My band needs help [live sound problems]

[Thin_Ice_77]

To keep this as short as possible, this is my band's lineup-

Gatch- Korg Electribe [drums], Synths, Kaoss Pad
Gary- Guitar
Me- Guitar
Dave- Bass

We played a gig last night and the amps werent mic'ed up, so it was just the electronics going through the PA. Problem is, we couldn't hear each other. At all. The soundman was being a dick and wouldnt let us turn the guitars down so me and Gary could hear Gatch (the guitars follow the lead synth line for the most part), Gatch couldn't hear anything full stop.

We decided we need to invest in some in-ear monitors or something similar so all of us can hear the electronics on stage. I know nothing about this though, so I was hoping someone could shed some light on it. Just any information you have is useful.

Cheers

 

[MTech]

it's gonna be expensive..
Here's the good in-ears themselves.
Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors
Than you're going to need to get yourself a board/mics in case of the same type of event.

One thing that a lot of better sounding large bands do that I wish more would (that would help you) is sidewashing. This way you'd all be able to hear each other on stage and it makes the soundguys job easier too.

 

[ryzorzen]

my keyboardist brings an old bass amp around if the venues sound is lacking

 

[Cheesebuiscut]

sidewashing?

 

[Vstro]

I've seen some bands have a cabinet on the side of the stage facing them so they could hear better but I'm not too sure if that's sidewashing or not. It does seem to help though.

 

[MTech]

sidewashing?

Putting your cabs on side stage faced inwards towards the center of the stage. Than you take the bass cab and usually they fire it backwards.

 

[phaeded0ut]

Depending on your size of venue, you may want to look into picking up a Bose/Line 6 L1 or L2 system (either way, get two of the bass modules). You'll also want to pick up some form of decent powered mixer, too (a Carvin 8-channel Carvin.com - Guitars, Amplifiers & Pro Audio worked really well for me). Just wasn't happy with my guitar sound. They're also very easy to carry around.

Found that this was a great way to take the place of dedicated monitor amps/speakers and also keep lines running to the venue's sound board.

Hope this helps.