Hi

I’m a whistle player in a Pogues tribute band.

It’s very loud on stage as everyone competes with the drummer, and sometimes venues give us a sound tech who gives us a poor/loud onstage foldback mix.

I have to regular problems:

1) monitoring - with a melody instrument, if you can’t hear it, you can’t play it. And I often barely hear a note on a bad night. Also, in a loud mix the sound sometimes separates out so that I hear different notes to the ones I’m playing (probably didn’t explain that very well...). The mix is usually OK out from because even the worse mixes makes sure that *they* can hear the whistle...
2) mic mix - any tips on what the right EQ should be, but also, has anyone seen a suitable rig that would let me use the same mic for whistle and vocals (I sing on a few songs). If there were a foot-pedal that allowed me to switch between EQs, that would be great.

Any tips anyone?

I'm far from the best-qualified person to answer these questions, but I'll throw in my $0.02 anyway.

If I was playing in such an environment, I'd look for a headset microphone. I'd want one that's sensitive enough to pick up the sounds of the whistle pretty clearly (not sounding like stereo sound with a blown speaker, if that makes any sense). Such a rig, employed in conjunction with good amplification and filtering of undesired noises, just might do the trick.

I can't really be of help with the monitoring issue, and I have no clue about EQ settings...for the latter, I'd just use the trial and error method. A visit to Google should tell you if anyone has made a foot pedal that can be used to switch EQ settings.

And if everyone is competing with the drummer, he might benefit from some modifications to his setup, or maybe swapping his sticks for brushes.

Hopefully I've been at least somewhat helpful.

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Whistle No.1: Walton's Irish, soprano D
Whistle No. 2: green Feadóg Original, soprano D