# Being loud vs. cutting in the mix



## johnythehero (Aug 17, 2011)

So yes everyone has been to their share of concerts some more then others. The question is when you hear a band that sounds good and the guitar is prevailent is he simply louder or is he just cutting through the mix well? This comes up as I went to a show yesterday and a band with a good sound was playing and the guitarists was using an amp with settings known to not cut as well as other amps (bass 6 treb 9 mid 2) and yet was incredibly prevailent in the mix. Though when they were talking amongst the people I checked out his settings and he was absolutley cranking the amp (the venue is pretty much un miced minus vocals(weird room shape projects sound like crazy)) so the question is how can you specifically tell wether someone is "cutting" or is just louder?


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## WhiteWalls (Aug 18, 2011)

"cutting through" is more of a matter of equalization rather than volume, of course you can crank you amp up to 11 and you will be heard, the problem is that the audience will only hear you!
so a good definition of "cutting" in my opinion would be: if every instrument were individually set at the same volume, they would all be heard clearly in a mix. if you need to crank your amp too much to be heard, you will end up drowning the other instruments out.

the kick drum and bass guitar take up most of the low frequencies, while the cymbals fill up the high frequencies, and that's why mids are important, because there is less overlapping with the other instruments' frequencies so you will be heard more clearly.


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## monkeywrench (Aug 28, 2011)

^^^1+


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## Oxidation_Shed (Sep 2, 2011)

Cranking up becomes less practical when you're mic'ed up as well because you won't want the desk to clip. The guitar levels are then in the hands of the soundman.
Essentially if you want to cut well then: mids, mids, mids. It's been said before, but, set your EQ with the rest of your band playing. Or, better still, get someone to play your rig and you set the EQ with the rest of your band playing. Guitar tones that sound good on their own will rarely sound good within the context of a band (if you can hear them at all!).


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## sleepy502 (Sep 2, 2011)

Oxidation_Shed said:


> Cranking up becomes less practical when you're mic'ed up as well because you won't want the desk to clip. The guitar levels are then in the hands of the soundman.
> Essentially if you want to cut well then: mids, mids, mids. It's been said before, but, set your EQ with the rest of your band playing. Or, better still, get someone to play your rig and you set the EQ with the rest of your band playing. Guitar tones that sound good on their own will rarely sound good within the context of a band (if you can hear them at all!).



It's scary how true this is. I'd say out of every 10 bands I hear live, maybe one or two of them actually sound good. There are very few people who actually know how to properly eq an amp. Lot's of guitarists don't know the difference between sounding good by yourself and sounding good in a band. Your tone could sound crappy by itself but it works in a band situation and meshes well with the other guitar. I have this problem with my other guitarist 

I like my band to play as loud as comfortably possible. Loud, but reasonable. Unmiced, I'll play as loud as long as we don't drown out the drums


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## Oxidation_Shed (Sep 3, 2011)

Exactly the same problem with the other guitarist in my band too "my mid-scooped tone from my Boss MT-2 sounds awesome though!" :/


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## DaveCarter (Sep 6, 2011)

^ so much truth in this thread. In a nutshell, I'd say:

Cranking =/= cut
Mids = cut


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## nojyeloot (Sep 6, 2011)

This should help:

MISHASUCKS.NET/GEAR_GEEK: PERIPHERY GUITARIST BULB ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MID-RANGE GUITAR FREQUENCIES AND HOW TO TWEAK YOUR LIVE TONE | MetalSucks


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## sleepy502 (Sep 7, 2011)

It's just sad what a few minutes of reading can do for a guitarist, and a band in general. Sadly, people are lazy and stubborn.


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## joshua22 (Sep 8, 2011)

This is really good one. I like the mix music. This type of music gives different pleasure. I like that pleasure.


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## Ancestor (Sep 8, 2011)

yep, mids. they sound so horrible and obnoxious alone. but with bass and drums it works. that's the little pocket guitar sits in. 

to fix the problem i think it's smart to have two signals. one is your monitor mix with the awesome no mids tone and the other is going through the mains. 

the sound person can then do whatever needs to be done and won't have to have a tantrum.


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## Mendez (Sep 12, 2011)

nojyeloot said:


> This should help:
> 
> MISHASUCKS.NET/GEAR_GEEK: PERIPHERY GUITARIST BULB ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MID-RANGE GUITAR FREQUENCIES AND HOW TO TWEAK YOUR LIVE TONE | MetalSucks



Ah this really helps


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## BrianUV777BK (Sep 14, 2011)

I had a JSX that wouldn't cut thru the mix at band practice no matter what I did with volume or EQ. The only way I ended up fixing it was to trade it for a Triple Rectifier.


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## Ancestor (Sep 15, 2011)

BrianUV777BK said:


> I had a JSX that wouldn't cut thru the mix at band practice no matter what I did with volume or EQ. The only way I ended up fixing it was to trade it for a Triple Rectifier.



that's interesting. and they sound so good by themselves. maybe not enough mids?


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