It’s always best to have a separate monitor mix system and a dedicated monitor engineer. But let’s face it — what you want and what you get are often two completely different things, and in many smaller venue/smaller budget gigs, those two jobs will be handled by the same person… namely you.
In such cases, you can try, or — with a little knowledge, some extra effort and a few tricks (for example, “flipping” a few faders) — you can do this successfully and keep your performers happy at the same time.
It’s never a guarantee that mixing monitors from the FOH position will go smoothly. You are mixing two different speaker systems with one input gain and one set of parametric EQs. There are certain guidelines you will have to follow, along with certain compromises that you will inevitably have to make.
A good place to start is knowing your gear.
Is Your Send Pre- or Post-EQ?
When your aux send is in “pre” mode, it’s routed pre-fader, but it’s important to know whether that also makes it pre-EQ — meaning routed and split off before the channel equalizer.
If your aux send is pre-EQ, then you only have your graphic EQ to set the monitor. This is usually an advantage in monitor operations, because any time that you’re tweaking the input channel EQs on your FOH console (whether for artistic reasons, or to deal with that input interacting with room issues), it will not affect or change the overall sound of your monitors. But in any case, you need to make sure that you’ve already rung out those monitors with that graphic EQ, especially if you have to turn up your input gain on a channel.
Typically, most boards with an aux send are post-EQ on the channel strip. For example, a Midas Heritage console has a global function available on each EQ strip that can switch all aux sends pre- or post-EQ. And while you may be able to switch between pre- and post-EQ, you will always be post input gain.
Pre- or Post-Fader Sends
Smaller format consoles often have a six auxiliary layout with two pre-fade, two switchable pre/post-fade and two post-fade sends. In a pre-fader aux send, you have the absolute freedom to change the aux input level to your monitor feed without your channel strip fader changing the monitor level. If you are restricted to a post-fade aux feed, you can look at choosing the post-fade aux for your in-ear monitor or something else that has the least amount of demands on channel strip level changes. Not so with keyboards or vocals, monitors for the most part, but bass players typically need the least amount of changes to their mix. So, in short, select what needs to have the least amount of changes made to the receiving mix to put on post fade. And be sure to watch the stage at all times!
Tip: When running playback music, it is advisable to run that channel in the post-fader mode in the monitors. This allows a fade out in the monitors along with FOH.
EQing The System for Front of House
In most situations, the FOH sound is paramount to monitors. That being said, you are going to make compromises with your main graphic EQ as well as your individual channel strip parametric EQ that you would not normally do with a dedicated “monitor world” setup. Your goal is to begin sound check with your system having the flattest overall sound to get a natural reproduction of what you are reinforcing on the stage. If you have to “yank-and-bank” on your FOH graphic EQ, that is less of a concern than having to make drastic cuts and boosts on your channel strip parametric EQ. Remember, if you have post-EQ sends, any EQ changes on the channel strip will have an overall EQ effect on your active monitor sends.
EQ the Monitor System
With monitors run from a FOH position, your usual goal is to be able to make them loud and still please the band. You may not be able to dial in a perfect “living room” monitor mix, but you should at least give the performers a decent-sounding and loud mix (if you have to go loud). Building headroom into your monitor mix is essential, and this can be obtained by your use of EQ and flat response. A 31-band EQ for each monitor send is almost imperative, based off of the disparity between the FOH and monitor system characteristics, but any EQ is better than none. After all, you’re running a monitor mix from FOH, and your board is working double-duty.
Once set up properly for flat response, your FOH speakers and monitors are dealing with the same EQ and gain structure. At this point, the monitor and house mixes will require separate adjustments that probably aren’t entirely available on the monitor side, but, with a few compromises, you can provide the best system responses possible. (Oh, and be sure to watch the stage at all times.)
Tip: Generally, when running monitors from FOH, I have to cut down everything from 6k to 12k Hz in the monitor feed due to the different gain structure and EQ from FOH. This especially applies when working with soft vocalists who couldn’t light up a channel strip if their life depended on it. Those upper frequencies are not giving you an issue out front, because they are the “crispy” frequencies that you use to achieve sufficient clarity. But your FOH speakers are a long way from the listeners (requiring an intelligibility boost), while your monitors are just a few feet from the performers and their mics.
Beware Of Inserted Outboard Gear On Channel Inputs
Anything inserted will either add gain and color to the signal, or can kill it. If you know how to properly apply outboard signal processors then you should not have a problem. But for example, you may be using a compressor to line-drive a vocal channel to get a boost on your output. You might run in to issues and not be able to fully notch out any problem frequencies without totally destroying the tonal quality of the vocal and or anything else in that mix. You are now back to where you started, only it is worse. Keep a sharp eye on your dynamics and know that your signal flow gain will be affected no matter what.
Mixing In-Ears from FOH
If you have to mix a channel or two of IEMs from FOH, you must be careful. Putting it plainly, you can really hurt the person wearing them if you are not paying attention. Keep a close eye on the performer who has the IEM and make sure you don’t overdo the volume. Placing a compressor to squash that signal for protection is not a bad idea. Just remember to slowly turn up the aux send of the desired channel. You may have control over all of the settings of your floor wedges, such as effects and level, but you have no idea where the sensitivity settings are set on someone else’s receiver/beltpack.
If your board has extra inputs available, try splitting certain channels into two inputs, which can give you more flexibility in creating a monitor mix. On most digital consoles, this is fairly easy, but if you’re using an analog board, bringing a few mic splitters will come in handy. And having a dedicated 31-band graphic EQ on each monitor send will make your job a lot easier.
Watch the Stage — At All Times!
After you’ve fine-tuned your FOH mix since the start of the show, check back on what’s happening with your monitor mixes. There is a good chance they may have changed, especially if you made some drastic EQ adjustments to compensate for a now-full performance hall. Walking bodies are the cheapest form of acoustical treatment, and what you had at sound check may not be the same at the moment of launch. You have now changed the channel strip gain structure by your “tweaking,” and the performers on stage have begun the “More me! More me!” battle. Everyone on stage is now in the groove and hitting harder and playing louder. Donkey Kong is now behind the drum kit, bashing barrels, and the lead guitar player goes for the foot pedal patch that he “forgot” to mention. Your equipment is now blinking red everywhere like it’s the Fourth of July. Instinctively, you reach for the input gain, but remember, that changes your monitors as well.
Your graphic EQ may not look the same as it was when you did your ring out before the band arrived. You may have to drastically change that graphic depending on what the performer wanted, and you may have to continue to do so after the show starts. Again, your overall mix has changed.
In such situations, I can offer a couple pieces of advice. Have a spotter who stands right beside you at the show. You will have to change and tweak during the first few songs of the show to set the mix, but you cannot keep your head buried for the entire show. For those moments when you’re focusing on what’s happening at FOH — rather than onstage — your spotter can tap you on the shoulder when a monitor request is being made. And, most importantly, learn the power of “no!” You can only push things so far before the variables become uncontrollable.
Evan is Blog Master for ProAudioSpace, and also owner of Pure Quality Sound Productions and Stargazers Theatre. Reach him at evan@fohonline.com.
