FRONT OF HOUSE
CIRCULAR REASONING | Kent Morris
We have all been there: the worship leader asks Realize you are simply an accessible outlet for they, too, have a limit as to what can be brought
for more keys in the monitor, then says it’s too negativity. Proverbs 15:1 works: a soft answer into the mix without disrupting the overall
much and then is finally happy. If you look at does turn away wrath. When an unreasonable balance. The purpose of any monitor mix is to
the send level, it’s right back where it started. request comes your way, acknowledge it, affirm keep the person on time and on pitch. That’s it.
In other words, no change is perceived as an your commitment to solving the issue and do Nothing else needs to be there. Effects, pads
improvement. Welcome to Monitor World! what needs to be done. Sometimes, that is and other “ear candy” are detrimental to the
Whether the monitors are wedges or in-ears, to dial in a different part of the mix to help the function of the monitor.
the process is the same. Trying to discern musician and sometimes it’s just giving them what others are hearing and how they perceive what they want whether it’s correct or not (for 5. Realize most people have no idea what they
it is difficult since each of us hears differently now). It is better to keep the peace and win are doing with a personal mixer. One of the
and what is pleasant to one is unbearable to the war than to gain a battle but lose a friend. most famous worship leaders around has given
another. How then do you know what to do? Besides, you can always turn it back down for me a blank stare when I told him he had the
Here are some answers: the service. freedom to dial in his ears anyway he desired.
Instead, he wanted me to create a Spartan
1. Understand what each person needs to hear
to do the job. The bassist needs kick, snare, hat,
some keys and lead vocal. It makes no sense
to dial in BGVs and pads here as the role of the
bassist is to establish the root and reinforce the
The purpose of
any monitor mix
mix for him with just acoustic guitar, some of
his voice and a lot of the audience. For every
keyboardist mastering a Roland M48, there
are hundreds of team members stymied by a
simple Hear Back rig.
rhythm set by the drums and anything that gets
in the way of that job is a hindrance to the entire
team. A BGV, on the other hand, needs bass,
keys without pads, the other vocals and some
timing reference such as hi-hat or rhythm guitar.
is to keep the
person on time
Anyone who requests, “a little bit of everything”
in their mix does not understand the function
of a stage monitor system is to fill in what is
missing so they can perform the role required.
2.
Start
with
levels
significantly
below
performance volume. If you start loud, there is
nowhere to go but louder. This principle applies
to both wedges and in-ears. High levels tend to
mask nuances and detail, so creating a monitor
mix with the lowest output needed to function
well is the key ingredient in the mix. Plus, lower
stage levels from wedges always benefit the
6. Don’t get caught up in the weeds. Some
worship leaders want to drill down into IEM
effect parameters such as pre-delay and tail
time. Do everything you can to get them singing
and back on the road to concluding rehearsal.
and on pitch.
Your kids, spouse and the rest of the team will
thank you for keeping the departure time ahead
of 10:00 PM.
That’s it.
Mixing monitors for six people on-stage can be
more difficult than mixing FOH for six thousand
Nothing else
people, but it has its own rewards. You help
the music creators achieve their goals. Yes,
needs to be
you will be asked to turn knobs to the right
and then to the left and then back where you
started again, but that is part of the process
there.
inherent in monitor mixing. Be flexible, friendly
audience. Additionally, loud in-ear mixes can and accessible and you just might find yourself
permanently damage the hearing of the user. running monitors on tour for some big-name
act. After all, this job has been and always will
3. Don’t get frustrated. Sometimes, the worship 4. Internalize the axiom when it comes to
leader just had a bad day or the BGV lost his job monitors… “less is more”. For wedges, the
or the keyboardist received a speeding ticket more elements present in the monitor mix, the
on the way to rehearsal. Things happen outside less discernable each element becomes. While
the sanctuary that affect what happens inside it. it is true IEMs are not as tied to this statement,
198
April 2019
be more about psychology than technology.
Kent Morris
Kent is a 40-year veteran of the AVL arena driven by
passion for excellence tempered by the knowledge
digital is a temporary state.
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