Just a thought - but what does everyone use for sound monitoring when they're out there playing live? 

Until recently, I used to put up with the sound that came from the FOH PA speakers - I was used to playing this way in the dim and distant past, so thought nothing of it.  Over the last 4 to 6 weeks, I've got together with our bassist and the other guitarist/vocalist, and we've been running through some new stuff together just on acoustics.  This worked really well, but the most significant thing for me was that we could each hear our own vocals so much better that it improved the harmonies greatly.

A couple of days ago, we rehearsed in a sound studio.  I cobbled together a few bits of equipment using an old 4 into 2 mixer that I had, and made up an in-ear monitoring system - it wasn't brilliant, but even that improved the vocals.

I've since looked at what's about on the market, and am going to get a fairly cheap bespoke in-ear system just to see how effective it is.  The system I'm looking at will amplify the raw mic feed; it has a "mic through" connection whereby the mic signal can still go unprocessed to the mixer; it also will take a feed from the mixer.  The two signal paths can be mixed independently on the unit, which is then monitored through headphones.  It all looks like it should work well - but I'll reserve judgment until I try it.

Does anyone out there have experience, good or bad, of using this sort of stuff?

Jim A

I prefer to use floor monitors...three do us just fine. We can mix each one differently depending on what that person wants to hear. For example, I like to hear my vox and acoustic guitar in my monitor...the drummer likes to hear bass and vox and rhtyhm guitar...the bass player likes to hear rhythm guitar, and the lead guitarist..well, he likes to hear himself   

As for the ear thing...I don't much fancy the idea of sticking anything in my ear...or having another chord hanging from my body...are these ones you're talking about wireless?

You should talk to Teedro. He has a  sound production company. For our band Toasted Goat, we use both floor monitors, and in ear monitors. We have stereo in ears but I like to hear the Stage sounds too, so I use just one side set to mono in my right ear, and mix in the vox the loudest, then light music with kick, and snare, set in the background. Then, my left ear can hear the stage, so if something sounds off I can tell what it is, ie. guitar buzz, or clipping, or whatever . All our in ears are wireless. I think they are Sennheiser. I will tell you though, that the in ears are a trade off. You can get a great vox mix that's very clear and precise but, IMO you lose some dynamic "feel" that floor monitors throw back at you. That's why I still like using both.

 As far as vocal settings go, I like to have all the vocals set about the same volume, that way I can tell how loud I need to sing (blend with the other vocals).

I have no monitors. May be thats the reason why I dont play live.  

A 19 inch CRT, I like the CRT much better than the flat screen LCD.... OH, wait, your talking about sound monitors, not Computer monitors...
                              
                             my bad...

                               JimK  

I have been using a combination of IEM's, and stage monitors for many years now. The stage monitors are just a back-up in case the IEM's fail ( batteries die, wireless interference, etc.) I like to put up a pair of condenser mics, one on each side of the stage, as ambient "Nat" mics. I use massive compression on these mics to "squash" the signal while playing, but allow the signal to pass when the music stops. That way I can hear the crowd between songs.

I use Shure PSM 600 series IEM's, and Sennheiser EW wireless mics for vocals.

Also, a digital console is nice to have on monitor mixes. I use a pair of Yamaha O1V's for smaller shows, but for larger shows I like the Yamaha PM5D, DIGICO D5, and even the new Yamaha M7CL is a nice console.

Of course Midas, and Soundcraft analog consoles sound fantastic as well. You just need a ton of out-board processing to make the monitor rig work. (EQ's, Dynamics, Effects, etc.)

One important thing to always remember, Live audio is completely different from Studio sound!! Many people can not seem to understand that concept.

Just some of my experiences - TEEDRO

Thanks for your comments guys (well, perhaps yours wasn't so helpful Mr JimK )  And big thanks to Teedro for explaining your on-stage monitoring rig.

I'm going to go real small with this to start out with.  Everything we have has been bought on a serious budget(except the instruments that is!) - so the monitoring side is also going to be cheap, but hopefully reliable!  Some of the equipment is going to be cobbled together from stuff that I've had laying about for a while but not used much (it's not that new, but it works).
Up until my band got together last year it had been a long time for all of us since we played clubs; for me, with a couple of minor exceptions along the way, it's been about 20 years since I last played to an audience.  The only exception is our drummer, who wasn't even born when I last played live in a band ] 
Buying cheap gear means that, if things really don't work out the way we hoped, then it's not too much money down the proverbial toilet!  And if we get a few more dates booked, then we'll break even pretty quickly.  Sad, but true - with families to feed, and mortgages to pay, finance is a big issue for us.

I've worked on the studio recording sound for a while now, and have a reasonable understanding of how to get the best from the equipment I have.  I'm very aware of the differences in setting up for live stage, but have been struggling to get things quite right.  The overall sound (I've been told) is pretty damn good - we've spent time sorting out the overall mix - but I feel the performance could be much improved by decent on stage monitoring; especially after the acoustic rehearsals of late............

............ so hence the reason for this thread!!!

D)

One item you might try to budget for is the Yamaha O1V, or the O1V96. I've purchased the older O1V's on Ebay between $450.00 & $750.00 USD. The O1V96 still go for around $1,750.00 USD, and up.

The O1V / O1V96 console(s) will give you 12 good mic pre-amps with phantom power, plus 2 stereo channels, nice effects, adequate dynamics, and the ability to do 4 separate mixes via the OMNI outputs. You can store each venue that you play in to a different memory scene (up to 99 scenes). You can also add different input/output cards to these mixers for additional applications.

Plus, if you like to use MIDI, the O1V is versatile.

I have used the Mackie digital board, Behringer digital board, and a few others. In this price range, I like the performance of the O1V the best.

TEEDRO

I did a gig yesterday with a band(Rehabaneros). The monitor rig was very clean, and I could hear everything going on..  All they used was a cheap berhinger mixer, using the monitor outs of the board into a eq. into some JBL, and berhinger powered monitors. I was very suprised at how  well these powered monitors worked. They
weren't that heavy  to carry, and put out a decent sound.

  They also used the JBL Eons for Front of House  these also performed very well. We had alot of good comments on the how well the band sounded. I'm not sure what the cost of the JBL, or Behringer powered monitors are, but they did a good job.