Volume when giging

I guess you might just have to use a lower wattage amp that can still pump so you can use it at its optimal range. One of the guitarists I play with uses a 15 watt Badcat amp which actually runs at about 30+ watts. So when he gets told to turn down he says things around the lines of "I cant get any lower, I'm using a 15 watt amp!" Then we will start playing Jimi Hendrix or ZZ Top and the amp still sounds great. 

Minor gripe...it is gigging.

Getting the optimal volume is a concern of my band too.  Haven't played too many indoor shows but when we do, it's important to keep the volume under control - or else no one will stick around to watch you.  But we do like to come off as a raunchy band, so high volume kind of accentuates that.  We're still trying to find the happy medium.   Quite often, we're using our own PA and don't even have a sound man - in that instance we just have to start playing and adjust as we go, often on the advice of a friend in the audience.

himtroy wrote: First of all there is the battle with the sound man.  "Turn down your amp", no thanks sir, you turn down your mic input, I have the tone I'm going for.

My group just played a gig on Friday, and a funny thing happened.  I was up front, singing and playing guitar, and the bass player was behind me, and my guitar amp was on the floor next to him and next to his bass amp.  His wife was trying to get him in a picture but I kept obscuring him (I'm a big guy, 6'5"), and he wouldn't come out from behind me.  After the show he told us what the deal was.  With my amp low on the floor next to him, he couldn't hear me at all, but if he stood "just so" behind me, the sound would bounce off my back so he could hear it.  We all had monitors at the front of the stage and by the drummer, but not by him.  I guess we figured he'd be able to hear my amp, but it wasn't the case. So I was The Human Monitor!  [I'd appreciate some feedback!]

Edited by HolyMoly - February 28 2012 at 06:41

^ from my own experiences, I agree the possibilities with the drummer's conquest for loudness.
Our own "Keith Moon" had got a special china plate creating a crash making ears bleed if ears not protected.
In small halls without proper acoustic design and pubs with large glass surfaces guitar and bass had to assault to match teh drum volumes with 100 watt amps, making good sounds but emptying the rooms with united quality and sound power.

One good way to avoid the sound man's wrath is not to have one, and play with roughly soundchecked volumes without monitors. I understand that with more instruments, singing, and aim to coherent sophistication this won't happen. I read one local hifi essay with ironic comments about question "why rock concerts are mixed poorly, with too loud high frequency sounds?". The answer was "sound mixers of rock music have lost their hearing and thus cannot operate the volume adaptations correctly due thier false impression of concert's tonal realities. This is also beneficial for the rock musicians as they can hide their poor playing abilities more sufficiently with too loud and uncoherent sounds"

I personally like loud sound when it fits the music, but it would be good if the higher pitches would be reduced in such occasions, in order to minimize hearing damages. I have seen that some wise people use earplugs in concerts, but somehow feels to myself bit like going to look Manet's works wearing sunglasses.

Mainly you should do what your soundman tells you, because he controls the volume coming out of the venue's speakers and of course the sound of your guitar. The trick is to get what the band want not using high volume on your gear. The soundman console can give you a lot ( sound wise ) with its EQ.
Concert sound contain a lot of problems, your soundman needs to take under consideration a lot of things, if he's not good your basically screwed.

i'll reincarnate this thread for a monday nite:

A couple of things to consider is overall band volume onstage. Is there a monitor system in place ? with in ears only or combo of wedges etc.?
If you using a PA for sound reinforcement or just for vocals ?
How big is the room ? Does the P.A  cover the close stage proximity audience ?
 If not, is your backline (guitar /bass/keys etc amps) providing sound off the stage for the audience in front of the stage?
Or is it being used primarily for onstage band members ?

Answering these questions first will then determine what your stage/ PA  volume will be.
There will be alot of experimentation with tone, volume, etc between band and FOH engineer to get everything just right.
One has to remember just because their amp sounds great at a certain volume , there are other band members to consider as well. i.e If you can only play your Marshall stack at 8 to get the tone you want but the other musicians are at lower volumes then you''ll  have to find another way to get your sound at a manageable stage level without blowing their hearing out .
Or on the flip side, making everyone else turn down to hear you .

Monitor systems are a whole other can of worms. They are there for you to hear yourself and your other band mates onstage. Mixing monitors is a true art form and test of patience.

The other aspect to be very concerned with is your hearing . I am wearing volume damping headphones due to the band I've been playing in has now gotten into mic'in everything  and going thru a small mains system. I personally don't see the need for this in rehearsals but I can deal.
Amazing though, how much better everybody plays when things get turned down or go with just backline and no mains.


Edited by sturoc - December 03 2012 at 23:46