We guitarists have a tendency to get a little up in our own heads sometimes, and this can show on stage. Now, don't get us wrong, we're not suggesting that you completely overhaul your settings, but have a listen to your guitar in the new space and make adjustments to ensure you sound your best. Now, most guitarists don't give a second thought to changing the amp settings from venue to venue but will rarely look down at the pedalboard at their feet.Įverything from the gain of your favorite overdrive pedal to the intensity of the reverb should be adjusted slightly to suit the new venue. If you're in a band that tours around different venues, you'll have noticed that each new environment sounds different from the last. Not tweaking pedal settings for new venues So be mindful of your volume level and dial it back – even just a little. Of course, this also makes it more difficult for the rest of the band to hear their own instruments. If we have our amps blisteringly loud on stage, it means the sound engineer has less control over the rest of the mix and ultimately, that will lead to a worse sound overall. Okay, as guitarists, we love to be the center of attention, but in a live situation, we really don't need to be so goddamn loud. Also, speak to your sound engineer throughout, letting them know exactly what is wrong with your monitor mix so they can fix it in real-time. Instead, I suggest playing a short section of a song, making sure it's something that has dynamics and eventually has everyone playing and singing. Not only is this not a useful note once you've stopped playing, but going through an entire song is a waste of time. More often than not, a band will get up on stage and play through entire songs before stopping and saying, "I need more vocals in my monitor". It's not a free band rehearsal or the time to make decisions about the setlist. The sound-check is used to make sure everyone on stage is happy with the sound, the balance of the microphones is good and each member can hear each other. Not sound-checking correctlyįor me, sound-checking correctly is a surefire way to separate your band from the rest of the local acts and establish yourselves as a professional outfit. It's also worth noting that you don't need anywhere near the amount of gain you think you do, and you can certainly dial the reverb back as you are already playing in a fairly large space. Generally speaking, you'll want to reduce the low-end so that the kick drum and bass have space to breathe and you may want to tame the mids slightly so you don't get in the way of the vocals. When practicing scales and licks at home alone, you can afford for your guitar tone to take up more of the frequency spectrum, but in a band scenario, you want your tone to leave enough space for the other members. It's thick, full-frequency, has plenty of gain and every note sings out with infinite sustain – there's only one problem, it doesn't translate to a live setting. While practicing at home, at one point or another all guitarists have a eureka moment where they dial in the ultimate guitar tone. Basically, you should think about anything you couldn't do the show without and make sure you have a failsafe in case things do go catastrophically wrong – because we all know if it can go wrong, it probably will while you're on stage.
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