I can hear everyone in the band but myself

**jazzbow** · 11-24-2012, 03:24 PM

As a bass player in a rock band many years back I played a gig when I couldn't hear my 100watt fender bassman on stage no matter where I stood, I could feel the air rushing through me trousers but all I heard on the monitors was !clang! of guitar and !crash! of cymbals. So I turned up everything so I could hear myself in relation to what I was hearing. Oo! The sound engineer didn't like that! He took me out of the PA mix completely to prove a point. That was the Marquee in Wardour street. Twat!

Another gig at the Rock Garden in Soho where we were on a % of takings was the best sound we had heard! Fantastic!! But after the gig was over the sound engineer took his cut and we were left with just enough for petrol, chips and a beer each. Git!

Ha, but seriously tho' elevating the amp and in a band situation standing in an area where everything balances to your ears is a solution. Or ply the sound engineer with beer and fags (cigarettes) is always a good start.

Another method where you have limited PA and no sound engineer is to have a friend in the audience to report back to the band leader on who is quiet and who is too loud. That will cost you beer and fags also but you will not have to pay him cash or deal with a massive ego

(sorry pingu

).

**4mal** · 11-24-2012, 05:02 PM

As a mostly bass player live, this is why I own PA and also a wireless. I typically mix from stage but use an iPad for remote sound check. Thank the lord for technology...
Fun gig tonight, art gallery / wine & tapa's joint. Acoustic except I'll carry my custom 1x10 combo for bass. Fretless ABG and something else in piezo for basses I expect. Guitarist, me and her Divosity the vocalist :-)

Being a sound guy as well, I like the sound of that percentage :-)

**Ron Stern** · 11-26-2012, 06:20 PM

Thanks for all the replies. I was gone over Thanksgiving and there's like 20 replies!

My amp and guitar are plenty loud. It's definitely a matter of

1. getting about 5 feet away, usually not possible
2. get it up off the floor and tilted
3. getting the other people to turn the F down. My rule of thumb is: if the alto sax can't be heard plainly when the band is at full tilt, then the band is too loud.

It occurred to me that stage monitor speakers put the speaker axis 45 deg. or more off horizontal

**Ron Stern** · 11-26-2012, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by davelang

"I can't hear myself" is a common complaint from players who haven't learned to hear the sound of their instrument through the mix of all the others.

I don't get it. If you can't hear, you can't hear.

At home, I practice putting the backing track up loud and my guitar too; then I turn the guitar down till I can't hear it, at which point, it's almost off.