Monitoring Question: guitar versus band sound

setzinger

setzinger

Member
I would like to know some about your experiences with monitoring.
Has anyone of you one single floor monitor in front of you for guitar and band?
Has anyone two floor monitors in front of you: one for you're guitar and one for the band?
Or would you prefer the solution: Atomic behind you, floor monitor for band in front.
Momentary I have one RCF 310a as a floor monitor only for my guitar in front of me and can hear a little bit from the band
from the floor monitor in front of our two female singers standing next to me.
But with this solution I have a very bad "band sound feeling", because I mainly hear my guitar and the band sound is far too quiet.
Any suggestions beside of IEM are welcome!
 
Feed your monitor in front of you the same thing you'd feed your IEM and you'll find it's fine.

The only issue with running a one monitor setup is that you need a very specific custom monitor mix that for most of the other band is guitar-heavy. If you cannot get a custom mix in your one monitor setup, then you will probably not be a happy guy and need to run your own monitor in addition to the 'band' mix in your other monitor.

The Atomic or any other monitor comes down to personal preference; as does where you set it up and how you utilize it. The Atomic, in essence, is a monitor the same as any other. The form factor is simply more in a conventional guitarist's cab.
 
Errr. Maybe... Turn down the guitar monitor a bit to not drown out the rest of the band?

In my band we were always fighting (usually the drummer) to keep volume down AMAP. Never had this problem. Well. Once.



I wonder why you made the point that your singers are both female... Are they cute? Do they like their monitors at lower volume than men usually do?
I should really get back into the cover bands. Although some of these singers aren't that pretty...
 
Hi Scott and Dutch, thank you for your replies.

I think I have a mental problem to put a portion of band sound in my personal Axe-Fx monitor. I’m so used to the player-guitar-amp connection since more than two decades, that I have fear to “damage” my good guitar sound.

I personally prefer the guitar sound from a front monitor over the sound from the back beaming to my knees, especially with clean, acoustic or mild crunch sounds. But also I like to be in the closed loop together with my guitar and amp enabling controlled feedbacks with overdriven sounds.

If I can get my own monitor mix I will test the "one monitor solution" recommended by Scott.

Dutch: I just translated the german word “Sängerinnen” in english without any side point in mind - just thinking german and writing english.
My monitoring problem depends on the stage and on the room where we gig. Last weekend we had a very small room full of people (about 50 to 60) and the stage was very broad but only two meters deep. My position was far right on the stage.
The two gigs before I had no problem with the same band setup, but the stages and the rooms were very different from the last one.

Setzinger
 
setzinger said:
I would like to know some about your experiences with monitoring.
Has anyone of you one single floor monitor in front of you for guitar and band?
Has anyone two floor monitors in front of you: one for you're guitar and one for the band?
Or would you prefer the solution: Atomic behind you, floor monitor for band in front.
Momentary I have one RCF 310a as a floor monitor only for my guitar in front of me and can hear a little bit from the band
from the floor monitor in front of our two female singers standing next to me.
But with this solution I have a very bad "band sound feeling", because I mainly hear my guitar and the band sound is far too quiet.
Any suggestions beside of IEM are welcome!
Click to expand...

I have tried all 3 of these situations.
As Scott mentioned, it all comes down to personal preference. However, since you asked..I'll tell you my personal experience.
Of the three scenarios, i prefer the Atomic behind me with a mix in front- for me, it just feels best.
I found that when running direct into the mix without a monitor, my guitar would either be drowned out by the vocals(acoustic particualrly) or drown out others and the result would be a volume war just to hear what you wanted to hear.
For a while, i used a wedge infront of me separate from the band mix. i found that to be a far better solution as i had control as to what I needed to hear- and i wasnt stepping on any other toes in the mix. Recently, using the Reactor behind me with a mix in front- i just feel like i am sitting in the stage mix as i should.
I dont play large venues and volume can be an issue. So i have gone around in a circle trying to meet various needs and currently have ended up with a backline preference. That may change again- who knows.
 
setzinger said:
Hi Scott and Dutch, thank you for your replies.

I think I have a mental problem to put a portion of band sound in my personal Axe-Fx monitor. I’m so used to the player-guitar-amp connection since more than two decades, that I have fear to “damage” my good guitar sound.

I personally prefer the guitar sound from a front monitor over the sound from the back beaming to my knees, especially with clean, acoustic or mild crunch sounds. But also I like to be in the closed loop together with my guitar and amp enabling controlled feedbacks with overdriven sounds.

If I can get my own monitor mix I will test the "one monitor solution" recommended by Scott.

Dutch: I just translated the german word “Sängerinnen” in english without any side point in mind - just thinking german and writing english.
My monitoring problem depends on the stage and on the room where we gig. Last weekend we had a very small room full of people (about 50 to 60) and the stage was very broad but only two meters deep. My position was far right on the stage.
The two gigs before I had no problem with the same band setup, but the stages and the rooms were very different from the last one.

Setzinger
Click to expand...
Well, I was just having a little fun with you.

I see where some situations might leave you feeling out of touch. There were some situations where I was just glad to hear enough so I could tell I wasn't playing in the wrong key...
Luckily my band usually had enough room to stand round the drummer and never entirely out of range for the front row monitors. We've always run four "groups"(of one monitor each. :D) of monitor sound. Well, we started of with a Spirit Racpac mixer that had four auxes so then we ran three for monitors and one for effects. But we did have four monitorspeakers, the first thing we bought as a band. Pretty soon we got a better mixer with more monitor group. We had a nice PA when we quit. My brother bought it and is running a little side business with it.
 
I run 3 monitors in front of me. Stereo Axe-FX left and right, and vocals with a bit of keys in the center. It's probably overkill for a club band, but I've never had so much fun! :cool:
 
We run what Scott described. One monitor per person and each person has their own control unit so they determine their own mix. This is the optimal (albeit pricey) set up IMHO. Each person gets exactly what they want and there are no volume wars.

If we did not have this, I would consider a two speaker setup: one for the band mix, and one dedicated to my guitar. Set them far enough apart that you can control your own mix based on where you stand. (I was reading a Guitar magazine article where Slash was saying this way how he did it).
 
Thank’s again for your interesting replies. Love to read them.

Mike: You wrote “...i prefer the Atomic behind me with a mix in front- for me, it just feels best.”

Do you have a lot of guitar sound coming from your front monitor? Or is your main guitar source your Atomic amp behind you. If you have an even mix of both I wonder if there might be no phase cancelation between the two sound sources.

Randocaster: What kind of speakers are you using - small ones? Are you sending also a stereo signal to the PA?

Setzinger
 
When we use monitors (mostly we travel with our own soundcompany and use inears) i have only one monitor in which I mainly have my guitar and maybe some keyboards.

drums I can hear more than loud enough ;)

and all the other instruments are mostly so loud on their monitors that I can hear them also.

as far for vocals. since I stand next to them, i NEVER want vocals in my monitor.

just my 2cent
 
setzinger said:
Randocaster: What kind of speakers are you using - small ones? Are you sending also a stereo signal to the PA?

Setzinger
Click to expand...

Right now I'm using a pair of Carvin LM15 (15&horn) to a Crown XLS602 from output 2. Output 1 in stereo to the PA. I'm working on restoring a pair of JBL Cabaret wedges because E140's are probably my favorite speaker ever.
 
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