PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS FROM PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
The topic of wireless monitors is one that comes up daily with at least one of my clients, if not multiple clients each day. I’ve come to realize that through so many discussions and doing live sound myself on a large-scale that there are many myths, misunderstandings, and just lack of understanding of the basics of wireless IEM’s v/s the traditional floor-wedge monitor approach. The whole idea of monitoring on-stage is so that each musician or vocalist can not only hear the mix, but also hear themselves and their own instrument and/or voice. While removing traditional wedge speakers and replacing them with IEM’s might sound easier or more cost-effective, really it’s not--and that’s the conversation I have so many times that I felt it would really help others understand these points if I put these myths, thoughts, and my own information down into words.
BUT FIRST---let’s understand WHY monitors
Sitting in the house of a concert, worship service, or whether you’re at a club listening to a band you want to hear a balanced mix of all of the instruments and vocalists. If the bass guitar is too loud, it can drown out the kick drum and cover up other instruments. If the vocals are too low, well you do want to know what they are singing right? OR what about a guitar solo that no one can hear---or that’s too loud it’s over-bearing? Simply put, it could get real annoying real quick! Have you ever tried to carry a conversation with someone that was wearing headphones? While you are talking at a normal voice, they will be talking 2-3 times as loud to speak with you. It’s not that you can’t hear them, they just can hear their own voice and that is the trap that happens with on-stage monitoring. Or another example if there is a group of people debating and everyone is talking at the same time, those that want to make their voice be heard will start talking louder and louder to the point where every person is screaming. Well, this is also what happens for the musicians and vocalists who are just simply trying to listen to each other. A well-balanced mix is fine and desired for FOH (Front of House) sound, but it’s not exactly ideal for on the stage. The mix a bass player wants to hear typically is going to be a lot of the drums, the lead vocal, and some of the guitar...a vocalist usually wants everything with their own voice well out in-front, some delay or lots of reverb where a guitarist wants to typically hear their guitar out-front, plenty of the drums, not so much bass, and just enough vocal to know where they are at. Of course, each person is different---therefore each mix needs to be different. Because these performers are trying to hear their own voice or instrument out in-front, that means they need to have their own channel or area louder than others---and this is where issues come into play with IEM’s (but good issues, mind you) that I’ll cover later. So do understand why stage monitors now? If not, just email or call me and I’ll try to explain further.
The advantage to traditional stage monitors (known as wedges) is that it’s easy to setup on-stage, to create a custom mix and send to it, and can cover a great deal of space for many players. In many cases should you need more coverage for the stage all that’s needed is to patch from one speaker right into the next, done! Typically an Equalizer is inserted after the aux output on the console and before the power amplifier, although I’ve not shown that example in this illustration. The use of a typical wedge setup can work for most bands and performers---again, allowing a quick mix to feed everyone on-stage. For many rock bands playing in clubs, their monitors are simply for the vocals to pump through as they mix themselves on stage between their acoustic drums, electric and bass guitar cabinets. But when you have a choir or acoustic guitar, some keyboards, whatever instruments that are part of the setup---then monitors certainly become more critical and crucial. Simply put if the musicians or vocalists can’t hear what everyone else is doing, then how do they know when to play what notes? If they can’t hear on-stage, then chances are the performance could stink---badly!
While there are many benefits to floor wedges, there are just as many problems that can (and do!) occur as well. The first issue is (insert evil echo and delay here) THE ATTACK OF THE VOLUME WARS. You see, one person can’t hear their monitor so they turn up the volume. Well then the next person suddenly is hearing more of that monitor than their own, so they turn up their own monitor, and so on. Before you know it, the volume from the stage is so loud that it makes it hard, if not impossible, to provide a good mix in the house. Another major problem is the greater potential for feedback that occurs when an amplified signal is going through a speaker and is re-amplified by that same microphone creating a loop. The end result....FEEEEEEEEEDBACK! I do a lot of production for television, to me having feedback in my recordings is far worse than it in live sound. I’m not saying that hearing that wonderful, screeching sound live isn’t bad---it is, but with recording it will drive me crazy knowing I have the time and tools to perfect a mix---but can’t remove it.
Based on the conversations I have with my clients, I’ve found there are a few MAJOR misunderstandings as to the applications of using wireless IEM’s and well--that’s the main reason I’ve written this article for others to read and become more informed to help see if going with IEM’s not only makes sense for you, but if it will be financially possible. That leads me to the first myth and misunderstanding.......
A typical rock-band might have (4) stage monitors and (2) power amps, providing a separate mix for each person (each amp with two channels for a total of four channels). When I have someone in this scenario asking me about IEM’s, they typically want to purchase a single transmitter with (4) receivers. Why? TO SAVE MONEY. A wireless IEM is basically like listening to the radio in that you have a transmitter and as many receivers that wish to listen in. Basically, the transmitter is the radio station while the receiver is the radio for those listening. But a major difference is that in order to listen to that radio station, you’re tuned to their frequency. In terms of IEM’s, this is a recipe for disaster. The reality is that each person should have their own transmitter to allow for a creation of their own mix. If you have (4) people listening in to the same mix with floor wedge monitors, they have the ability to move around the stage and adjust their own placement and natural balance of sound on the stage. For example, the bass player could stand closer to the drums if he need more kick---or the guitarist could move closer to the bass amp if he wants more bottom end. With IEM’s inside your ear, your sound is blocked and secluded---therefore moving around the stage will do nothing for adjusting your own balance and location. Because of this, it’s VERY important to get the mix right---and each person have their own mix otherwise IEM’s can certainly be a turn off.
The products in this comparison are the Audio Technica ATM3M which is an affordable, but high quality IEM system. The reality is, there are a few that are less money, but quite a few that are significantly more money. Likewise with the Crown XLS602 power amps and the JBL JRX112M monitors we could have gone more or less money. What you don’t see listed here are a pair of two-channel EQ’s for tuning in the stage on-sound to reduce feeback, cases for transport (not to mention storage space!), cabling, etc. But these are real-world scenarios that I find offer a great deal of flexibility, affordability, product quality, and sound as well as price (as of 8/12/09). Both scenarios provide (4) distinct monitor mixes with individual control, obviously the stage monitors will allow for more than (4) users. But with the IEM’s, the on-stage sound is cleaned up allowing for higher quality mixes in the house---especially for those that are recording.
IF NOT USED PROPERLY, that may be the case---but when used properly, IEM’s are quite safe. In fact, there is less volume hitting your ear-drums with IEM’s than with stage monitors. How is that? Well remember with stage monitors, EVERYONE is trying to balance what they hear with what is already on-stage including each other’s instruments. Throwing acoustic drums in the mix, everything has just been raised significantly! By nature inserting the earbuds (good ones, that is) into your ears they help to “lock-out” additional volume protecting your ear-drums from loud snare peaks, bright cymbals, bass frequency that is fatiguing, etc. This allows each person to have their own mix levels such as controlling EQ of the bass (if your console allows for this) or pull down the level of the cymbals, etc right into your ears. It IS important to note, however, that you should have a hardware limiter on the bus/aux output before hitting your wireless transmitter. Okay, most of the transmitters DO have a limiter built-in to the receiver---BUT that statement I said “IF NOT USED PROPERLY” does apply here.
