Bedroom sound vs Live sound

[shredhead7]

Playing at massive volumes takes practice, like everything else. Suddenly every little scrape is magnified and the guitar feels very different (to me anyways).
Also, dialing in your tone to a band mix is a completely different ballgame than what sounds good at home, which I see already mentioned here. Even though different mics record very different, I recommend recording rehearsals as often as possible, at least for a while. Voice recorder, GoPro, whatever... they'll all give you different perspectives of where you're sitting in the mix, which will at least help get your ears (& brain) more tuned in to the whole thing.
I recently went through a phase where I was always using whatever amp was available at the place we were rehearsing, which was wayyyy easier than my usual 'rule' of lugging my stuff all the time (we don't have a lock-out). After a couple of months, I noticed I'd lost the skill of mastering my amp settings in different room situations.

This. ^ When I was in bands, I had the luxury of being able to crank my amps at home for practice. I always played at gig volume with ear plugs so as to replicate the experience.

Another thing is that at home, you may or may not be standing or sitting in a different proximity to your speaker, which effects the frequencies that you hear. The closer to the cab, the more bass you are going to hear, the fuller the sound, the perceived easier to play. The further away, the more treble and so on.

 

[ChurchHill]

Turn the gain and bass down, and the mids up.

^^^^ This. Always works for me.

Lots of great advice in this thread, and likely something we've all dealt with at one point.

 

[HellraiserJohnny]

Ok so I'm sure there's a ton of posts about this but here's mine
I have the constant problem that I can dial in my amps in my practice room to sound absolutely godly. But as soon as I get my rig cranked in a loud band situation I'm never satisfied. I always find my tone kind of thin and weedly and I spend the entire band practice trying to dial it in.
I have very decent gear (Friedman JJ100 through a Mesa Traditional 4x12 with various higher end guitars all equipped with boutique pickups).
Is this a common thing? Anyone feel the same but kind of figured it out? Any advice for dialing in loud, live tone?
By the way I feel this way with EVERY amp I've owned and I'm kind of tired of flipping amps at this point lol.
Cheers

Agreed that there are a lot of things going on in the transition of @ home practice and playing with a band or at a show. I also agree with those that state that frequencies available for a guitar to "cut through" the mix are limited in a band situation so use that advice from others. Playing in a band or playing LOUD are art forms. It's not something one just picks up and hits a home run first time at bat and it can take a lot of time working with the BAND to get your tone and overall sound right.

I stress this because all too many times, bands (or particular members of bands) tend to only worry about how THEY sound, how loud THEY are not listening to how the BAND sounds. This to me is the single most important part of any band. If you don't sound good as a band, all of you suck, sorry but no one walks out of a show and says. . . . Wow! That band sounded like shit . . . but what a great guitar player!

Having a great live sound in a band takes teamwork. Every member of the band should be able to hear each other clearly at practice without the need to "lean into the mix". I've found "Turning it up" is NEVER the solution at practice, live or in the studio (less is MORE). When you play out, 99% of your sound is determined by the skill of the sound man at the board and the gear HE brings, not yours, but you still need to know what you are doing and work with him and not against him.

When I played out in large venues, my on stage volume did not change, the size and power of the PA playing to the audience changed. Learning how to play using a monitor mix on a sound stage became part of my bands practice routine as that is as different a world as changing from home to live. Having the principles of a good band sound down made the transition easy.

Start with the volume level of the drums since they do not have much control over how loud they are and add each instrument until it can be heard and not overpower any other instrument. This will also improve your bands playing because now you'll be able to hear each other instead of blasting away over the mistakes. I'm sure using this principle will make your vocalist very happy as well. I hope this not only helps you but your band as a whole.

 

[abbath78]

Thanks for all the great advice Rig-Talkers, this is why this forum rules! A lot of strategies to think about and try, which I definitely will.

 

[rev156]

https://line6.com/support/page/kb/gener ... urve-r448/


This was helpful for me.....lots more on the web about it

 

[155]

gain down mids up, let your bass player do his thing you do yours..