Pro Sound Web: A recent assignment placed me behind a monitor console once again. It had been a while since I stage-mixed on a regular basis, so I enjoyed the change of scenery. But this end of the snake presents a very different challenge from a front of house mix or a system engineering position. Here, the fruits of my labors were not intended for the masses, but rather, were tailored to specific individuals and each of his or her needs, wants, desires… and idiosyncrasies.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Live Sound: Working On The Stage Sound - Moving From Mixing House To Monitors
Pro Sound Web: A recent assignment placed me behind a monitor console once again. It had been a while since I stage-mixed on a regular basis, so I enjoyed the change of scenery. But this end of the snake presents a very different challenge from a front of house mix or a system engineering position. Here, the fruits of my labors were not intended for the masses, but rather, were tailored to specific individuals and each of his or her needs, wants, desires… and idiosyncrasies.
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4 comments:
This article was a good introduction to stage monitor mixing. I feel like there is a lot more to effectively running monitor mixes than this, but it provided a good idea of the basics that need to be covered when working with live bands onstage. It must be tough having to customize individual mixes for large bands, satisfying all of their needs while trying to make sure that your monitor mixes don't interfere with mics picking up extra sound or affecting the FOH mix as well.
agreed, this lays great foundations for successful monitor mixing. i wouldnt say after i read this article a novice would be ready to do it... but if these few ideas were to be standard practice for a mixer, they would be ready to learn the high ropes of the process. Monitor mixing is a huge task for sure, and you cant let small things like letting your ultimate objective get lost hinder your performance
This is a very well thought out article that would give someone with no monitor mixing experience a very good starting point and comprehensive instructions along the way. We often don’t think about monitor mixers, or how different it is from house mixing. Monitor mixing is not just playing what sounds good, it is giving the artists what they need to play well and be in sync with the other band members. I really liked the part of the article that instructs the mixer to differentiate between what the artist wants to boost their ego, and what they actually need to hear to play well.
While this article is comprehensive and focuses on many different aspects of monitor mixing, from psychology to technical specifics, I wish the author would have assumed less about the reader. The article contained a lot of jargon and the author assumed the reader was familiar with all of the equipment. I feel like this article is great if you are an experienced house mixer who is switching or doing a brief stint of monitor mixing. However, it falls short on instruction for those novices Rane and Margaret mentioned.
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