True Story

As someone who has never played in a band, how loud should you hear yourself in relation to the rest of the band. 50/50 or a tad louder? I won't ask how it's accomplished because I'm sure it can be complicated.
You should always hear the vocalist. Go from there. Takes time to learn and apply dynamics. Also if your drummer doesn’t have sense of dynamics then forget it. They drive everything. Play to the songs! Getting told you should turn up is better than being told you should turn down. We’ve all been there.
 
! Getting told you should turn up is better than being told you should turn down. We’ve all been there.

I was just thinking about this yesterday. I may go and just let her rip tonight at rehearsal
and let the chips fall where they may. It's not like we are prepping for a run of shows at
Madison Square Garden or anything. :)

So I am going to plop my earplugs in and turn the OUT 2 volume on the FM3 up as much
as I need to. It could get ugly.
 
Omg this thread is triggering me lol. Volume wars is the worst. Egos are the worst. Playing mid to full volume in between songs while people are talking drives me absolutely fucking insane.
 
Omg this thread is triggering me lol. Volume wars is the worst. Egos are the worst. Playing mid to full volume in between songs while people are talking drives me absolutely fucking insane.

Hahaha!


YES! YES! YES!

I could not agree more.

Let's not forget those who still don't know silent tuning is a thing. ;)
 
Since this is a tale of a crime, and we are holding court (even if just public opinion), I'd like to hear the accused's side. You mentioned a new setup you're using involving FM3 and a Tube Amp. Is it possible that your tones are not just merely superior, but louder than they used to be?
 
Omg this thread is triggering me lol. Volume wars is the worst. Egos are the worst. Playing mid to full volume in between songs while people are talking drives me absolutely fucking insane.
Yes! The worst for me is people wasting rehearsal time to work up their songs.
 
Let's cut to the chase ... we all know this is working up to being advised to get a baseball bat then wade into that complete bastard's house and take him out at the knees while the vocalist takes a mic stand to his Helix
 
...Playing mid to full volume in between songs while people are talking drives me absolutely fucking insane.
That's one of my pet peeves. If you need to play to explain something, that's cool, but never at volume, and never when someone else is trying to say something.

I'm fortunate that everyone in my band is willing to rehearse at moderately low volume. We also don't dick around between songs at rehearsal. Even though we're just a weekend warrior band, we all have a history of playing professionally so rehearsals are pretty businesslike. We rehearse in my living room, and our drummer is awesome...he uses a very minimalist kit, and can play it at living room volume if need be. At gigs, everyone has their own monitor and separate monitor mix, so we can all hear however much of ourselves and others as we want.
 
That's one of my pet peeves. If you need to play to explain something, that's cool, but never at volume, and never when someone else is trying to say something.

I'm fortunate that everyone in my band is willing to rehearse at moderately low volume. We also don't dick around between songs at rehearsal. Even though we're just a weekend warrior band, we all have a history of playing professionally so rehearsals are pretty businesslike. We rehearse in my living room, and our drummer is awesome...he uses a very minimalist kit, and can play it at living room volume if need be. At gigs, everyone has their own monitor and separate monitor mix, so we can all hear however much of ourselves and others as we want.
What do you use for monitoring, in-ears? How about the drummer?
 
Also about distinguishing the 2 guitars. All too often players hone the guitar sound by itself, huge sound, covering all the frequencies. But in a band, for live, cutting some lows and highs out help lots. But the 2 guitar players should plan to make a couple presets that compliment each other.
I always mention shook me all night long, when that 2nd guitar comes in, it is distinguishingly different. Neither sux, but likely solo’ed on their own aren’t huge sound. But ya, 2 electric players should spend time on that. Maybe he needs a pa monitor right at his head. I place mine on a pa stand sorta side wash towards the band. Audience & PA can’t hardly hear it.
I am amazed that people don’t think about this stuff more often but I have often seen duplicate rigs and am left scratching my head…

Let’s see, you both play Strats into Boogies, both run a KoT/Stryfectas and both have stereo presets: what could go wrong?
 
Earplugs are mandatory when playing in a room with an acoustic drum kit for me. I got heckled and razzed for it my entire life, but at 46, my last hearing test was a perfect score.

Same here. I am religious when it comes to using some kind of protection---whether at
rehearsal, at other people's shows, or when moming the lawn. :)
 
My solution to this is turn myself down.
Point my monitoring choice at my head, and worry only about me.
Tell him if he wants to hear you he will need to turn down.
Tried this for a few weeks until I made this thread. He mentions not being
able to hear anything on the other side of the room where I am with the
bass player, and yet doesn't think of turning himself completely out of the
PA and only using his backline--which is more than sufficient as he runs
dual 2 x 12 FRFR style speakers.

I have grown up and played around obnoxious guitar players and always
remembered how that never really fit the song. My goal has been to support
the song and NOT step on the vocals and really work to make sure the live
mix of whatever instruments are in the group at that time work together.

Not everyone is into that. I get it. Folks play music for all kinds of reasons
and a lot of the times it has nothing to do with the music.
 
5 years or not is irrelevant - the guy clearly has no idea how to dial-in / eq his tones -or- quite possibly his hearing isn't that great anymore -> this is a serious and growing problem in society generally [ regardless of digital amp modelling ] put down almost exclusively to the habitual / almost "24/7" use of in-ear-buds at "louder always sounds better volumes". Also he could just want to be louder because he is "audio selfish" / just wants to be "the loudest" because the world needs to "hear him play" ...... these guys really do exist.

I'd just tell him to turn down / refuse to play with him if he persists.

I really feel for your singer :(

Either way, the rigs being used have nothing to do with the situation.

Ben

Really dig your post. I am haranguing my teenage soon all the time about his
near habitual use of those damn airbuds. And yeah, hearing loss may play a role.
Coming back to knowing my friend as well as I do I still think when I started to
bring the FM3 around he felt a little threatened (whether consciously or not) and
ended up overcompensating as a result. So, if that is the case then rigs do matter.
They matter so much that we chase them Monty Python chasing the Grail!! :)
 
How big is your room? And are you playing songs that really require 2 guitars? Especially when considering the Looper?
 
That's one of my pet peeves. If you need to play to explain something, that's cool, but never at volume, and never when someone else is trying to say something.

I'm fortunate that everyone in my band is willing to rehearse at moderately low volume. We also don't dick around between songs at rehearsal. Even though we're just a weekend warrior band, we all have a history of playing professionally so rehearsals are pretty businesslike. We rehearse in my living room, and our drummer is awesome...he uses a very minimalist kit, and can play it at living room volume if need be. At gigs, everyone has their own monitor and separate monitor mix, so we can all hear however much of ourselves and others as we want.

That's awesome! :) I have been in bands in the past that did that and we ended up being significantly
tighter as a result. Volume can lead to mush, and a sonic mess, to the point that people cannot really
hear their parts, or how their parts work together in the context of the whole group.
 
Last edited:
Could this also be a case where the other guitarist is not dialing in their tone properly and is trying to use sheer brute force of dB to compensate for the fact that their tone doesn't sit well in the mix? This is a common problem for people who spend the majority their time playing by themselves and something that I have been guilty of myself.

If you dial in a tone by itself you instinctually want to hear a nice full sound (extra bass, some scooped mid range to even it out tonally, more gain). However, in a band mix it is better to tailor the tone to be leaner in the bass (so it doesn't interfere with the bass guitar / drums), to have more mid range (where most of the fundamental guitar frequencies sit naturally), and to back off the gain (so that you have more note separation and dynamic range). The Andertons guys talk about this in their videos some times as being a home musician tone vs a pro musician tone.
THIS !!!! 100% THIS !!! :) Was guilty of it myself for years before figuring it out. Words of wisdom.
 
Since this is a tale of a crime, and we are holding court (even if just public opinion), I'd like to hear the accused's side. You mentioned a new setup you're using involving FM3 and a Tube Amp. Is it possible that your tones are not just merely superior, but louder than they used to be?

If you want to hear his side you'll have to go the Line 6 Helix Forum. ;)
 
Back
Top Bottom