and video from our last concert, I got a bit concerned about volume. One of the songs I play bass on was almost totally inaudible (although we did have the volume rolled down because the stage lights were causing interference), and some of my chord playing was a lot quieter than I thought.
Does anybody have tips for figuring out how loud you sound to the audience mid-show?
Now, we rarely get a chance to do an accurate soundcheck before a gig. If the rhythm section gets a chance, either the bassist or I will walk to the back of the house and listen while the rest of the rhythm section plays, but we never get to check with the full horn section. When I'm playing guitar, my volume varies wildly as the song calls for it- playing with a pick, playing with my thumb, playing solos, playing chords. I've constantly got a finger on my volume and tone controls. I generally set up the amp for solo lines and rolling down volume and tone to play chords. Bass is usually simpler. Our bassist sets his volume pot all the way up so he doesn't have to find a sweet spot when he rolls it off for silencing between songs. We both have fairly light touches for finger style, so it's usually enough. There's also trying to balance clave volume levels from when the singer is playing to when the horns are going nuts.
I've always tried to keep my volume set at reasonable levels, especially because I don't want to be the stupid guitarist who can't step back into a rhythm role. However, on listening to some recordings and video from our last concert, I got a bit concerned about volume. One of the songs I play bass on was almost totally inaudible (although we did have the volume rolled down because the stage lights were causing interference), and some of my chord playing was a lot quieter than I thought.
Does anybody have tips for figuring out how loud you sound to the audience mid-show?
