Last week we discussed the topic of
hearing ourselves in the monitor mix. For
a great performance experience, we also need to be able to hear the music we
are performing along with and the audience we are performing to. I would say that I have listed these
components in order of importance as the second and third elements of the
monitor mix. Let’s discuss them in this
order.
First I would like to mention that
the ideal monitor situation is being able to mix these three components with
this order of importance, but it is not always possible. Some musicians sing while playing an
instrument (like guitar or piano). I
play piano/keyboard while singing for most of my songs, so I can relate to this
issue. Most monitor systems are not able
to handle such a complex array of sounds.
If you try to send a detailed representation of piano playing and
singing with a mix of background music and an underlay of audience sound
through a mono speaker (or even a stereo set of ear buds) the sound becomes
saturated, muddy and unintelligible. In
the absence of very expensive monitor systems, singers who also play have to
live with the fact that they will have to sacrifice the detail of either their
voice or instrument in the monitor mix (sometimes a little of both). Most performers prefer their voice and chose
to limit the detail of their instrument.
This causes it to fall into the category of background music with the
track or other musicians, and makes it more difficult for the performer to play
expressively. Since it is already
difficult to both sing and play expressively at the same time, this makes some
performers consider the notion of ditching their instrument and just singing. I’ve thought about it, but I really love
singing from the piano. It makes me feel
grounded to the music.
Some artists perform with tracks,
others perform with other musicians and some perform with a combination of
both. Achieving a good monitor mix with
a track is easier than with other live musicians, because track possess
compressed and controlled dynamic variations.
This causes it to sit in a steady position underneath our own level in
the monitor mix. In addition, the lack
of additional musicians means that only one monitor mix is required as opposed
to multiple personalized mixes. Besides
being easer on the mix engineer, this also makes it easier to use floor or
mounted monitors since there is no issue with bleed and conflicting mixes. However, performing with a track is also
difficult, because the tempo is solid like a metronome. There is no room for fluctuation or variation
since everything is set in the recording.
In addition, there is no visual stimulus and interpersonal communication
between the performers. All of these
factors cause hearing the track well to be even more important. The artist needs to be totally in sync with
the rhythm and tempo of the track in order to make the performance feel
authentic.
When performing with live
musicians, robotic timing issues are not a problem. The musicians usually setup in a formation
that allows them to see each other and they practice the art of following each
other. However, the monitor mix becomes
more complex. Each performer needs a
monitor mix that highlights their playing.
Also, different musicians may want more or less of the other musical
parts in the mix depending on what they play.
For example, a drummer will usually want more of the bass guitar in
his/her monitor and less of the background vocals. If the monitor mixes are being sent to floor
or mounted monitors, the sound of each one travels across the stage filling it
with conflicting levels. In addition, most systems will not have enough
auxiliary sends to accommodate all of these different mixes (especially at the
gigs that the “average Joe” musicians play).
When this happens, monitor mixes become compromises that are sent to two
or three different groups of musicians.
In ear monitors solve the issue of
sound bleed issue between mixes. Each
musician has a private and isolated monitor mix (up to the number of mixes the
system can accommodate). Even when a
solo musician is performing with a track, in ear monitors prevent stage monitor
bleed from competing with the house mix.
In addition, in ear monitors bring the mix closer to the musician
instead of broadcasting it through the air from the floor. This is a more efficient method of sound
transfer with less loss of signal. In
situations where a separate monitor mix engineer is not available, there are
personal monitor mix control devices on the market that give the musicians
control of their own mix by providing volume knobs for the level of each
element of the band.
However, in ear monitors have their
own set of issues. I will get more into
the technical aspects of each of these options next week, but a brief explanation
is appropriate here. First, they can be
much more expensive than floor monitors (especially when using custom ear mold
ear pieces). Second, they disconnect the
musician from the outside world. The
sound isolation is so effective that what a musician hears usually does not
match what he/she sees. There may be a
tone of visual energy happening on the stage, but the musician hears only the
elements that have been placed in his/her mix.
This can take a while to get use to.
It is especially difficult for singers and wind players at first, since
their tone contains both internal and external elements. Being disconnected from the external sound
environment causes an imbalance between the natural internal and external aural
sensations that these performers are use to experiencing. In addition, this level of isolation makes
any type of musician more dependent on the quality of the monitor mix. If a floor monitor mix does not have every
element that the performer needs sound bleed will usually provide the missing
ingredients to some extent. With in ear
monitors there is no sound bleed and the performer is only receiving what the
mix gives them. This is why you sometimes
see a performer take out one or both of their earpieces in the middle of a
performance. If the mix is really bad,
they may prefer to get by using the ambient stage sound.
The next
in ear issue leads us to the component of audience sound within the monitor
mix. Performers need to hear the audience’s
response while performing. Although this
is not as critical as the other two components, audience energy is part of the
musical experience. In ear monitors
disconnect the musician from this energy which can result in a mismatch in
emotion between the audience and the performer.
The crowd may be going wild while the performer feels that they are not
into it, or the performer may be in another musical dimension while the audience
is dead. Larger systems try to fix this
issue by using separate microphones to feed the sound of the audience into the
monitor mix. However, this is another
element being added to an already complex mix, and it can easily be out of
proportion when compared to reality. The
sound of an audience being picked up through microphones and crammed into the
mix of an in ear system will never be same as the natural ambient sound of the
room.
Disconnect
with the audience is less likely with floor or mounted monitors since the
performer can still hear the ambient sound of the room. However, the monitor and main levels can
sometimes get high enough to drown out the sound of the audience. Larger systems accommodate for this by
providing separate monitors that are transmitting only the sound of the audience
being picked up through microphones.
These separate audience support monitors are the best solution since
they provide separation from the sound of the music coming through the other
monitors. In smaller systems, the
performer has to live with adding a touch of audience sound under the other two
components of the mix and hope that the speaker does not get too muddy with all
that sound information. Some people
choose to just omit the audience from the mix and live with the loss of
connection.
As you
can see, creating the ideal monitor mix is very complicated. The sound that our ears naturally perceive through
ambient hearing is very complex. The
limitations of electronic equipment make it very difficult to recreate this
type of listening environment on an amplified level. Next week we will discuss more of the
technical sound engineering issues that cause these limitations.
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