Hell hath frozen over! A short story

[Seth]

I do sound for my dads band and the most amazing thing has happened over the past two weeks. Just thought I'd share the wondrous occurrences. Due to scheduling conflicts we're only doing 3, three hour rehearsals before this years Labor Day Show. All members are 60+ years old.

First rehearsal... Having never tried them (except for my dad) everyone agreed to try IEM's. I threw together a very rough stereo panning, keeping each member center in their prospective mix and they all liked them. The drummer (who sings too) commented that it was weird to actually hear the other guys. Afterward, I approached the bassist to see if he'd be willing to try a DI and rely solely on the IEM's for his monitoring needs for the next rehearsal. He said he'd give it a try.

Second rehearsal... To my surprise, without me even asking, even the lead guitarist came prepared to DI and opted, on his own accord, to not even plug into the Fender Custom Deluxe I had out for him. So, I ended up with complete level control on everything but the drums... and the guys all loved it.

Apparently, hell hath frozen over.

Just thought I'd share my good fortune story.

[J_Dunavin]

Full moon perhaps??

[Signalsdrone]

What's that saying about old dogs and new tricks?

[Bruce Weldy]

What's that saying about old dogs and new tricks?

Some of us old dogs have been doing that for years...... My last three bands were running all direct - still had wedges, but the stage volume was way down and didn't fight the PA.

And I love when the bands I mix will go direct and just rely on the monitor system, be it in-ears or wedges......the effect out front is way more than they realize.

Congrats on getting them to go along with it. They will sound much better for it.

[Seth]

And I love when the bands I mix will go direct and just rely on the monitor system, be it in-ears or wedges......the effect out front is way more than they realize.

Even in the rehearsal space (dads living room) the difference was noticeable.

I don't play audio engineer for anyone else, so the rehearsals are a rehearsal for me too. I wasn't sure if I had enough PA to keep up with the drums, but it did fantastically. I run an inexpensive 12" sub in the corner of the room to augment a pair of medium size Fender Passport speakers (I don't use the Passport amp/mixer though) and it was able to represent the bass guitar more than enough to keep up with the drum volume. (side note: if there were plans for a 12" simplex pro sub, I'd build it)

[heavybdrums]

IEMs WORK FOR PEOPLE WITH HEARING LOSS TOO.
I have had the opportunity to work with a certain East Coast (USA) touring band which has a lead guitarist/harmony vocalist (Dave) who in the past needed his stage monitor to be stupid loud, mostly his vox.
This had caused some feed back problems which irritated me due to the fact that he is not a lead vocalist and needed so much of himself in the monitors. (He admitted to me he had hearing loss)
The rhythm guitar/lead vocalist (Geoff) used IEMs because it allowed him to hear his vox well without having to strain his voice (important since they play a really busy schedule)

I suggested to Dave that he get and IEM system for himself like Geoff to help with this problem.
I was working as a hired stage hand at a festival this summer, where this band was one of the headliners.
I got in free, got paid, fed and had a great time scoping out the festival to see how they do things and if I could get in to running sound there.
Dave saw me and walked up to me really excited with his new IEMs and said he heeded my advice and absolutely loved his new IEMs.
This really warmed my heart that I could give advice to someone of this level and it worked for him.
As a side note Dave is one of those awesome musicians and people who is frequently invited to sit in on lead guitar with almost any and every band at any event he is present at, ie a really hard working great guy I was glad to help on his way.

[Tom Smit]