Monitor Mix Advice

[jdycus]

Our praise band is composed of the following: 5 vocalists (one with an acoustic guitar), a keyboard, an electric piano, a standard drum set, an electronic drum, a djembe, and 2 electric guitars. We have 2 stages of monitors: 4 Galaxy hotspots across the front, and 4 galaxy hotspots in the rear. Our board is capable of sending any or all of the channels to these monitors. I know that often it is a matter of personal taste, but what would be your advice as to what to include in these 2 monitor mixes, or at least, what would be your starting point? Thanks

[tdangelo]

I am somewhat curious as to what others will say as well. When I mixed FOH at churches and for a secular PA company (10 years) I would never use monitors as a “general fill the stage solution” even to the point of not using side fills which were quite in vogue with other peer FOH & Monitor guys. My approach to monitors were to keep them as close as was practically possible to the performer and to only “add-in” to the monitor mix that which the performer felt they were lacking. As a result, if a monitor mix was solo’d or monitored in cans the monitor mix might sound quite odd, but when one walked on-stage and listened at the performers position it worked for them. This approach sometimes can require more mixes (eg: matrix or aux outs) than one might otherwise need.

In general my experience is that when it comes to stage monitors (not in-ears) a “let’s reinforce what is lacking” approach is better than let’s make all wedges sound “pretty.”

[bpalermini]

I use the "ours is not to reason why" theory of monitor mixing and ask, and give them what they want. My input comes when the monitors are louder than the mains and then we need to work at calming them down. Like what Tom said, the monitors are to fill in for what they can't hear from other sources, stage amps, drums, etc. or the house or what they need to hear to be able to keep on key or on tempo.

We use hotspots for our back line monitors which are our backup vocalists. They are not very nice sounding monitors and can't deal with the full range of frequencies you will be asked to send to monitors compared to larger speakers. If you run them too loud they will sound really harsh. You will need to really work with the stage to keep things from getting out of hand.

[Tim Padrick]

Vocals and anything that does not make noise on stage. Then by request only.

The more mixes the better.

[[Director] drew ryan]

Do you have the capability to send more than 2 mixes to the stage? Being able to divide the mixes up a bit will allow for what the other posts are suggesting. Your vocals only really need tempo and pitch. But the guy with the acoustic also needs his acoustic. If you can divide the mixes more then you can give the vocal with the guitar more guitar and not cloud the other vocal mix with the guitar. The instruments mostly need pitch, tempo and the lead vocal. So, the more you can break up the mixes and only give people what they need, the clearer their mix will be and the better the stage will sound as a whole.

[jdycus]

Unfortunately not with our present equipment. Later, with upgrades we can move in that direction. But all the advice given so far has been very helpful.

[Jay M]

Usually when I do sound and only have two channels of monitors I divide it into two groups:
1. Vocalists
2. Instrumentalists
Those two groups usually have similar needs.

The biggest challenge in a church is that for the most part, we are all amateurs, and then you combine that with the fact that there is never enough time for a proper sound check, even a seasoned professional would have a hard time getting a good monitor mix in the short amount of time we have.

Aside from that, the other issue is that whenever I work with amateur musicians they usually don't know what they need from their monitor. Often vocalists think they are too loud during the sound check, then once the whole band is playing they can't hear themselves.

There is no better situation to test the fruit of the Spirit than when it's 15 minutes before the service starts and no one is happy.

Doing sound is a service ministry. Having a close and good relationship with the musicians is very helpful so there is clear communication so they can get what they need. I always walk up the the stage and look each of them in the eye and ask if their mix is perfect, and if it isn't, then I ask what they would like changed. At that time I can, in love, explain the limitations of the system, and the art of compromise.

The short answer to your question is that the singers need to hear each other and especially themselves, the drummer needs everything loud, and the rest of the band just needs a good mix. It's hard to do that with only two channels, but it's not impossible.

In your situation, it will be very important that your arrange the musicians in such a way that their own amps can be used as monitors whenever possible. The hot spots will only be good for vocals. All the instruments will need to depend largely on their own amps, and you will need to depend on the band to get a good stage mix amongst themselves.

This sounds impossible, but I once had a chance to sit in on drums with a VERY good band. Many of them had vast touring, studio, and even bar experience. All they had on the stage was a few hot spots, the rest was their amps. I have never been in a better monitoring situation in my life because everyone on stage knew what they were doing. I could hear everyone clearly, and It was really fun!

Sorry if this was a bit wordy, I have been thinking through this a lot recently since I have been working with 3 sound teams lately.

~Jay

[jdycus]

You perfectly describe the frustrations I have encountered, with time being the biggest problem. Several of our band members are "kids" who show up 5 minutes prior to "show" time. But your suggestions are very helpful, and I thank you.