Church Production Magazine: Mixing monitors is not for the faint of heart. It is a demanding and selfless job. My personal philosophy for mixing monitors is that the monitor engineer needs to provide a mix that allows the performer to be the best they can be. This means that 90% of the time, I'm not mixing the monitors the way I want to hear it. The reason why I approach things this way is simple: Variables. IEM monitor type and brand, their position on stage, the instrument that is being played, the hearing health of the performer --- all of these variables create a very difficult equation for the monitor engineer to solve.
5 comments:
Mixing monitors, in my opinion, is the most challenging job in sound engineering. Especially with inexperienced musicians, most of the time them do not ask for what they actually want to hear. Trying to create an initial mix in the monitors based upon the configuration of the stage and what instruments are on it is an equation with a million variables-- one that simultaneously seems like hell to solve and one I would love to take a crack at. Further, being able to interpret what the performers say into actual output takes a skill that can only be honed over years of experience. In high school, my sophomore year, we had three experienced sound engineers running our concert main stage show sound (two more than we usually have). We were able to dedicate the head engineer to producing the house mix, and one engineer to producing the monitor mix. I did not envy Jared, the one on the monitor mix. He had to deal with egotistical high-schoolers who did not know how to communicate their needs efficiently or politely every day of tech.
I think that this is an excellent look at a hard topic to cover. Mixing monitors for people can and does usually end up becoming one of the more stressful things to do in a live performance. In this write up they are mostly talking about in-ear monitors which allow for a lot of specific tuning that only affects the performer. In a situation where they are not using an in-ear system, this significantly complicates the issues with giving them anything they want. This is because one needs to balance the overall stage volume in order to allow for a balanced house mix. This can create runaway sound issues where you quickly lose control of the noise levels. The other great point that was brought up was working with what people want to hear what they say. Sound and what people hear is such a feeling as much as a science and translating the two together can get a bit complex at times.
I never really thought of mixing as something done for the performer as opposed to the designer. It makes complete sense, but I can imagine how hard it must me to adjust something you know so much about to the wants or needs of someone else who may not know. I have been part of many set ups for bands and monitors are always one of the hardest and most time consuming parts of the set up. It makes it even more challenging when each person onstage has completely different prfrences that others especially if they are sharing a monitor. I think the description used, selfless is one that I completely agree with. Letting go of ones personal ideas and opinions in order to best serve someone else is, in my opinion, the absolute definition of selfless. It becomes especially difficult the more components and people onstage, which is why those who mix monitors for large scale concerts and similar events are so impressive.
I never truly thought about how complex mixing sound can truly be, especially in regards to performer preference. Being a sound engineer is incredibly difficult when dealing with mixing, and it can be a very tedious and delicate task when balancing the sound to please the designer, the audience, and the performer. This article really changed my perspective when thinking about sound mixing and focusing on all the factors that are necessary for a performer to feel confident in the sound they are hearing and producing. I think the one part of this article that I truly related to (in both daily life and the limited theatre/ sound experiences) is the “turn it up war”. Everyone’s perception of sound is so different and based on where your focus is, the thoughts on where something fits into the mix can differ. Obviously there is an ideal mix, but as a performer it can be hard to find that balance when you are focused on your own work. I think this article puts it best:: Listen and decide for yourself.”
There are so many complex aspects of mixing and sound engineering that never occurred to me before reading this article. While I don’t entirely understand the science behind sound recording, I’ve tried to teach my ear to listen closely to songs and pick out the individual instruments and melodies that weave in and out of the music. It was fascinating to read about how the sound mixers and musicians described different noises and beats in this article, since sound isn’t visual. I hadn’t ever considered that the musicians and vocalists in a band each have their own specific ideas of how the track should sound, as evidenced by the concept of a “turn it up war”. There are so many unique variables to consider when something doesn’t sound right during mixing like frequency or change in tone, and often times this can be lost on vocalists or other members of the band who want more kick for their respective sounds without awareness of the many factors that can influence the specific sound of a song.
Post a Comment