can someone educate me on Monitors ??

[Fumble fingers]

can someone explain or give a crash course on Monitors or have a good link ??...... I think it would be nice to have something where I can hear my band mates playing ..... I know nothing about them , don't know what I need and or all that's involved with monitors ....

Thanks , Eric

[blargfromouterspace]

can someone explain or give a crash course on Monitors or have a good link ??...... I think it would be nice to have something where I can hear my band mates playing ..... I know nothing about them , don't know what I need and or all that's involved with monitors ....

To do what you want you'd need to get a signal from each of the guys in your band - either mic'ing them up or via DI - into a mixing desk. Assuming you're in a four piece band with perhaps two singers/vocalists then you're already up to 7 or 8 channels of the desk, depending on how you mic the drums up. Then you'd have to balance the levels on that mixing desk each and every time you play with them, not to mention setting it up and packing it away after every gig/jam/rehearsal. Have I put you off the idea yet? You could probably get everything you need (powered monitor, small mixing desk, DIs, mics, cables, stands, bags for lugging it all around in...) for not a lot of money if you buy used but IMO it is not worth the hassle by a long shot.

I'm also going to assume that this is for a rehearsal/jamming situation, and not gigs - if this is correct then you're far better off adjusting where you're standing and in which direction you're amps are pointing. A circle is much better than a straight line!

The only times I've ever had a personal monitor in which I can get my own mix personal mix sent back at me has been on big stages with expensive PA's and a sound guy, and I never want anything in it except vocals and, if its a big stage, perhaps a little bit of whatever the person on the other side is playing if it's something I absolutely need to hear clearly. Unfortunately I've found that good fold-back (monitor) is all too rare.

[Fumble fingers]

sounds like it isn't worth the effort ... didn't realize the " all " that goes with it ...... thanks and I'm following your advice

Eric

[RickT]

If you can't hear your bandmates, you might need to turn your volume down a bit, or ask them to turn up.

We use a Bose L1 Model 2 with 2 bass bins for our PA. It sits in the back with the guitar amps. Everyone self-mixes to the vocals from the Bose and we can actually hear everyone.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/1NzTcHd-hkE
RickT

[blargfromouterspace]

We use a Bose L1 Model 2 with 2 bass bins for our PA....
RickT

I had forgotten that those existed. I remember being at a gig with the guys from my ex-band when we all saw those Boses for the first time - they throw out an absurd amount of great sound for their size.

[darwinohm]

Eric, we use monitors but only run the vocalists , rhythm guitar and bass drum, in other words only what is run through the PA. Everything else would only be run through a sound man in a large venue with a sound man. I use three bass cabinets, a 2-12 on one side of the stage and a 1-15 and 2-10 on the other. We all hear each other very well. Sometimes my cabinets are off to the side of where I stand and II can still hear and feel them well. You will get used to it and figure it out as you go. --Darwin

[john o]

We use Carvin powered monitors and mains, since our bass player quit the band and took the PA power amp with him!
We just run an aux out to the 1st monitor and daisy chain them with XLR's, and run only vocals and a little bit of keyboards through them. It takes a little practice setting the volumes, but we are getting better at it. We use different size powered mains, depending on the size of the venue, outdoors vs indoors. I can sing ok with or without monitors, but our female vocalist really benefits from them, and it is nice to be able to hear what you are doing!

[Fumble fingers]

thanks for the suggestions and the education !! ...... we did our gig last night and I had no problem hearing everybody , I think at this point I'll hold for the time being ..... I never gigged before and was just worrying about stuff that never happened ...yet , lol ... I'll quit over-thinking it and just let it flow for now

[Boogie Bill]

You really owe it to yourself to get some education about PA. Yamaha has a couple of books regarding live sound; and Peavey has a Forum for their gear. There is another forum that deals with live sound issues, and there are both sound company pros and weekend warriors to help newbies. Carvin has a PA forum too; Mackie has one; QSC has one. The information is out there.

I like to use slant floor monitors with at least a 12" woofer and horn or piezo horn. On a tight stage, I'll have the monitor at the base of my mic stand about 3' in front of me, pointing at the null point of my Super-Cardioid Shure Beta 58a dynamic mic.

We have two singers in my G/B/K/D band. My big mixer has four pre-fader auxilliary busses for monitor mixing, and we typically use 2-3 mixes with a live drummer and 2 when we use a drum machine. At a smaller gig where I'm using only my top-box mixer amp, it only has ONE monitor send. At higher volumes, it is critical to make sure that with one monitor send, all of your vocalists are using the exact mic (like a Shure SM-58). The same would be true if you are micing acoustic guitars--all should be the same mic (like an SM-56 or SM-57). This gives you the most gain before feedback. And if you haven't figured it out yet, you'll want all of your monitors to be the same in this situation, too. Having the multiple monitor mixes allows for some more flexibility in gear selection.

Typically in my monitor, I need to hear myself and Sandy, our other singer in the mix. And I've GOT to hear the drums, especially so with the Alesis drum machines we use. I sometimes have a small amp on stage for the drum machine for me, since Sandy doesn't like her drums as loud. (She's the sweetheart, and I'm the rock and roller!) A live drummer will often need the vocals and bass and his kick drum in his mix.

I STRONGLY suggest that you get as much book learning as you can. There are a lot of people who think they know everything, and in reality, they don't know a burro from a burrow. Get your information from a pro, or at least someone with a lot of experience.

I'd be happy to help you with any other questions.

Bill

[Fumble fingers]

thanks Bill .... this band thing is all overwhelming for me , I figured I better sit back until I know way more about this stuff , it's hard to take everything in all at once

[Slick]

I can't imagine playing a band gig without some sort of monitor, even if it was just vocals. I play in a classic rock band and we are old school, huge PA. We have 3000 watts on monitors alone. Each person has a wedge monitor with their own mix and then we have side fills. It's not all that complicated, you just need a board with multiple aux's and a couple extra power amps and of course speakers for monitors. I tried in ear monitors, but, just don't like them. I am used to hearing the sound on stage which unfortunately is LOUD ( did I mention we are old school )