The guitar player! 
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Very true!! Even if you are using a sound guy, A GOOD musician listens to the band as a whole. They know how to mix their volume place within the band volume. Once everyone is trying to match the loud guy, the train wreck begins. I know musicians older than myself, who never got over the teenage garage band days, and never progressed musically. It’s childish, it is not being a musician, and it is detrimental to other musicians, and patrons. There is more to music than pretending to be a rock star in a small venue.
I call them out, even if they don’t listen. I have no desire to play with anyone like that. Get rid of them.
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My answer is every rhythm patch, lead patch, noise, breath, bell, etc. has to have a saved volume that mixes correctly in each song. That’s for keys and guitar, especially since those two compete with the vocals most of the time. Vocals are king and guitars/keys have a tendency to walk on them. If I have a lead solo coming up, I typically have a +3 or 4dB boost actuated by a foot pedal. But, even that boost is on a per song basis as some solos are different. Every VSTi I play has a Volume VST after it (FreeG) which is set for EVERY SONG and EVERY PATCH. If I have a piano rack, the same rack is loaded in each song with the output to a volume adjustment for each song. Same piano rack + different volume for each song.
If every member of the band had their volumes set on a per song basis, band life would be much simpler. The sad part is, some people just don’t get it and I don’t think they ever will. With VSTi’s, Amp Sims, Electronic Drums, etc. there is no excuse to not have a very decent mix even without someone running the board.
And it’s not always the guitarist!!!
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The triangle player?
I had such a bad experience last year when the tech turned the guitar so loud in the monitor that I couldn’t hear the rest of the band and my own playing. I was about to kick that monitor off the stage.
As a keyboard player I need to hear my sound in the context of the band. Not every keyboard sound has to be up front and I have to decide how it works best in the mix.
I told the band that it doesn’t work that way. Now I have my own monitoring system with sidefills and individual monitors and a small PA for about 200 people and when an unknown tech is mixing he/she get the signals splitted or gets the tablet if he/she is familar with the soundcraft ui24r.
But now there is even more gear to carry around.
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At a local acoustic open mic there is an old guy with a tambourine who when he is active you can’t hear the excellent cajon player at all.
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LOL, I can totally relate! Many moons ago I was playing guitar in a large venue and the sound guy cranked my wedge (100% guitar) so high I had to literally kick it mid song to point to the side in order to cope. Pointed to my wedge and gave a thumb down a couple of times and it actually got louder… At ear level to my right was kit on stage risers just a few feet away, to my left was a screaming Leslie, and right behind me, my guitar amp. And that wedge drowned it all out. Had to be at least 140dB coming out of it, and all midrange! So as a guitarist I blame the sound guy, lol. 
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In Pure Floyd/Welsh Floyd I came across the first guitar player I had ever gigged with who did not like playing loud, and would definitely stop any volume wars. It was a revelation.
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Lucky… 
I remember always being the only guy in most bands who wanted to hear myself mixed in context. Everyone else always wanted nothing but themselves and drums. The biggest exception was a country band all the way back in the late 80s. Our drummer had a D-drum kit and we mixed from stage, paralleling the monitors off the mains. We all heard exactly what was going out front. It was amazing.
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In my last incarnation with Welsh Floyd our sound man used MIDAS desks and I had the app on my phone where I could control my own submix and get it as I wanted (mostly as per FOH, but with a small emphasis on me). That was a revelation.
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When I played bands that had an actual B3/C3 and Leslie on stage, somehow the stage volumes all seemed to fit together straight away without any fuss. But without the Hammond, it was usually a chore to sort out stage volumes in the pre IEM/personal submix days. And as a guitarist I preferred to be a little on the low side in the stage mix since it coaxed me to play with max assertiveness, but I did need to at least be able to hear myself within “the dome that all else resides under” as one synth player liked to describe his self-importance, lol. Fortunately the others I gigged with were a bit more grounded!
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One question on Hammond B-3X: is there a way to stop the horn in the front position?
thanks
Ramon
Huh… that’s an interesting question. I assume it’s like a real Leslie in that it stops at whatever point the horn virtually “is” when you stop it but I’ve never thought to check.
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Unfortunately, the B-3X doesn’t allow you to control this. The Blue3 does - and it also gives you the option to set the Leslie to “Memphis style”, i.e. to keep the lower frequencies “drum” without rotation and only rotate the horn (less “wobble”):
So if you’re into more detailed control of your rotary cabinet, the Blue3 is definitely an option to look at - and it also sounds very good!
Cheers,
Torsten
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Yep! The main idea behind this, is to play bass parts without rotation, while upper register can use the Leslie as intended. Many organists here in Memphis unplug the drum to achieve this. It is used in churches and 3 piece bands with no bassist. I suggested this to several of the Hammond vst developers, but Blue3 was very open to it. The team at GSI, and B-3X couldn’t understand why anyone would want this feature.
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GSi VB3-II has this feature, you can select Memphis Style, and Front Stop, plus adjust the stop position.
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Yes, VB3-II did finally add “Memphis”, but they really weren’t on board till they researched it. I was tickled when they added it.
But, in Ramon’s case, he wanted to stop the horn, at front position, in B-3X. There were some Leslie vsts that stopped at front position in the past, but I don’t recall which ones. Maybe Melda rotary? Just don’t remember at this time.
I also had discussions with them about using midi for the half moon switch and for preset selection, but found out it was easier for me to use cantabile to “transform” midi to the correct messages.
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Cantabile always saves the day!
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