Playing with a band and scooping mids?

[Diocletian]

When practicing I like to have my amp settings at: gain pretty high, bass quite low, my treble pretty high and the mids almost at zero.
But I've read in a few places that, when playing with a full band, you should have the gain a bit lower and mids turned right up or the guitar won't cut through the band mix.

So how come guitarists in bands like Metallica, Iced Earth etc have high gain, mid scooped tones that work within a band?

 

[Redmist]

Re: Playing with a band and scooping mids?

I think that scooped sound only works for them in the studio where layering tracks will still let the tone through.
Live, though, I bet they use a fair bit of mid, just like the rest of us.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Playing with a band and scooping mids?

A guitarist's "cutting through the mix" idea is usually what a soundmixer labels "kills the singer".

You gotta find places for both and it's best left to the mixer to do so.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Playing with a band and scooping mids?

I agree with redmist ans uOpt.
I turn the midds a little bit down when the solon hitts ,it gives the leadwork more place ,but kick the bass and lower midds more to get heard enough.After the leadwork ,I go back to my more middy rythm tone .That's how it works on the stage for us.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Playing with a band and scooping mids?

when I saw metallica on the justice tour, you really couldn't hear anything. it was just a wall of noise. it was probably the civic center's crappy sound system, but sometimes I think bands just keep their sound and stuff does get lost in the mix. live, people don't care. they hear what they want to hear, not what is being projected. in their heads, everyone in the civic center was hearing the album crystal clear.

 

[Redmist]

Re: Playing with a band and scooping mids?

when I saw metallica on the justice tour, you really couldn't hear anything. it was just a wall of noise. it was probably the civic center's crappy sound system, but sometimes I think bands just keep their sound and stuff does get lost in the mix. live, people don't care. they hear what they want to hear, not what is being projected. in their heads, everyone in the civic center was hearing the album crystal clear

Totally.
A recent QOTSA gig here in Belfast, you could barely make out what songs were being played.
That's fine if you are a big band and the crowd knows your stuff, but when the crowd has never heard you before, it is crucial to get the mix right. And you can rarely rely on the house sound engineer to get it right without a bit of bullying on the part of the band.

 

[Yngwiestein]

Re: Playing with a band and scooping mids?

I thought it was all relative. I add mids for a fat and open sound. Depends on the chord changes in a song too. A solo boost works most of the time. For rhythm I don't use heavy distortion. Just enough to get that roaring sound. Then for solos I click on the tube screamer and get that little edge, extra gain & boost. Works easy with a rhythm guitarist. He plays scooped and you play the midrange. Gets more complicated w 2 lead players.