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Each person gets what they want. With today's gear there's no reason anyone should have a substandard stage mix. With a digital board each band member gets their own mix customized to their liking using their own phone.
I am the least picky monitor person at our church, so I typically get overlooked. 
. I can still hear what it others, so it's alright.
When I get my cake and eat it too, I like the monitors to be as close to FOH as possible, using my amp as my primary monitor of me. I really feed off the energy of the whole band, so I like a good balance of the whole band. I try to keep the monitor frequencies away from my frequencies so my playing stands apart to me.
. I can still hear what it others, so it's alright.When I get my cake and eat it too, I like the monitors to be as close to FOH as possible, using my amp as my primary monitor of me. I really feed off the energy of the whole band, so I like a good balance of the whole band. I try to keep the monitor frequencies away from my frequencies so my playing stands apart to me.
Well, more precisely...
...rarely drums. But everything else in varying degrees. I most often ask for more of my vocals and bass.
...rarely drums. But everything else in varying degrees. I most often ask for more of my vocals and bass.
My monitor has just vocals (mine 90% and 2 others 60%)
and a wee bit of guitar, just to make sure we are both playing the same song.
The singer has just vocals, his 90% and 2 x backing 60%.
The drummer get a full F.O.H mix
and a wee bit of guitar, just to make sure we are both playing the same song.
The singer has just vocals, his 90% and 2 x backing 60%.
The drummer get a full F.O.H mix
Just got done playing a Memorial Day gig on a large outdoor stage. I had vocals and guitar in mine. That's it.
I usually like my vox, kick drum, a touch of other vocalists so I can harmonize with them, and a little guitar if I the stage is big and I can't hear him. I try and run as minimal as possible.
Where I usually play we have Axiom units that let everybody control their own mix. *I Love This.* For me, whether playing drums or bass, my mix contains the bandleader's guitar and vox, *maybe* the other singers if they are taking lead on a song, and rhythm guitar if we have one. Keys are turned way down because I don't necessarily trust the keys player's ability to follow tempo. No need for bass when I'm playing drums because bass player has his amp so loud. When I'm playing bass I usually do silent stage, so I've got myself in my mix. I use headphones so others don't hear it.
That still requires discreet amp channels and wedges or active wedges, for each band member. But perhaps that was implied.
Rarely are there more than 4 mixes available at most venues. For a band carting their own PA with a digital board, as long as there are enough analog outputs to feed said individual mixes...
Yes. The correct answer is, whatever gives you a better stage mix and lets you hear what you want as loud or quiet as you want it.
If I ever get back into the live sound racket, I have an idea that will be a hit, for at least some of the guys in the band. Monitors that can cancel out someone on stage you don't want to hear as loudly, such as the guitarist who needs a saturated power section, but thinks low watt amps are "pussy" 
Same technology is used in luxury cars and Bose headphones. In reality it would not work on a loud stage, but yes I am talking about using opposite phase.
On a more humorous note, never be a pompous demanding dick when you play keyboards in a band SELLING tickets to open for a national, and you are relying on an unrecognized genius monitor guy to hear yourself on stage. "Hmm, the old spx90 in the rack has a pitch shifter. And I have hd280pro cans to cue up a unity gain aux swap..." (On com to FOH/LD) "permission to F with keyboard douchebag?" "Granted" then I put him one semitone out of tune, and we were all rolling watching him react. Of course I did this intermittently as to not be totally obvious, each time until he reacted, then back to normal. After a few times FOH says OK that's enough "
Best part was some tech got paid, I had to keep a straight face during set change when he was asking his friend (who I knew from recording class at school) if he was having any tuning issues, which were not heard in FOH of course. "Sounded fine to me" "well it was going sharp a few times, I'll have it looked at"
To quote my FOH guy at the time, "never F with the soundguy!". (I was overqualified but bad with politics and saying the right stuff, so I was usually more advanced than the FOH guys, and this one respected me more after I pulled that off.
Same technology is used in luxury cars and Bose headphones. In reality it would not work on a loud stage, but yes I am talking about using opposite phase.
On a more humorous note, never be a pompous demanding dick when you play keyboards in a band SELLING tickets to open for a national, and you are relying on an unrecognized genius monitor guy to hear yourself on stage. "Hmm, the old spx90 in the rack has a pitch shifter. And I have hd280pro cans to cue up a unity gain aux swap..." (On com to FOH/LD) "permission to F with keyboard douchebag?" "Granted" then I put him one semitone out of tune, and we were all rolling watching him react. Of course I did this intermittently as to not be totally obvious, each time until he reacted, then back to normal. After a few times FOH says OK that's enough "
Best part was some tech got paid, I had to keep a straight face during set change when he was asking his friend (who I knew from recording class at school) if he was having any tuning issues, which were not heard in FOH of course. "Sounded fine to me" "well it was going sharp a few times, I'll have it looked at"
To quote my FOH guy at the time, "never F with the soundguy!". (I was overqualified but bad with politics and saying the right stuff, so I was usually more advanced than the FOH guys, and this one respected me more after I pulled that off.
For us it's generally
vocals (4 or 5 mics depending on gig)
piano and keyboard
guitar (no amp on stage)
trumpet
vocals (4 or 5 mics depending on gig)
piano and keyboard
guitar (no amp on stage)
trumpet
s0c9
Supporting Member
We've been on self-mixed IEM's for close to 4 yrs now.. so I put whatever I want (it's all mic'ed /DI) in my ears, and let the others worry about their own. Back in the days when I DID use
wedges, it was vox, keys and acoustic guitar only.
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Simply put, I want in my monitor anything I would otherwise not be able to hear from my area of the stage. That is, after all, the POINT of having monitors. That is their very purpose.
Generally speaking I usually end up with mostly vocals, acoustic instruments (fiddle, acoustic guitar, etc.), and sometimes keys. But I have, on occasion, had high hat, rhythm electric guitar and bass.
Generally speaking I usually end up with mostly vocals, acoustic instruments (fiddle, acoustic guitar, etc.), and sometimes keys. But I have, on occasion, had high hat, rhythm electric guitar and bass.
