Mixing Monitors for The Rolling Stones with Robert Bull

Robert Bull explains what it's like to mix the monitors for The Rolling Stones at their live shows, and how to take notes from Mick Jagger.
Watch the full video with Robert Bull here: insideblackbird.com/series/mo...
Learn from more music industry legends at insideblackbird.com/
Subscribe on KZbin for more videos like this: ‪@insideblackbird‬
Shop Blackbird Merch: theblackbirdstore.com/
Find Inside Blackbird Online
Instagram: / inside_blackbird
TikTok: / insideblackbird
Facebook: / insideblackbird
Twitter: / insideblackbird
#InsideBlackbird #rollingstones #RobertBull #FOH #mixingengineer

[@MDOurMD]

This is the kind of stuff real fans of musicians like to hear - the back stage information.

[@xa9590]

There’s a guy on here that knew a couple of Elton John’s band members that told some backstage stories about Elton ….I agree it’s truly fascinating as a fan

[@Dizzydre21]

Yes indeed

[@SteveGamlin]

As an old radio guy, DJ, recording studio, etc...I absolutely LOVE hearing the behind-the-scenes stories like this.

[@duncanfrere2656]

LOL! I've watched this several times. Mr. Bull is hilarious. One wonders what Mr. Jagger will say about Bull's impersonations. 🙂

[@johngore7744]

He’s a good sport.he’d just laugh it off. Ive been a fan since 1967 and Micks always been very forthright and somewhat ambivalent about any ribbing

[@caseyhooper4779]

This is priceless. Keep ‘em coming

[@timbranniganmusic3458]

My FOH touring stories pale in comparison. The pressure had to be an emotional nightmare! The moves you choreographed are not for the faint of heart. That’s what makes you the right engineer for such a colossal gig like the Stones! Thanks so much for sharing. Tell Dave the (retired) FOH engineer from Hard Rock, NYC says hello. I’ve just moved to Nashville and I hope to visit with him soon! Best wishes, - Tim ✌️❤️🤘

[@mrz6480]

I was DJ/ sound man I did cruise ships and bars How I would have loved to have worked with these guys. It's sound guys that can make or break a show. I mean who likes feedback or to much distortion. And it is always nice hear the vocals without being drowned out and no clipping please

[@hollywoodpotato5289]

You, Jagger, Richards, et al… were exhausted. As it should be. Good job. Welcome to history. Welcome to the World’s Greatest Rock n Roll Band Extravaganza

[@henryyuliano3288]

PLEASE more Mixing the Monitors. This was SO valuable to a novice live sound engineer

[@THEFEEL57]

Loved it. All this behind the scenes, hidden happenings

[@FlipSideCT]

Fabulous discussion. Super geek discussion that brought value to us fans! thank you!

[@briankehew579]

Dave Natal may be the best in the business, it ALWAYS sounds great. And I hear he hardly uses any EQ or outboard stuff compared to most people. It sounds huge and clear, very natural, and the musician's dynamics make the mix happen by what/how they play...

[@tmjmccormack]

Great storyteller. This is a top notch video. Rolling with the punches isn’t easy…every kid thinking about getting into the business should really watch and ingest this.

[@andrewbrennan7291]

Man! This is GOLD!

[@mattkelly7971]

I knew it! I thought there was something going on when Keith would strum his guitar back in 2019-2021. It sounded way louder than it should have been. Then, another part of the song goes by and it’s “normal” volume.

[@robertgregory1927]

Pretty cool, thank you for posting.

[@jega157]

Great story..... congrats on your success and thanks for sharing.

[@brianolson_music]

Awesome. Love this ❤

[@Dang...]

Excellent thanks!

[@Cfolger]

This was awesome

[@brucema12]

BULL!!!! GREAT SEEING YOU BRO!

[@kevinodriscoll3456]

Love this!!!

[@Jimmie_Rudolfsson]

Love this stuff! Wish the interview was an hour or so.

[@insideblackbird]

Well, you are in luck! Bull's full interview on insideblackbird.com clocks in at 52:33!

[@fess04]

man. great job!!!!

[@_andreleo_]

Thank you & please - more of this :)

[@HystEric_Demory]

@1:35 Within the first ten seconds of Boudoir Stomp, opener of "Jamming With Edward", Mick says "Stu, does that sound alright or should I take the tape off?" I love Jagger. But, it seems that so much backstage audio work had to be done for him during concerts. Keef always came off as the simple man. He plugs his guitar straight into an amplifier, tunes it slightly without any pedals, and off we go.

[@cecilia_mackie]

Wow! Love it! Let’s stay in touch!

[@martinaakervik]

5:10 I do think Mick knows very well who plays guitar. But I guess if this is the last couple of tours with Steve Jordan it's much higher volum on stage in general and that is hard for you, for the band and for balance. Charlie played very low volum on his drums and only had one hard kick with his foot ...or one hard drumstick once in a while, not even a full fill ...just a note, maximum two tre in a row, ...then back to playing very, very easy on the drum-skin and cymbal-metal.

[@jerrysumner2162]

You two are awesome! John did you sit on his horn in the listen wedge??

[@steveosaur]

The problem with this kind of video is that we always want more 🙂

[@insideblackbird]

We have an entire website dedicated to these kinds of stories! Head over to insideblackbird.com for more!

[@justinerb3669]

I thought he was gonna call an expert to appraise the console in the background 😂😂😂 #pawnstars

[@Micknkeithable]

Honest moments

[@hansolo8080]

THAT is content. Damn.

[@56davidwright]

That Mick impression was uncanny.

[@dougdavis8986]

Good one Beavis

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

If you're looking for a caricature I guess.

[@swikkis]

Tell him "Its only rock and roll but you like it"

[@steveconn]

Looks a bit like Matt Pinfield from old MTV days.

[@johnnyj1561]

Anyone know what tour they're talking about?

[@glitter-lk5dz]

At least 2012 since Mick said that he'd heard Keith's guitar for fifty years.

[@monmixer]

Try mixing monitors for bobby Vinton. what a nut case. We would have more PA on the stage than we did covering the venues with delay and verb on his vocals as he likes it. My monitor mix was controlling the level of the house mix and this is every damn show.

[@encoreunefois1X]

Guitars were definitely too low in the "house Mix" at Hyde Park last year.

[@snapascrew]

is he mixing just for mick or does he also do wedges for the others?

[@T0bh]

How can Mick start a song like Honky Tonk Women and not hear Keith, when it's only Keith playing until the first chorus? He knows that's Keith playing, even though he's panned to the other side

[@blondeboywilson9221]

Yes and are back line stage amps just for show? I was in the 8 th row at msg and could barely hear him when I was directly in front of his amps I miss the ampegs

[@T0bh]

@@blondeboywilson9221 I think Mick is the only one in the band using in-ear monitors. So he doesn’t hear too much of the sound on stage. The amps are definitely not just for show.

[@blondeboywilson9221]

@@T0bh maybe but the sound dude was talking about wedges

[@jonnyoh4731]

@@blondeboywilson9221wedges are playback monitors for the band to hear

[@blondeboywilson9221]

yes I know sir. @@jonnyoh4731

[@hughlawson5399]

spinal tap

[@arneberg9261]

Mooore ---

[@slyfoxx2973]

Mick was notoriously hard to satisfy from the start. They even wrote a song about it.

[@patrickgauthier3464]

Or two…

[@johnbecay6887]

i wish i could understand the musical slang

[@johnbecay6887]

@@insideblackbird sounds like fun.

[@myrzaaipassa8634]

who is Martina ?

[@glitter-lk5dz]

Probably McBride

[@dashphonemail]

"I don't want to hear Keith's guitar, I've been hearing it for 50 years." - Mick Jagger Yikes! Lol. The engineer has to trick Mick into thinking the lead-in guitar part is coming from Ronnie so he can still hit his cue. What a diva

[@PrantoKoX]

Judging by this interview (and the caricatured impressions of his legendary employer), this guy has the perfect surname. 🤐

[@gteefxr3094]

👍👍Glad you got through it. I love the Stones, but I wish more people told Mick to "shut the fuck up."

[@markrushton1516]

Only Keith allowed to say that. Has been known to turn Mick's amplifier off. Charlie could say it too.

[@birdmansclambake]

First of all, Bull is the monitor engineer 🔊👷‍♀️ so how is Mick Jagger listening 👂 to his particular monitor mix on KZbin? That doesn’t make any sense at all. If Mick was listening to the FOH (Front Of House) mixes on KZbin, then that would make more sense. Subsequently, that is the providence of Dave Natale, the FOH engineer.

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

Yeah, I didn't get some of this, it made no sense to me. But, whatever.

[@Boleskinebeatz]

Mick was explaining that he felt he sounded bad/out of tune through the PA as recorded by the phone clips, thus his logic was his mon mix wasn’t right.

[@electrolytics]

It makes sense. The monitors are how they hear themselves performing in real time. If that gets messed up they will perform poorly.

[@josephballerini3730]

Have to laugh, saying “I got no notes”. I thought he meant “I have no concrete comments”. Of course, he meant “I can’t hear any pitches!”

[@blondeboywilson9221]

Mick diesnt to hear keith but without keith its not the stones....when i saw them when ever keith stopped playing the band sounded generic 6:20

[@helgeolsen9727]

For a singer it must be extremely frustrated to have Keith in his ear the way he has played the last 20 years

[@blondeboywilson9221]

@@helgeolsen9727rubbish.

[@Methilde]

​ And mostly in their last tour, Keith wasn't good at all.

[@bobwalker200]

What’s with the awful Jagger impression 🙁

[@artysanmobile]

Umm… you fix it just as you would with any musician. Mick is human, and actually a great communicator.

[@Autotech213]

Why does there have to be so much detail in mixing the sounds? I watch videos of them from the past 20 years and I’m thinking what song is this, can’t pick out instruments but then watch videos from the early 70s and it sounds great you can clearly hear every instrument and mick singing.

[@rgr4929]

Can you translate for me what does he mean with "pitch"??? I don't think his talking about entonation or something out of tune... isn't he?

[@andrewgrabowski3213]

It sounds like he’s talking about how Mick references pitch for his vocals.

[@joram01]

Good story but bad Mick impersonation 😅

[@joblo2671]

Lol...cant imagine the egos...prob necessary for that kind of thing. Its a world I know nothing about. Hey Mick, if you dont want to hear Keith's guitar stop going to Rolling Stones shows.😅 But srsly...ive wondered about this..with everything digital now..and aging rockers..could you make Mick his own custom mix in his "ears"...'in ear monitors?' if you had it saved or preset.. idk.

[@john-daviddennison2862]

Please dont do that Mick Jagger impersonation again....

[@OMGWTFLOLSMH]

One person here thought it was "uncanny". Only in how poor it was.

[@stnwrd]

Could he maybe loosing his hearing?

[@TommyMacLuckie]

Not if he’s asking to not hear Keith.

[@blondeboywilson9221]

I dont know about the stage mix but the house guitar mixes have sucked since 89 YOU NEED TO TURN MICK DOWN IN THE MIX ITS A BAND NOT THE MICK SHOW

[@Terrytuesday1]

Keith and Ronnie's guitar need to be higher up in the mix. Thats how the stones got their sound.

[@slimturnpike]

I've been to 4 stones concerts between 2006 and 2014, guitar mix was absolutely perfect at all four. Their sound production pretty much flawless post 2000. Ironically when I saw the Stones in Oakland in 1989 the sound was terrible

[@blondeboywilson9221]

@@slimturnpike the 50 tour sounded terrible compared to past tours...sticking a sm 57 on Keiths guitar was a bargain basement bad idea to say the least. I saw the 97 98 2003 and 2005 shows and even when I was 16 feet from the stage in front of Keiths amps I struggled to hear him...its not just the volume it is the eq ideally you should be able to hear everything equally so that the band can interact organically instead we get sound bites and the "ancient art of weaving" is long gone. Similarly the accent on the snare high hat and bass drum for Charley hid his beautiful ride cymbal work and made him seem monotonous when I was upfront I could hear Charleys cymbals and it sounded wonderful but sitting further back for another show you couldn't hear the ride..

[@zt7489]

@@blondeboywilson9221 They sound like a pain in the ass to work for.

[@morbidmanmusic]

The 57 had nothing to do wit it. Lol.

[@what1864]

you tell him you have a hot 25 year old sister ...

[@TommyMacLuckie]

A bit much with the over exaggerated imitations of Mick. He’s not Jimmy Fallon. He’s paid by the Stones (Mick) to do one job. Be like Nike.

[@RickBeall]

Party pooper.

[@TommyMacLuckie]

@@RickBeall if it was funny I’d say so. He’s not funny. Not my problem I pooped on your party.

[@medievalknievel]

Imagine handling that pressure?!

[@RicardoMelo]

👎 👎 👎

[@xaviluna]

"Not funny!'"

[@BROOKS39]

I’m surprised those old farts complain about the sound mix these days considering the rubbish sound mix they had to make do with in the early 1960’s??

[@avatarfin]

Well at least the great music made up for it. Now the "music" is total crap and I can't listen to it at all.

[@potterwalker4823]

good point

[@mariagheorghe7139]

Impressions are very unprofessional here.

[@glengamble526]

Ok, Grandma 🙄 0:48

[@morbidmanmusic]

Grow up.

[@captainkirk70]

Perhaps if Ronnie "Wet brain" Wood could do half his job live we'd have a better performance. Keith has terrible arthritis and just can't carry it all like he still has to do now. They should have fired Ronnie's ass like they were going to in '81 for freebasing too much. He's never really been the same since. I see a backstage guitar player soon if Ronnie can't get together some chugging barre chords to songs he's been playing since 1975. Mick just isn't going to have it. I saw a video of Keith having to sit down to play Gimme Shelter and he still flubbed it. God bless Keith but he has issues and deserves to be able to chill back and play what he wants not the other way around with Ronnie. Can you even hear Ronnie on stage? Because in the videos I can't.

[@gilgillis2445]

Bull is unprofessional with his imitations and comments. Be grateful you are part of history. Too much from Mick then yes, but this is over the top for one incident. If Mick sees this video, Bull will most likely not work for him again.

[@garethde-witt6433]

Considering that most if not all the Rolling Stones albums sound like crap (and I’m talking the mixes) which is why I can’t stand them, I don’t think that Jagger would have a clue.

[@jameswebster8105]

and you know more than them. quit being a troll.

[@mtpstv94]

Sound guy shouldn't have to do all that shit. That's absurd.

[@blondeboywilson9221]

Especially if it's truly a live band that's been playing 60 years

[@glengamble526]

It’s his job-and he’s well paid.

[@blondeboywilson9221]

@@glengamble526 sounds to me like he used to work for the stones.....the fifty tour was lacking production wise in every category they may as well recycled the set from HR Puffenstuff the lighting ..bland. clothes almost as bad as 89... the sound ....meh. they seem to have spent their budget on that ridiculous racist yuppies in ape masks cycling king kongs drum line

[@TommyMacLuckie]

It is his job. The fuck you on?