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From Classical To Radical is an Electric Violin Shop video series geared towards teaching classical strings players how to go electric in popular styles. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for future FCTR video notifications. Click here to see all posts in the FCTR series.
Electric violins produce almost no sound of their own. Combined on stage with other amplified instruments, you will need some way to hear your own playing above the noise. The above video outlines three ways to monitor your sound, which, depending on your live sound setup and the venue, you may use just one of or more than one in combination.
Amplifiers
You plug directly into your amp and it amplifies your instrument's sound (and only your sound) for you and others to hear. Sound is directional, so the key to using an amplifier on stage for monitoring is to make sure it's pointed towards your head, otherwise you'll find it difficult to hear yourself as bandmates join in and turn up their own amps and monitors.
When setting your amp volume go as loud as you need so that you can hear it but no louder. If you turn up too high your bandmates in turn will increase volume so they can hear, igniting a "stereo war" that you probably can't win. Too much sound on stage makes it impossible for the musicians to hear themselves and one another; your playing will suffer as will the sound that the audience experiences.
Wedges are speaker cabinets that sit on the stage and point back at you. In a monitoring system each musician has one or more wedges for themselves. These wedges are supplied with a mix from either the front of house (FOH) mixer or a dedicated monitor mixer. You can choose to have certain sources put into or taken out of your mix. Start with as little as you need to monitor yourself--your own instrument(s) and vocals (if you sing too)--and then add other musicians in only as needed. Keep in mind you'll be able to hear drums and the sound from other musicians' monitors/amps on the stage, so keep what you use in your monitor mix to the minimum required for cues and self-monitoring.
In-ear Monitors
In-ears are like high quality noise cancelling ear buds that put your monitoring mix directly into your ear. They are ideal both for best hearing yourself above the din and for limiting the amount of sound on stage.
In order to preserve your hearing you should keep the level of your in-ears to the minimum required to hear your mix well. Start with your volume off and then raise it until you can hear yourself above the amount of stage noise that bleeds through the ear buds.
