I've written about this before (more than once), but it keeps happening, so I have to kvetch about it again. Any time you play a music gig of any scale, there are in essence three sound systems. First, each musician makes their own noise through their own amplifier or, in the case of instruments like drums, makes plenty of noise without amplification - in any case, each instrument makes its own noise. Second, you have the PA system everyone knows about, which amplifies the band for the audience. The band is behind the speakers from this system and so doesn't generally hear much from it onstage. The third sound system, that non-musicians don't always know about, is a separate system (called "monitors") for amplifying the sound onstage, so that musicians can all hear each other - and also vocals. In a PA of any quality you can have multiple mixes onstage if, for example, maybe I want to hear the bass player through my monitor but the singers just want to hear their voices.
In any case, it all works pretty well except that a good monitor mix is hard to come by. Sound onstage can get very loud and muddy. Also, people onstage who don't have microphones have no way to communicate back to the sound person, so if, for example, we start playing and it turns out I have way too much guitar in my monitor there's really no way for me to communicate to the sound person that I would like it adjusted.
On top of all this there's the pièce de résistance - remember up top I said there are in effect three sound systems? Well, for some reason sound people always want the keyboard player to plug directly into the PA and not use an amp of their own, thereby depriving them of sound system #1. If I give up my amp (sound system #1), and ncan't hear sound system #2, the main PA, I'm left with hearing myself only through sound system #3, the monitor system. Remember, though, what I said - that a good monitor mix is hard to come by, and I have no way of communicating desired adjustments to whomever is controlling the mix. So if I put myself in the hands of the sound person and they do a poor job it's possible for me to have to play a whole show without being able to hear myself at all (which has indeed happened). And yet, sound people always put on the pressure for the keyboardist to go direct (no amp) and some even get offended when I bring my own.
And of course, it keeps happening.
In early November I played a CD release party for a singer/songwriter of Jewish music, Rabbi Noah Diamondstein. This was a wonderful combination religious service and concert involving a number of young talents in the Jewish music biz. But they actually called me the afternoon of the vent to tell me not to worry and that I didn't need to bring an amp, because there was a monitor for me. I know better than to believe this, so as usual I brought my amp anyway. I got there, and lo and behold the monitor was this tiny speaker the size of a toaster (that's really small for a stage monitor, particularly for an instrument with a wide frequency range such as a keyboard), and it was shared among me, the bass player (who, needless to say, had his own amp, which no one contested), and another position where one of the musicians went for one song to play a harmonium). So the speaker was insufficient for the job, was far away from me, and had to be set with a mix which would serve three people. I tried using just the monitor for the sound check, but on top of everything else the mixer was of the modern wireless iPad based virtual kind, and the sound guy kept having connectivity problems. Sooo ... during the break after sound check I brought my amp in from the car and set it up. When the sound guy saw this he shrugged and with a slight air of offense in his voice said, "if you feel the need to haul that thing in it's your back". He then moved the toaster-sized monitor away from me and toward the other two players, which didn't make any sense. While my amp looks kind of like like a stage monitor, it was serving a different purpose and wasn't hooked up to the PA system (he should have realized this, since he would have had to have been the one to have hooked it up) and so I still needed the monitor to hear the singers. I moved it back. He moved it again. I moved it back again.
The concert went fine and was a lovely experience, and what a spread at the oneg (reception after the service)!
It happened a few weeks later again at the New Deal Cafe, where I was playing a gig with Great Northern. Scott, the volunteer (the cafe is a co-op) soundman who looks like Frank Langella, on a pervious occasion had given me the whole sound-man poutiness routine. There were monitors across the front of the stage for the singers, guitarists, and bass player, and one for the drummer, but guess what - none for me. They just figured I'd get enough sound from the singer's monitor. I don't think Frank Langella noticed my amp, which I set up in the back of the stage behind me, and so he didn't have a chance to act pouty about the fact that he was doing an inadequate job. The sound was fine. It was a great night with lots of people dancing.
But I'm thinking of having business cards made which say, "the keyboard player needs his own monitor too".
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Update 1/2/23: Last week I played at a high class venue which hosts national acts. Their stage setup included five monitors: three across the front of the stage and one for each drummer. Guess who as usual didn't get a monitor? The keyboard player.
