Need to upgrade my headphone monitor mix! Please help.

[DC-Choppah]

I'd be a bit wary about compressing a performer's own performance playback when they are playing, as the reduced dynamics are likely to affect the way they play and they'll try to compensate.

This is a very dynamic player with very strong hits mixed with soft details. Like recording Jack DeJohnette. I would not want to affect his playing. Just want him to hear the cue mix over his drums.

[James Perrett]

Or do you want the left ear to JUST be the cue mix since you can hear your whole set in your right ear?!

Personally I'd go for this option as I'd assume that I can hear the kit through the air. My personal ideal would be to hear the bassist clearly with possibly a simplified mix with only the essential elements in there.

[DC-Choppah]

Or do you want the left ear to JUST be the cue mix since you can hear your whole set in your right ear?!

Personally I'd go for this option as I'd assume that I can hear the kit through the air. My personal ideal would be to hear the bassist clearly with possibly a simplified mix with only the essential elements in there.

This is great. Much appreciated.

So no need to add MORE drums into his ears.

I am recording experienced musicians who have mostly experienced live playing, and getting the music to sound right in a live setting.

The drummers always love it when we have a grand piano, and I can point the piano lid directly at the drummer! And the bass is next to the drummer too. If the drummer hears the piano and bass, we can get things tight.

So a simplified mix would be bass and piano, and a percussion groove (tambourine, shaker, etc in place of a click track) and melodic elements too so he can follow the form of the tune.

Make this all mono and send to his left ear only. Nothing in the right ear - or maybe a musical earplug!??

[DC-Choppah]

But that means I need to get his left ear up to the level of the kit.

I don't suppose an earplug in his right (unprotected) ear would go down well? In a few years he might even thank you!

The last article on SoS I can find regarding 'musical earplugs' is over 15 years ago here: https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advi ... -wear-gigs

I would love to get an update on this important topic. Seems like a lot of new musical earplugs are around now like these: https://www.amazon.com/Reverbs-High-Fid ... -search-20

Do these preserve the ride cymbal?!? Do they actually reduce the levels down to safe levels for a drummer?

Would be great to get some unbiased objective info on these new musical earplugs, especially for tracking drummers!

[James Perrett]

This may be a silly question but why do you need a click track when recording jazz? Surely the whole point is to let the musicians improvise and control the pace of the music themselves.

[DC-Choppah]

This may be a silly question but why do you need a click track when recording jazz? Surely the whole point is to let the musicians improvise and control the pace of the music themselves.

Not necessarily. Some jazz is fluid and needs to have a free and loose time feel.

But here is a taste of my latest tune. I want this one to be on grid.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15wXJcL ... sp=sharing

I wrote this tune and laid down my guitar and piano tracks. I use a VI drum, bass and horns. Now I have musicians coming in to track the bass, drums and horn section. I need to track them one by one (because of schedules mainly). So the drummer needs to lay down his own part that he makes up but in service to this groove.

Please let me know what you would like to hear to track to this once I delete the drum VI? Rather than a click, l can derive a simple percussion groove, something with feel.

[Kwackman]

But here is a taste of my latest tune. I want this one to be on grid.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15wXJcL ... sp=sharing

I like that guitar tone (& playing)

[James Perrett]

For me it would be the guitar and the bass carrying the rhythm that the drummer needs to work with (at least in that clip). I could possibly also imagine something like a shaker carrying the beat through the pauses. The horns should probably be well back in the cue mix - just there enough for the drummer to have some idea of where the tune is going.

However, your drummer may hear things differently and want something different in the mix so you'll need to be flexible.

[DC-Choppah]

But here is a taste of my latest tune. I want this one to be on grid.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15wXJcL ... sp=sharing

I like that guitar tone (& playing)

Thanks man. This tune is all about that yellow rythm guitar. Glad that is translating.

The rythm guitar I used is this in rythm position: It has a totally unique tone!
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... 0&start=90

[DC-Choppah]

My drummer has agreed to use the drummer's earplug in his right hear when recording and in both ears when playing live!

He likes this one from our local music shop: https://chucklevins.com/collections/hea ... d-earplugs

He says the cymbals sound right, but that it blocks out the ear damaging sounds when they happen. He says it feels like it only kicks in when needed. Cool!!

Thank you so much for this suggestion. It may actually save this guys hearing. And much better than me just cranking up his monitor.

[manwilde]

That sounds very nice!. Specially love the way the kick drum sounds and sits in the mix. Not so sure about the harder snare hits, though... maybe when all the tracks are laid down it wont stick out so much, but now it feels a bit too loud and strong. But that´s just me...

Very glad you found a way to deal with the cue mix issue.

[Martin Walker]

But here is a taste of my latest tune. I want this one to be on grid.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15wXJcL ... sp=sharing

I like that guitar tone (& playing)

Same here - and having followed the subsequent link I now remember your labour of love creating the instrument.

Martin

[forumuser840717]

My drummer has agreed to use the drummer's earplug in his right hear when recording and in both ears when playing live!

Sensible!

When I play I usually use a pair of decent quality IEMs. Partly so I can have a reasonable monitor mix but more so because of the amount of isolation they give. They block out most of what's going on around me (including my playing!) - which I find particularly important in a theatre pit situation - and let me listen fairly quietly to my monitor mix. The same works on stage for rock and pop type stuff but if I were playing big band or acoustic jazz, I probably wouldn't be using a click and would want to listen to the room sound so would either wear no monitors or go for some fitted earplugs which use little plug in filters for different attenuations and don't colour things so much that it makes it difficult to listen.

[DC-Choppah]

But here is a taste of my latest tune. I want this one to be on grid.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15wXJcL ... sp=sharing

I like that guitar tone (& playing)

Same here - and having followed the subsequent link I now remember your labour of love creating the instrument.

Martin

Could not have done it without all the help I got from the SoS Forum folks!

[Martin Walker]

Group hug everyone?