S OUNDADVIC E
Monitor Madness
They can turn a great night into a nightmare. They can make your performance or
destroy it. If you haven’t guessed it already,
I’m talking about those nasty monitors.
Almost every band I’ve talked to struggles
with their monitor system at one point or
another. Let’s take a look at some different
ways to take the headache out of your time
on stage.
Most seasoned players are familiar with the
basic monitor setup for a band – two to
four monitor speakers, one or two amps, a
31-band equalizer on each monitor channel and all the cords necessary to hook
everything up to the mixer. We won’t go
improve your system in a more traditional
way. Larger amps can push your speakers
more cleanly with less distortion and are
generally the deciding factor in how loud
your monitors will be while still sounding
good. As a rule, an amplifier that clips
constantly will blow a speaker faster than
running too large of an amplifier on the
same speaker.
This may start some arguments, but I have
found that using an amp with a power rating about double of what the speaker calls
for works pretty well. My clients are usually
very happy and I have fewer blown speakers
caused by amp problems.
fills,” since they reside at the side of the
stage. These could be older PA cabinets,
but I suggest something like a JBL dual 15”
speaker and horn cabinet on each side. This
way everyone on stage can get plenty of
kick and vocals, and vocalists on each side
of the stage can hear their own singing with
a smattering of the remaining vocals mixed
in. If the stage isn’t too large even the
drummer can get enough sound that he can
forgo his own wedge and mix.
One last monitoring tip for the road: I have
been using dbx DriveRacks religiously for
the last few years on my monitoring rigs.
They can be set up quickly once you learn
dbx’s DriveRack system (4820 model shown) provides a host of signal processing controls that can help you control feedback at your next gig.
into these basic elements here, but instead
we’re going to focus on the solutions that
many bands have found to their monitoring
problems. The biggest problems that most
bands have are feedback and the need for
more volume for their particular instrument
or vocals.
You have several options for eliminating
feedback: using wireless in-ear monitors,
trying higher-end mics, using monitor cabinets with bigger amps, or adding digital
signal processors and high-quality equalizers
to your system. Some mics, such as Audix,
feature reduced feedback right out of the
box due to their proprietary design of the
mic’ing element. Many high-volume bands
have switched to these designs. The Audix
OM3, OM5 and OM6 are all good choices,
depending on your vocal style. There are
also some less expensive models and
brands available that produce good results,
but skimping on your mics is generally not
the best idea.
Better quality monitor speakers and larger
amps are a good choice when trying to
A technique I see performers increasingly
turning to is the combination of in-ear monitors with a regular floor wedge setup. This
usually works best for loud guitar bands
where the lead singer has a hard time hearing his own voice over the band. Usually,
the singers only have their voice through
the in-ears and use ear buds that allow
some of the stage sound to come through.
When the singers can hear the nuances of
their voices, they don’t have to work their
voices so hard. This setup can be done
easily without modification to the monitor
system or adding any mix outputs on the
board, by either “passing through” or using
a Y-cable to feed the in-ear unit.
The ideal system would be to have the
whole band on in-ear monitors with digital
IEM processors (like the dbx IEM unit), but
sometimes guitar players don’t care for this.
The best setup, in terms of cost and performance, for a medium to loud rock band
playing in a club would be to have the lead
singer on in-ear monitors and sending the
backup vocalists – usually the bass and guitar players – through monitors called “side-
the programming and feature compression
for speaker protection, feedback suppression and an onboard equalizer (31-band
graphic and parametric). You can even save
programs for venues you play at regularly,
so when you get it dialed in you can keep it
for next time.
Till next time, be loud and be proud!
Andy Anderson
Concert Sound
515-291-0464
Concertsound.org
andent@lvcta.com
