I’d strayed out of topic previously by writing too much about monitoring here. Just wanted to highlighting the fact that for me ‘accurate’ monitoring plays an important role in presenting dynamics (or any other aspect of a live performance for that matter).

For me ‘monitoring’ is one issue in presenting good dynamics when performing live esp. in a bigger venue. I think it would be a insightful with your experience both as a musician and as a FOH engineer if you could give your thoughts regarding this issue.

Your comments seem to be inspiring more articles and I think I should devote an article to monitoring.

For now, and to answer your question briefly, I think that, most of the time, the main problem is due to contradicting listening philosophies on a shared stage. You mentioned how you listen. If that does not tally with the rest of the band or other bands on the same stage, there would be room for inconsistencies.

Monitor mixes are an individual affair. A lot goes into the preferences of the performer. It would be very helpful to establish a dialogue, to study and understand different listening philosophies and more importantly to ascertain what works individually and why.

From time to time, technical riders of international bands get forwarded to me and one thing that strikes is me, is the request for an exclusive desk (mixer). Given the resource limitations here the in the Maldives, this is something that’s not very often possible, when many bands cramp the few opportunities they have.

The other alternative would be to go digital for both FOH and monitor desks, to aide with recall ability, given the short transition times. That said, some of the riders specifically request the desk to analog and not digital under any circumstance: individual preferences.

For me I always try to play with a balanced stage sound preferably with only the instrument amplifiers and using stage monitors to reinforce the instruments that are not using amplification (I’m treating vocals as an instrument too).

I also try to ‘visualise’ (if there’s such thing) or anticipate how the reinforced audio would sound like. Its really helpful in venues where the stage sound might be all boomy because of the kick back from the FOH woofers or because of the deficiencies of the stage acoustics.

And you got to have faith in the FOH and the monitor engineer

The video: I don’t think I could find an uncompressed and stream-able [audiophile] video on youtube. I know it is compressed, but I think this suffices to explain the point here. I hope to do one on Dynamics in the Sound Context soon.

Size [of the Orchestra] vs. Volume: You’re right. That’s the point. Thanks for a more appropriate description.

Coffee?… hmm.. you buying? Hehe… Yes, let’s explore… and thanks for the critical comments.