AKARSH SHEKHAR
10 Monitor Mixing Tips for a Great Live Sound
1 . Take special care in the orientation of your monitors . Wedge type monitors are not normally designed to be at the feet of the musician . Note where the treble motor is located and where it is pointing , as well as its coverage angle . Ideally , aim for the head of the person who has to listen to that monitor . Also , check that there are no obstacles between the monitor and the musician .
2 . Listen to the monitors before you start . It is convenient to check the monitors with music that we know and have a reference of how they sound in the space where we are . We can also analyze your frequency response with pink noise to detect possible problem frequency zones and correct the monitor ' s response with equalization .
3 . Check the bass . Powerful PA systems are often accompanied by a substantial subwoofer boost . If we haven ' t made any subwoofer arrangements to clear the stage of these frequencies , our artists probably won ' t need the monitors to reproduce too much information in the lower end of the spectrum , as they will have enough with what the PA pulls onto the stage . Maybe we can put high pass filters ( HPF ) up to approximately 100Hz , and with less amount of low frequencies the mix will be heard better .
4 . Filter and port everything
you need . Apply high pass filters to all channels that need it to eliminate unnecessary frequencies . Apply noise gates in the channels that you consider necessary to clean ( percussion , especially ). All the unnecessary information that you stop sending to your monitor mix will add cleanliness and clarity .
5 . Always check that the shipments are correctly assigned . There can always be blunders and crossed cables . It is essential to check that everything is in order and in perfect working order before starting .
6 . To avoid feedback , the ideal
is that our monitors point to the area of least pickup of the microphones that are close .
7 . If you work with in-ears , insert
a limiter in the shipment . We do not want to make any artist deaf . It is advisable to be extremely careful with in-ear systems , because if we send too much signal to someone we can cause problems . It is highly recommended to place a limiter in the master of our shipment to have a security filter in case something unforeseen happens .
8 . Beware of compressors . It may seem like a good idea to apply compressions to our monitor shipments , but many times this can give us more problems than benefits . Remember that by applying a compressor we are reducing the dynamic range and raising the background noise , and therefore we are reducing the level of gain we have before reaching the feedback .
9 . If you can choose , work in stereo . Whether you work with wedge type monitors or if you are using in ears , if you have the choice , it ’ s best to work in stereo . You spend twice as many auxiliaries but it will be much easier to get a clear and defined mix , playing with the panorama . In the event that you choose to work with stereo sends , configure them that way on your console .
10 . Take a walk around the stage and listen . Although when we work as monitor technicians it is usual to have one or two wedges to monitor what we are doing , it is convenient to listen to what the musicians hear through their monitors in their positions . That is , how the monitors sound with all the noise around them . What we hear on one side of the stage is not going to be the same as what a guitarist hears , for example , who has his amplifier behind him and has the drums a metre away .
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