AFTER THE BAND STARTS PLAYING

[Gary Steele]

Some pros i hear complaining along with us warriers. Tone is good until the band starts. So many things can cause it. Iv had it happen many time. It feels like I just started that day. I love sharing things with other people. If you can help me figure this out I will share it with others. I like to see other players sound better if I can.
You can give me a jingle if you like
6143161267. Thanks alot!!!!!!
If your tone is good before playing i guess there is another reason normally. Iv had this happen to many times.

[Michael Drury]

I think a too loud n busy band can cause this, especially electric rhythm guitar turned up to high and strumming away. And if its electric guitar, acoustic, and keyboard all playing so called rhythm parts its hard to sound good with all that going on

[Dave Hopping]

Stage mix can indeed be problematical...
I once worked for a bandleader who put a harmonizer on his vocal mic. OK, fine. Except he was right in front of the drummer, who like all rockers who think they can play country kept banging away on his ride cymbal like it was a rented horse.

Ever heard a harmonized ride cymbal?

[Rich Ertelt]

Stage mix can indeed be problematical...
I once worked for a bandleader who put a harmonizer on his vocal mic. OK, fine. Except he was right in front of the drummer, who like all rockers who think they can play country kept banging away on his ride cymbal like it was a rented horse.

Ever heard a harmonized ride cymbal?

That actually made me laugh out loud, in several places.

[Rich Ertelt]

Sound is a wave moving through air. It is a single wave, no matter how many sources. It is the combined energy of all the sources, with peaks and valleys combining/cancelling. So, yea, absolutely it will change - not the tone, but what and how you hear the tone.
Nothing sounds on the band stand like it does at home, as I'm not playing with a band at home. In fact, to tune up my tone for live, I will play along with backing tracks up kind of loud, not quite band volume, but loud. Obviously when the family is out of the house. Give a much more true representation of how it will sound in the band.

Oh, and what it sounds like on stage is often different than what it sounds like in the house.

Sunday I did a gig, multiple band thing. The band before us asked me to sit in. They were pretty loud and the rhythm guitar player set his amp right in front of me (small stage, lots of gear). We followed them and we are a lot quieter on stage. Plus the electric is on the other side, and on this stage, the acoustic player went over there (he is usually in front of me). Same amp, steel, settings, stage. Sounded pretty different.

[Bobby Martin]

An earlier post on the Forum advised to NEVER let the sound man check your steel level first because we weave in and out songs to get that sweet spot. Plus, I might like my Fender amp treble on 5-6 but drums and Tele force us to roll all the way up to 10 just to compete! Why do so many "older" musicians have to play so loud!!? Obviously 'cause we're ALL going deaf, that's why! Ha!

[Gary Steele]

Good post. I done a lot of things hopefully will help. Thanks so far.

[Fred Treece]

Very well said, Rich Ertelt.
It’s not that one’s tone is different, it’s just being heard in the context of a vastly different environment.

Also, a thing called the Fletcher-Munson curve.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

When I played with loud bands, I used Westone form-fit earplugs with a straight 15dB cut filter. I played more relaxed, my gear sounded better, I didn’t have to set my treble in ice-pick range, and, while it was still annoying as hell, the drummer’s crash cymbal didn’t leave my tinnitus ears ringing for the next 3 days.

Sometimes, out of curiosity, I would take the plugs out and listen to what the band “really” sounded like, and omg… as soon as I could, I’d put them back in.

In-Ear Monitors solve some, if not most, of the sonic problems on a stage environment. Obviously the plugs did not perform the same task, but the net result is similar.

[Bobby D. Jones]

When you are the steel player, We get our gear on stage, We seem to spend a lot of time on stage.
Check all the 25 or more tunings on the guitar.
The rest of the band is off stage doing their thing.
Adjust amp till the steel sounds great in the surroundings.
We get up go to the bathroom and return to our seat. The other band members come on stage, All other amps on stage come on. The stage lights come on. Time to play. And the Steel does not have the tone or sound, We just heard and want. And is not in the mix.
Some house electric systems have not been updated for constant even voltage and power, For the modern electronics some steel players use.