AX8 difference from interface to live setting. Help!

LChamb110

New Member
Ive had my AX8 for a couple weeks now. To build presets and get everything dialed in for live use, I would sit at home with XLR out (L and R) into my Focusrite interface and have a stereo audio track in Logic to monitor.

I got to a place after a few days of tweaking where I was VERY happy with the sound I was getting. Everything was very amp like, spongy and inspiring. This may be important. But one day I noticed things didn’t feel nearly as good as they had been, I realized after a short while that my track wasn’t armed to record. As soon as I arm it to record, there it is! The two tones are similar but very different in the way they feel and react. Not sure what explains this?? Any thoughts?

Further more I brought it into rehearsal today for the first time, this time running two XLRs to FOH and my tone isn’t nearly what it’s like when sitting at home. I’m using my same in ear monitors at home and in rehearsal, except in rehearsal my ears are plugged into a wireless pack. We use wireless for guitar , but even when I went hardwired to test it, the tone still felt wrong. Anyone have any thoughts why it sounds and feels SO good at home, but not nearly the same in that rehearsal setting? Any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post!
 
Sometimes arming to record turns on a “Monitor” mode which plays another copy of the guitar audio. That can cause phase cancellation and change the sound drastically. Refer to your DAW guide for turning that off.

Are you louder at the rehearsal than at home? Even considering the IEMs, have you heard about the FM curve?
 
I’ll look into that. That would be interesting because if that’s the case, then making a double and cancelling phase sounds and feels better? I’d be curious that sounds familiar to anyone else.

It was hard to tell only because I was basing it off of the setting on a wireless pack for IEM levels rather than my headphone level knob on my audio interface. I’m not familiar with the FM curve.
 
I would plug directly into your monitors as a test. Start with the volume all the way down just in case and slow turn up to volume.

Perhaps your DAW setup has other processing going on.
 
That would be interesting because if that’s the case, then making a double and cancelling phase sounds and feels better? I’d be curious that sounds familiar to anyone else.
If you dialed in your sound while the phase cancellation was going on, it’s not surprising that it would sound worse without the cancellation.
 
Use the same or similar gear and setup. You don’t use the DAW live so don’t use it to make your tones. Plug directly into a speaker.

+1000

I use a CLR at home, I use a CLR out, and what comes out of the CLR is a good 95-99% accurate to what I hear out of most PA systems when running direct, with some variability for the venue acoustics, how the system is etc... Provided one isn't deal with whisper quiet levels, the equal loudness contour curves AKA "FM" are rather insignificant within the typical guitar frequency range.

Eliminate as many variables as you can, such as running into a DAW and monitoring tracks, and sounds translate rather well. I mean think about it, when you hear a known reference song played on your home setup, vs when you hear it in the car, vs when you hear it at the venue, does it sound that different ? No. As such, if things are sounding radically different, its something your either purposely doing, or not doing causing the issues. Narrow it down til you find out what the issue is and then your should be golden. Consistent tone is one of the major benefits of modelers.
 
So what’s the trick to achieving the same sound in rehearsal/ live?
Dial in your sound in the rehearsal space or in the live space. Or at least with the same gear and at the same volume as when you play live.
 
Dial in your sound in the rehearsal space or in the live space. Or at least with the same gear and at the same volume as when you play live.

Most rehearsal spaces have very different acoustics than a venue, mainly due to the difference between a couple of guys in a small open room vs the acoustics of the venue and (hopefully) lots of bodies. Everyone's rehearsal spaces can vary, but all I've ever dealt with were pretty horrible acoustically. About the only thing they had going for them is they were in areas where you could get pretty loud and no surrounding businesses etc would care lol
 
Most rehearsal spaces have very different acoustics than a venue, mainly due to the difference between a couple of guys in a small open room vs the acoustics of the venue and (hopefully) lots of bodies. Everyone's rehearsal spaces can vary, but all I've ever dealt with were pretty horrible acoustically. About the only thing they had going for them is they were in areas where you could get pretty loud and no surrounding businesses etc would care lol
Yet the rehearsal space at volume will still be a better choice than at home quietly with phase cancellation occurring.
 
Yet the rehearsal space at volume will still be a better choice than at home quietly with phase cancellation occurring.

Given they apparently are playing with IEM's and using a modeler I don't think volume is really the issue though, no ??? Whole point of IEM's is you can avoid the issues with stage volume, and using a modeler like the AX8, you certainly don't need to play loud for "feel".

When I have patients get molds for me for their custom IEM's its because they want a way to have consistent tone at gigs, rehearsals, even playing at home through them, with no constraints for volume. You can have the same comfortable volume and hear yourself, and anyone else in your mix, without the need to deal with ear damaging stage volume etc.

Again, being not only a doctor of audiology, but also a lifelong musician, I think I have a unique perspective of not only fully understanding hearing science and acoustics, but also the specific issues addressing musicians. Plenty of guys play guitar, but probably haven't done much work in psycho-acoustics. Plenty of audiologist as well, but how many have experience as musicians ? I spent half my life making myself and my audience deaf, now I'm spending the second half trying to preserve hearing, how ironic right ?? lol
 
I think I have a unique perspective of not only fully understanding hearing science and acoustics, but also the specific issues addressing musicians.
ok.

we can keep qualifying and caveat'ing every response, then requalify that response, then the next, etc. forever. but then the original question gets so lost and people who aren't scientists, engineers, doctors, etc. understand less than they did when they asked the question.

i do appreciate any technical insight that learned people can give, truly.

but sometimes some of us are just trying to give a simple answer to a simple question to new users *shrug*
 
The bottom line (which addresses the original question): dial in your tone without the phase cancellation going on.
 
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