How do you guys hear yourselfs and the band onstage?

[guitarnerdswe]

First of all, if this in the wrong subforum, the mods can move it

Anyway, it seems like most people run FRFR around, and that people connect their monitors directly to the Axe-FX. BUT, how do you hear the rest of the band, or your vocals onstage if your monitors upfront only have your guitar in them? Do you guys have different monitors for vocals, keyboards etc, or am I completely wrong about how you guys hook things up?

Please shed some light on this, since I'm putting together a FRFR system and just want to know how people solve their onstage sound issues

Regards
Tony

 

[quonsar]

Instead of putting an amp behind me, I plop my FRFR monitor in front of me. I hear the rest of the band and vocals same as I ever did, either through the regular monitors or their amps.

 

[javajunkie]

wireless IEMs and Aviom personal monitor. Make your own mix.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

Instead of putting an amp behind me, I plop my FRFR monitor in front of me. I hear the rest of the band and vocals same as I ever did, either through the regular monitors or their amps.

Ah, so you use one monitor for you guitar, and another for the other stuff you need to hear?

 

[guitarnerdswe]

wireless IEMs and Aviom personal monitor. Make your own mix.

Could you explain a little more about how you hook it up?

Btw Java, thanks for all the help you've given me, you're really the star of this forum!

 

[Secret80'sMan]

wireless IEMs and Aviom personal monitor. Make your own mix.

+1 Not only can we hear everything but we get a ton more corporate gigs than most bands running a clean stage and being able to control levels.

 

[xrist04]

++1 on controlling stage volume, the number one complaint from club venues.

When competing against other forms of entertainment (anything from DJs to karaoke to a jukebox), the bands that deal effectively with the excessive stage-volume issue are the ones that get called first.

The Axe-Fx is an amazing tool for delivering quality tones at manageable volume levels. Thank you Cliff!

 

[GtarLover]

I agree with Java, 3 words...IN EAR MONITORS :mrgreen:

They are the best choice, IMO. You can mix your own instrument and vocal a bit higher so you get to hear as much of you as you need, then mix in whatever levels you want of the other vocals, other instruments. It's like listening to a good CD of your band :lol:

Just run the IEM out of one of the AUX sends, as you would a normal monitor. My board has 6 Aux sends, 1 for effects, the rest for monitors. I am the only one using IEM in our band currently. However, the drummer keeps asking about them. I am hoping he will make the choice soon. Everyone else just gets a normal 12" or 15" monitor at their feet and things are mixed individually.

I run my Axe direct to the board. There is NO stage volume, other than what each player wants in their individual monitor mix. It is ideal

Hope this helps...Rawk!!!!

 

[javajunkie]

wireless IEMs and Aviom personal monitor. Make your own mix.

Could you explain a little more about how you hook it up?

Btw Java, thanks for all the help you've given me, you're really the star of this forum!

I have my setup a little complicated. I will tell you my setup minus the weirdness.

Axe-fx XLR out to PA mixer. The mixer sends a direct feed to the aviom distribution unit of stereo guitar 1, stereo guitar 2 (if we have one), mono bass, mono Acoustic, stereo keys. The drums are submixed and set from an aux out to the aviom system. The same with group vocals. We also have channels for click, ambient mic, 2 for solo vocalists, and additional instruments.

Each person has a small mixer on a stand where the can adjust the pan and level of each channel. You can also control the overall volume and bass/treble.

I send the mix to an IEM effects processor, then to my wireless IEM.

With aviom you can save your mixes to 1 of 15 memory locations.

My weirdness is that I don't actually listen to the Axe-fx signal sent to the board. I have my own mix of that. I just turn off on the Avioms and have my own signal for that.

 

[MKeditor]

My monitor mix from the monitor board goes into my System Mix. I mix it with the Axe-FX so I hear the whole band through my speakers. The band is mix one, the AXE is mix two. Love it.

Enjoy!

 

[PlaysARobin]

Aviom IEMs here as well. I actually haven't used a traditional wedge in a band situation in nearly two years now. My ears feel so much better :mrgreen:

 

[dpeterson]

i have a small behringer mixer... i split my vocal mic (xlr splitter), one side goes to pa snake, the other to channel 1 on my mixer. Channel 2 on the mixer is a split off the axe fx, again one side to the snake one to the mixer. then i get a band mix minus me from the sound guy, goes into channel 3. stereo out to carvin em900, with futursonic triple drivers custom ear buds.

i can ALWAYS hear myself and my vox... tis a beautiful thing.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

My monitor mix from the monitor board goes into my System Mix. I mix it with the Axe-FX so I hear the whole band through my speakers. The band is mix one, the AXE is mix two. Love it.

Enjoy!

Nice! Are you running the Axe in stereo? And is your monitor mix stereo too, or is it mono, and is it free from your guitar? How do you send the Axe to the board?

 

[guitarnerdswe]

i have a small behringer mixer... i split my vocal mic (xlr splitter), one side goes to pa snake, the other to channel 1 on my mixer. Channel 2 on the mixer is a split off the axe fx, again one side to the snake one to the mixer. then i get a band mix minus me from the sound guy, goes into channel 3. stereo out to carvin em900, with futursonic triple drivers custom ear buds.

i can ALWAYS hear myself and my vox... tis a beautiful thing.

Same questions as to Mike, do you run the Axe in stereo, and is your band mix you get from the sound guy mono, and free from guitar?

 

[MKeditor]

My monitor mix from the monitor board goes into my System Mix. I mix it with the Axe-FX so I hear the whole band through my speakers. The band is mix one, the AXE is mix two. Love it.

Enjoy!

Nice! Are you running the Axe in stereo? And is your monitor mix stereo too, or is it mono, and is it free from your guitar? How do you send the Axe to the board?

I am in stereo. The monitor mix is mono. Output 1 from the Axe-FX goes to the board via two XLR cables. Output 2 goes to the System Mix via two 1/4 cables. The System Mix goes to my two FBT 12ma's via two 1/4 to XLR cables. Therefore the guitar is stereo but the band is mono. It is very easy to control and sounds great.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

I am in stereo. The monitor mix is mono. Output 1 from the Axe-FX goes to the board via two XLR cables. Output 2 goes to the System Mix via two 1/4 cables. The System Mix goes to my two FBT 12ma's via two 1/4 to XLR cables. Therefore the guitar is stereo but the band is mono. It is very easy to control and sounds great.

That sounds exactly like I want to do it! The only difference is that I'm going to use a small Mackie mixer instead of the System Mix. Are you using the Copy out 1 to out 2 in the Axe then?

 

[MKeditor]

I am in stereo. The monitor mix is mono. Output 1 from the Axe-FX goes to the board via two XLR cables. Output 2 goes to the System Mix via two 1/4 cables. The System Mix goes to my two FBT 12ma's via two 1/4 to XLR cables. Therefore the guitar is stereo but the band is mono. It is very easy to control and sounds great.

That sounds exactly like I want to do it! The only difference is that I'm going to use a small Mackie mixer instead of the System Mix. Are you using the Copy out 1 to out 2 in the Axe then?

Yes. It still allows me to use separate global EQs for each output.

 

[Radley]

With Neil Diamond, we decided to nix any sound sources onstage 10 years ago (amps, monitors, side fills, etc) and each of us committed to using IEMs with Aviom individual mixers - this is not only better on our ears, but better for the audience because they no longer have to hear muddy, inarticulate sound because of 'sonic bleed' coming off the stage. I love the bass & treble controls on the Avioms because they help flatten out the frequency response of our Etymotic ER-4s (a bit shallow on the low end). I would *never* want to go back to old style monitors, because of compromised sound and all the extra feedback problems when using acoustic guitars at high levels.

~Rad~

 

[Tedge]

I also use IEMs. But not an aviom system. I've never used one of those. They look perfect for things like Sean's church group. I don't think I've seen one used yet for a touring band. For that you usually see something like what we carry.

We have an actual IEM monitor rack with a split snake. Basically it's a slant top rack with a Yamaha O1V mixer in the top. The rack spaces have IEM transmitters, the receiver for our wireless vocal mic, and a rack drawer to carry all the incidentals like the belt packs and spare batteries.

There's also a split snake that coils up in the back of the rack. (stage box with two tails coming out ... one for monitors, one for FOH)

We roll it onto the stage near our drummers right side. Pull out the snake and plug everything into our snake box. Then hand the FOH engineer our other snake tail that he plugs into his main snake box. I went crazy with the labeler on all the plug ends to end the confusion about what goes where. This is the snake

http://www.audiopile.net/products/Stage ... heet.shtml

The O1V is awesome for this duty. ($500-$600 all over Ebay) Completely recallable "scenes" with enough onboard processing that we don't need anything else to build several separate mixes for the band each customized to what each guy wants to hear. Mine is basically click, backing tracks, my guitar, my vocal, and lead vocal. Our drummer wants a whole band mix and then the click REALLY loud on top of it. Easy to use once it's set up. Punch a button for your "aux" and the motorized faders jump to your mix. Then you can adjust whatever you want. Punch a new "aux" for a different guys mix etc.

We played a show last night through the most horrid sound system possible. Completely incompetent "sound guys" (I hesitate to call em that). Subs didn't work, no crossovers before the amps, didn't have the graphic EQs patched to the outputs until I did it for them and many more issues. AND with all of that, I still heard the show the same way I always do ... with my own mix through my own IEM system.

 

[MKeditor]

For you guys using IEMs. Do you have anything onstage that has volume for the guitar to interact with? How are you dealing with the isolation feeling that is closely associated with IEMs? Room mics?