One of the most difficult positions in live touring sound is the Monitor Mixer.
This position is only for the truly confident engineer, and not for the weak. Given all the pressures of a typical show, there is no chance to ‘learn’ what the artist on stage wants, or what will make him or her happy. The typical chant is ‘More Vocal’ in the monitor. Of course the more vocal in the monitor, the louder everything is onstage. Then comes the inevitable feedback, and the scowls for the monitor mixer. It is tough at best.
Monitors used to consist of a few floor mixes, side-fills and a drum monitor mix. Now things have escalated to multiple stereo in-ear mixes, and an astounding number of independent mixes for each musician on stage. It’s not unheard-of to generate 10, 12, 14, 16 or more independent monitor mixes from a gigantic number of inputs.
We’ll take a close look at the monitor consoles, splitter systems, wireless in-ear monitor systems, outboard processing and how all of this equipment comes together on some of the biggest systems on the road today.