[chris]

They always had speakers on the stage facing the musician.

I'm not a musician, but I have given a few speeches, and it is very important to hear your own voice.

[Stephen Dame]

They always had speakers on the stage facing the musician.

I'm not a musician, but I have given a few speeches, and it is very important to hear your own voice.

Yeah, speeches, that's exactly what I was thinking about... I have to do a lot of them, I actually prefer a little russle in the room, I don't like the idea of hearing my voice bounce back... but I guess it's probably different when you've got 20,000 voices screaming back.

And if the speakers and ear things do the same thing... ah, the hell with it.

[soquester]

As a non musician, can somebody tell me how important is it to hear yourself while playing?

What did musicians do before these things? Hendrix seemed to do okay.

The small gigs I've done haven't really required monitors for me (cause I was in front of all the speakers anyway), but it's hugely important... A lot of guitar work is done by hearing, so if you don't have a bend quite exact, or you accidentally place a chord a fret off, the song will sound terrible... You want to make sure you can hear everyone else too, to keep yourself in time...

[The Horrible Esthete]

As a non musician, can somebody tell me how important is it to hear yourself while playing?

What did musicians do before these things? Hendrix seemed to do okay.

The small gigs I've done haven't really required monitors for me (cause I was in front of all the speakers anyway), but it's hugely important... A lot of guitar work is done by hearing, so if you don't have a bend quite exact, or you accidentally place a chord a fret off, the song will sound terrible... You want to make sure you can hear everyone else too, to keep yourself in time...

soquester's right - if you are and playing as part of a group & using amplification, and you can't hear both your bandmates and yourself, you're pretty much f**ked. I have had monitors go out mid-jam and basically had to either crowd around someone else's montior or quit playing altogether to avoid chaos...

[Stephen Dame]

Huh. Cool. Learn somethin' new everday. Thanks folks.

[beanmedic]

That being said, my band doesnt believe in monitors at all.

And if chancellor won't do it, I will. :nooooo

[sonofdad]

My band played our last gig without monitors. Granted, it was a small club and we positioned the PA just right--kind of behind the band and so we could hear ourselves. That's the key--hearing yourselves. Mostly, for the vocalists to stay in key but also for the drummer to hear the bass, etc.

sonofdad