Making It Personal

Some performers love IEMs, others won’t use them, still others are in between, wearing them in tandem with monitoring via loudspeakers. Obviously IEMs cut stage noise and can protect hearing (if they’re not abused) through isolation. A lot of drummers prefer to wear headphones for further isolation.

Earbud options range from generics with replaceable tips of either foam or plastic to custom units molded for the user’s ears. The key is getting a good fit to provide adequate isolation as well as enough comfort so they can be worn for the duration of a show.

IEM/personal monitoring systems are usually wireless, with the performers wearing a small belt pack receiver with volume control. Wired systems are a less expensive option for relatively stationary musicians.

Systems are available in mono or stereo, the latter being the more popular choice. One way to deal with performers feeling too isolated is to add some ambience from the audience into their mixes, captured via an audience microphone or two placed on stage and pointed at the crowd, or flown/placed on stands in the audience area (or front of house).

Several personal mixing systems provide individual mini mixers to performers so they can tailor their own mixes. And a cool recent development is that many digital consoles/mixers now work with custom apps that allow performers to tailor their mixes via tablet or smartphone. Make sure these onstage devices can only access the one mix, and not affect other monitor mixes (or the house mix) by accident.

I mentioned that IEMs offer hearing protection via isolation, but keep in mind that they shouldn’t be turned up too loud. (Kind of defeats the whole purpose.) Also note that a squeal of feedback or loud thud from a dropped mic can be damaging to hearing, so compression and limiting, even brick wall limiting, may be needed to control any unexpected spikes.

Shared Labor

Some shows may just use a few aux sends from the house console to feed the monitors. This can work well for smaller gigs with simple monitoring requirements, but on larger shows, a monitor console is necessary. It should be manned by a dedicated operator, and is usually placed stage side in sight of the performers.

Inputs are shared between the consoles via a split snake in an analog transport system or just grabbed off the network in a digital transport system. The better analog splitters use transformers between the consoles to eliminate hum or buzz, but hard-wired splits can work OK if the system has no grounding and noise issues.

Monitor engineers can make use of a cue wedge at the console to hear each mix if there are wedges used onstage, or they may use IEM to cue up each mix and hear what the performers hear. Many digital consoles allow remote control via tablet, a boon for engineers because they can stand onstage next to performers during sound check and fine tune their mixes.

Lessons Learned

I’ll conclude with some tips that I’ve picked up over the years in working with monitoring over the years.

Acoustic Aiming Devices. I always carry some AADs (black painted pieces of wood) to tilt wedges to put the performers into the coverage pattern. If they can’t hear it clearly, they’ll want more volume.

Shakers. Some performers (drummers in particular) want to really feel the low end, and a seat shaker (a.k.a., butt kicker) can provide this while eliminating the need to add subs. They can also be used with smaller wedges to keep down stage volume.

Directional Subs. With monitor engineers usually at the side of the stage, the wash from the side fill subs can be problematic. A cardioid approach with these subs can help, and some manufacturers offer single cardioid units.

Parametric. Not every problematic tone falls right on the center frequencies, so parametric equalizers deliver added (and needed) precision.

Backup Wedge. Even if all performers are on IEMs, having an extra wedge comes in handy for use with announcers, guest artists and audience members brought onstage, as well as for talkback communication and in case an IEM system goes south.

Identification. Label all wedges with their respective mix numbers. It’s way easier and clearer for a performer to ask for more cowbell in mix 9 than ask for more “in that box.” Also label all IEM belt packs with mix numbers and performers names so they don’t accidentally grab the wrong pack.

Better Reception. Deploying quality antennas with IEM systems can help eliminate dropouts and other RF problems. Directional “paddle-style” (a.k.a., log-periodic dipole array) antennas can provide up to 6 dB of gain and Helical antennas can provide up to 10 dB.

In The Pan. Stereo IEM mixes have more depth and are easier to listen compared to mono. I place performers center in their own mixes and pan the other instruments to the left and right (depending on where those instruments are onstage). And we tailor it together from there…