I just listened to your video. The singer and bass player are at a good volume. Drums and guitar are too loud. Good band by the way! You just have to work a little closer together.

Thanks, but from what I hear the bass is a bit too loud, not the drums or guitar. BTW, that band is no longer around, although I'm still playing with the rhythm guitarist, bass player and a different female vocalist.

Hmm...I think I see the problem here. I, too, hear the drums and guitar as the loudest/most present instruments in this particular video. They even overshadow the vocals in parts.

I really don't know if you can make a judgement about the mix/volume from a video shot from 30 feet away in a crowded noisy bar. Really?

I play jazz and rock, I never have volume problems with my jazz quartet, once or twice we had a really loud sax player. I've found that the most talented musicians are thinking about the mix - what's the total sound, and not thinking "Am I loud enough?" I work with a rotating line-up of musicians and sometimes have volume issues with the rock lead guitarist and occasionally the bass player. We usually don't work with those guys much if they can't self moderate.

But I do agree with the comment, or question "what does this have to do with vintage drums?"

So to tie this in to the subject; were those vintage drums? What were you playing there?

I was playing a Ludwig 60's kit in a red sparkle finish.

It is the nature of rock music to be a little more one dimensional in playing dynamics for a drummer. I certainly do not mean that in a negative manner, but it is the nature of the beast and certainly very different from most types of jazz gigs. That does not mean that rock drummers and paying no attention to dynamics; far from it. Usually the dynamics come from sound sources as opposed to actual level manipulation in your playing. In other words, most of the time the dynamics come from playing just a hi-hat / cymbals, or a side stick as opposed to the snare, etc. Of course, there are tons of exceptions but my point is simply that once that back beat kicks in, it is generally about the same level all the time and it needs to be. In fact, engineers use compressors to help make sure that is the case.

I only say that to point out that rock is a very different from most forms of jazz gigs. I have seldom had issues with volume when playing jazz gigs regardless of whether it was piano bar setting, big band or more contemporary ensembles because really paying attention and interacting is a major component to the jazz experience. In a rock setting, it is more about getting a mix level together in the first place and then maintaining it during the course of the evening. It is the maintaining that becomes a problem. Someone turns up, someone else turns up and next thing you know it is a volume war. While some of that is an issue with ego, that also happens because our hearing shuts down as we fatigue, so we tend to perceive things as getting quieter as we go along. Guitar players need to be especially careful as their amplifiers are fairly directional and will have a tendency to create a swath in the audience that is nearly unbearable while being barely heard elsewhere on either side.

There are plenty of techniques and products available that can help if you guys are so inclined. You can consider moving to in-ear monitors as opposed to wedges. (that also makes for a lot less gear to carry for the gig by the way) Guitar speaker cabinets can be turned around which can help somewhat. If you have room backstage, you can potentially move amplifiers back stage and route signal to them with longer speaker cables or Radial SGI TX/RX boxes if the amps in question are combos. Of course, that will only work if you are miking the amps and the experience for the guitar player is not as great.

At the end of the day, you have to agree to a level and maintain it. Egos need to go away and people need to play for the music and not themselves. Your levels need to be fairly consistent throughout the performance, but those overall levels may change quite a bit from the intimate space to larger facilities. As mentioned, you need to keep your intensity the same regardless of volume and that is a skill that is difficult to master but that is sage advice indeed.

You're right. You are not a pounder. But you are too loud. So is the guitarist.

I listened to your video on my Macbook speakers and then had a listen on my studio monitors. As far as I can tell everyone sounds fine. I can hear vocals, guitars, bass and drums. I can also hear a lot of chitter chatter around the club throughout the song which gives me the impression that no one was too loud. I also didn't see anyone holding their ears. I wouldn't like it if I couldn't hear any one part but I could hear them all. No one seems to be drowning out the others and it seems you must've had a pretty good mix that night. I don't think the camcorder microphone likes the cymbals or higher guitar frequencies so that may make them seem too loud just because the mic can't handle them but if that is taken into consideration, it all sounds good. Nice song and nice playing to compliment the song.

Thanks HDQ, I listened to it with headphones on my laptop and it sounds like a good mix to me as well. I'm using two codenser mics, one bigger diaphram on the kick about four inches away from the resonant head and one smaller one set up under the ride pointed directly at the snare. This seems to work great at small to medium sized venues. We try to keep our volume at a good listening level, not too loud, not too low.

I think you're right about the camera mic, it's not the best and it tends to pick up a lot of high end.

I love that tune, it's by Trisha Yearwood and I'm not a big country fan, but that song has a nice pop edge to it, thanks again.

Really can't believe anyone would really think the levels recorded on that video could be used to accurately asses the mix in that room.

But I really don't understand volume levels for anyone but the drummer or sax player if you have one. For any other instrument it's simply a matter of turning a little knob. And if your drums are mic'd then the sound guy can turn the knob for you!!!! What's the problem.

The best musicians I've worked with don't fight for volume. And the guys who can't moderate won't get called back.