Quote:
Originally Posted by twj  The rule at our church is that if your ears aren't bleeding from the monitor mix then demand the FOH guy to turn it up a lot!!!
Besides, who needs FOH when the stage is so loud? |
Because sound on the stage doesn't sound the same out in the house. By the time you hear what's going on in the house, it's mud. This is why it's imperative to have a louder sound in the house to drown-out the mix from on-stage. So the louder the stage volume, the louder it is in the house.
There are many complications when it comes to stage mixes, because each person wants to hear what they want to hear. When using typical wedges, amps, speakers, etc... each person is fighting for their desired audible level. If someone can't hear, they turn up their speaker---then the next guy and so on. This is a blessing of in-ear monitors, but that's not a cheaper solution to go IEM's. When using traditional wedges, you hear the ambience of what's going on. When using IEM's, you lose that. However, it's recommend to put up a few mics that just record ambience so you don't get locked in....but what I'm referring to is now you're hearing a mix you've been designated to hear. With IEM's, you can no longer have a few dedicated mixes---each person needs THEIR mix or they won't really hear what is going on.
At my church, I have a pretty advanced setup...we only have stage wedges for the choir and our vocal team. I have a brass section, drummer (Roland TD20 kit), percussion, bass guitar, electric guitar x2, acoustic guitar, p&w leader, piano and a keyboardist. Sometimes I have woodwinds and strings. EACH person has an IEM that's being fed from either a 16-channel Aviom system or into a Shure PSM700 IEM controlled by the PQ Controller on my Venue console. Because we do so much broadcast and production, it's imperative to have this separation. I also do a fair amount of location concert recording where I just don't have the luxury of using IEM's, because the musicians are pre-madonna's and want a big sound on-stage. So, I deal with it and it makes mixing it later back in the studio a challenge at times.
Unfortunately, I've found that the un-trained ear doesn't know how to mix stage volume with FOH volume. I've been in churches using real drums where I hear the drums on-stage, but not through the PA. The same can be said with guitar and bass cabs, etc. THIS DRIVES ME CRAZY!
Sorry, I have good ears and I like to hear a good mix---even in church, that's the engineer in me that's not satisfied
Brad Lyons