Before we delve into this, let's establish the principal function of a monitor system.
Ken's Road Tip #12:
The primary function of a monitor system is to enable a performer to hear himself and other performers as needed in order to play / sing on pitch and in time. It is not meant to be a duplicate of the house mix.And the corollary to that:
The more crap you put into your mix, the harder it is to pick what you need out.Lets take a look at the stage plot for The Dawgs, and see what is where.
We're going to make some assumptions here, which when deviated from will throw the whole thing out the window:
- Everyone is using an amp on stage
- The band doesn't get too crazy with their stage volume, and has a relatively good balance between all the instruments
- Your monitor system is somewhere between "OK" and "Really Good". If it's "World Class", you don't need my help. If it's "Total S#!+", I can't help you.
We'll start with the principle vocalist. Since they're normally in the center of the stage, you would hope that they could hear the instruments clearly. If that's the case they should only need their vocal in their slant, and then any harmony singers under that.
If your singer is confident enough, and can hear his reference pitches from either guitar of keys, then that's a good place to stop. Where you run into problems is when they ask for "a little bit of everyone". If you're dealing with a 100 watt monitor with a 12" speaker and 1" horn, it's not going to take a whole lot signal sources before you're not going to be able to pick your own voice out of the mix. Remember, your monitors are there to help you hear what you can't...not make everything louder.
And Now, The Other Guys...
Unless you have multiple lead vocalists, we'll assume that everyone else who sings in the band is also playing an instrument. If you've got enough mixes to give everyone their own, you're golden. If you have to share, someone is going to have to be dominant in the mix...no way around it.
Remember what I've already said about the monitors should supplement, and not replace everything you hear? This is to the guys / gals that get to set up right next to the PA speakers....you're already getting a ton of sonic info. If it's usable, then use it! I usually wind up right by the stage right PA cabinets, and I can get by just fine with no monitor slant at all in a small club.
Getting Crossed...
Referring to the above stage plot, you could make that the case the bassist could use a bit of one of the guitars in his monitor for pitch reference within the chords. I can tell you that being a singing bass player is a tough thing. Most of the time, you're playing the root note of a chord, and then your supposed to sing some interval above that. Having one of the melodic instruments to key off of is usually a big help.
Sometimes guitarists and bassist will place cabinets on each both sides of the stage, typically driven by separate amps. This is referred to as cross-stage monitoring. Some bands take it further than that. Alex Van Halen counts on hearing Eddie's guitar so much that there's a dedicated amp and guitar cabinet just for Alex behind his drums.
A system like this is cool because it can take some of the load off the monitor system, but it's more gear to bring. However, if you playing on house sound systems where you're at the mercy of the equipment and monitor engineer that's there, it's the way to make sure that you can all at least play together.
Give The Drummer Some...
I feel sorry for drummers...they typically work harder physically than anyone else in the band, get shoved to the back of the stage, and usually spend the night staring at the lead singer's butt (not by choice). They also have the hardest time hearing what's going on, and that's bad for the whole band.
While I just said to not put everything into the lead vocalists, drummers just about need that. Well, everything except the whatever is getting blasted out of the amps right next to them. So make sure that they've got a good system to listen to and are able to get the instrument cues they want...'cause if the drummer stops....well, it ain't good.
When I first got into live sound, I couldn't understand why a drummer wanted his own drums coming back at him through the monitor...until I filled in on drums for a sound check with a loud band. Without that sonic info in the monitors, it's real easy to overplay and hit a lot harder than you should have to. The result is you can physically exhaust yourself in just a few songs. By giving them at least their kick and snare back to them, they tend to lay back and let the PA do the work.
Now, I've seen monitor requirements for drummers that ranged from just kick and snare to absolutely everything, including a mic on the ride cymbal! I'm not going to call out any names, but that poor drummer for Quiet Riot must be one deaf mo-fo.
And on that note -
Getting Everyone On The One
Here's another "lesson realized and learned". On a small stage (less than 20' wide) you're really not going to have this problem. But once you get on a bigger stage, you start to realize that everyone is hearing the drummer at a slightly different time. Remember, sound takes about 1mS (.001 seconds) to travel 1 foot. So, if you're on a 40' wide stage (and the drummer's in the center), the guys on the outside are hearing him about 20mS after he hits a drum.
Yeah, that doesn't sound like much. But try this if you're a guitarist...get a delay pedal and set it to 20mS with 1 repeat and 100% effect. Now, try playing a rhythm pattern. Kinda gnarly, ain't it? That's actually what's going on, except not everyone is hearing the drums at the same time. You'll have people with just a few milliseconds of delay (and you really can't discern anything less than 10mS), and others with more. What happens is that you start to get a smearing of the notes across different band members.
The answer? Put a little bit of the at least the snare (and the kick if your monitors will support it) into everyone's monitor. Now, the signal gets to the monitor slants at roughly the speed of light, and then only has a few feet to get to the performer's ears. I've been able to get bands to really tighten up just by doing this for them. If you've never tried this (and you're spread out on a stage), you should.
Oh Wow Man, He Stuck It In His Ear...
I get asked time and time again about in-ear monitor systems. I've been using them since about 2005 to try to conserve the hearing I've got left. In The Rhythm Dawgs, I'm the only one using them, and I've been in two bands in the last few years where everyone was on them. I plan to write more about working with in-ear systems soon but for now just realize that if your entire band is thinking about using them it can get a bit complicated to deploy and you will have to have a sound man out front for your shows.
So how about we talk about in-ears next week. I'll cover setting 'em up, off the shelf versus custom mold earpieces, and the pros and cons in general.
Until then, keep the meters out of the red.
Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com
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