Re: [Harp-L] playing but not hearing

[Mike Price <mikerockin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My wife heard me through the PA because the sound man, right before I went onstage, placed a mic  in front of the amp. Despite being very disappointed in not being about to hear myself I don't think it showed before or afterwards. Over the years (55 to be exact), I have gotten better at keeping a positive attitude when things are not going quite so well...

On Apr 1, 2014, at 3:33 AM, Mike Best <mike.d.best@xxxxxx> wrote:

> Just out of interest, how did your wife hear you through the PA if you were
> playing through a tiny little amp at your feet?
> 
> I'm a great believer in playing through the PA.  You can do this either by
> mic'ing your amp, or using a line out from your amp, or connecting your mic
> directly to the PA.  Or you can use a Harp Commander which is what I do,
> which has a line-out to the PA and an instrument-out to your amp
> 
> But playing through the PA won't help you hear yourself on stage, unless you
> can get yourself in the foldback monitors.  But this can often lead to
> feedback, as well as annoying the vocalists who usually don't want to hear
> anything other than themselves in the foldbacks.  Maybe you can get your own
> separate mix in your own foldback monitor but a lot of PAs might not have
> the capacity to do that
> 
> So you are still left with the challenge of being able to hear yourself on
> stage through your own amp.  And you won't be able to do this through a
> little practice amp.  Greg Heumann has a good discussion about this in his
> publication "All About Harmonica Microphones...And Then Some" on his website
> www.blowsmeaway.com.  Greg says that a 5W amp might be great in your living
> room, but you will need more like 50W to hear yourself on stage
> 
> Hope that hasn't just added to the confusion
> 
> Cheers
> Mike
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Mike Price
> Sent: Tuesday, 1 April 2014 12:47 AM
> To: Harp- L
> Subject: [Harp-L] playing but not hearing
> 
> 
> Last night I had the privilege to sit in with the famous "Smoking Joe
> Kubeck" band. I had fun but, no lie, the guitars were so loud on stage that
> I could not hear a single note I was blowing. My wife said she could hear my
> harmonica just fine out of the main PA and that I sounded good but I don't
> know. Is this a somewhat common occurrence? My guess is the only thing worst
> would be not to hear your singing. Anyone else have any related stories? In
> hindsight I should have just played out of one of the available vocal PA
> mic's instead of the tiny little amp which was at my feet.
> Mike
>