How was your gig last night?

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, ezbass said:

2nd set follow up. I moved forwards and down, in front of the drums (there was a smallish stage), with keys and guitar, left and right. It sounded better for about 5 minutes, the drums were just drowning out my rig and I won’t turn up because that’d destroy to out front mix, which seemed fine at sound check. There is little or no enjoyment for me if I can’t hear myself and this morning has contemplating jacking it all in, although I’m sure I won’t. Crowd loved it all, so job done. Had a complete blank in one song (Itchycoo Park) and couldn’t remember how to play it, most embarrassing. We shared the night with a mod/punk disco who were louder than us by some measure and one of the monitors blew during our set, which I’m sure was down to them. I didn’t hang around because of the volume and was packed up and home by 1.

 

 

Maybe consider some basic IEM solution?

 

Even if you don't have your own mix, you can typically get AT LEAST a feed from one fo the wedge monitors or the PA speakers themselves. Most are active these days and will have a 'thru' output. You can use a cheap Behringer P1 personal headphone amp, and plug into it whatever mix you can get in one XLR, and your bass on the other. With good sealing earphones (no need to spend hundreds, a KZ with the right tips would be fine) you can get a very reasonable balance. The main thing is that the earphones have a good seal. No need to go wireless, but that would be an improvement if the solution works for you.

 

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, kiat said:

Have you tried hearing more of your bass via IEMs @ezbass?  It can be a very simple and inexpensive setup to be effective. Take the Behringer MA400 headphone amp with passthrough which is about £15. Get your bass into it, connect your IEMs (£5-£20).

 

On stage vary your bass to taste, whilst still hearing the band ambiently.

 

 

very good solution 👍

 

 

 

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

I have not, but I don't want more gear TBH. Also, I think IEMs are a great idea for a quiet stage, but when you have a tub thumper and a normal guitar amp (not loud by any means) on stage, I think it kind of negates them and I'd rather go for protection over monitoring. I have considered this option in the past, however.

 

Earphones with teh right tips can provide a lot of attenuation. The KZ something or another (sorry, I forget which) quoted 26db reduction, which sounds a bit optimistic but it would depend largely on the tip material and how they fit your ears. The idea is not to provide all your sound via IEMs (that would be ideal, but in reality...), but to provide as much attenuation as possible and just add what you need, and no more. Keep it sensible. In my case, I typically add a bit more 'me' and depending on the situation I may get a bit of rhythm guitar and main vocals, that's it. I started using IEMs because one of the bands I play in tends to be way too loud onstage and no amount of chat persuaded anybody to change their ways... that, couple to the fact I rarely get my own monitor in that band made me research the IEM ways.  

 

I think the problem I see with lots of people considering IEMs is that they either want it to be perfect, or nothing, while the truth is that almost any IEM solution sounds better than wedges and a loud stage. I had assumed it had to be expensive and that it would be too much faff and overkill for pub gigs (which are the ones I had most trouble with, music venues are largely ok)... in the end I have invested in decent wireless, but that's just 'decoration'... the actual function/sound is no better than when I used a simple wired system (in some ways wired is actually better). I just wish I had done this years ago instead of getting frustrated gig after gig.

[EssexBuccaneer]

27 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

If you do so, make sure you KNOW what was being said and not rely on 'apparentlies'

We spoke to the guy this AM, he’s tight with the guitarist (they work together).

 

We’ll be letting the venue know (politely) that we won’t be back. 

[Greg Edwards69]

Little late to report, but never mind.  Thursday we played a double headed with another local band (SX5) at the Cricketers in Leigh as part of a fundraiser for the RNLI. SX5 led on the event and provided the temporary stage, PA, drums and lighting, so we more than happy to go on first. They have their own mixer dialled in (XR16) and use IEMs, so we weren’t quite sure what to do with limited time to set up. So it was decided to bring our mixer for our vocals, guitars and bass, run an output of their mixer into our for the drum mix to retain our own IEM mixer, and then straight out to the spare inputs on their PA speakers. I thought it was gong cause more problems than it would solve, but it ended up working really well.

 

A 90min set without a break to a very appreciative audience (and a busy one for a weeknight) went by like a flash, a quick tear down and SX5 started merely 30mins later. Received a lot of complements from people who’d never seen as before, as well as a number of people who turned up to support us (and the cause) who usually see us playing elsewhere.

 

Whilst I would have like to stayed to support the other band, I was exhausted and knew I had a full on day at work on Friday (in what turn out to be a marathon 5 hour session with an important customer going through amends in a 400 page InDesign document).  So reluctantly, we left at 10.30ish and in bed by 11.

 

Looking forward to doing it again, if they plan on it.