The first time I saw a show where stage wedges weren’t used as the primary monitoring system was a Steely Dan tour in 1993.

The rumor at the time was that founding players Donald Fagen and Walter Becker only agreed to tour if their long-time studio engineer and “audio wizard” Roger Nichols agreed to mix monitors, including in-ear monitoring systems (IEM).

I attended a rehearsal with a couple of colleagues (all audio engineers), and during a break, I asked Nichols about the rumor, which he confirmed to be true.

As a result of that experience, the importance of the role of the monitor engineer dramatically increased in my eyes.

Also during that rehearsal, I noticed that there were some microphones at the front edge of the stage pointed toward the audience. Nichols told me they were there so the musicians - again, using IEM - could hear the audience and get a sense of how they were being received.

In other words, without that additional input, they’d think the audience wasn’t digging the show. Interesting! Of course this is old hat now, but 12 or so years ago it was news to me.

Over the intervening years, these and other related concepts have me thinking about how the role of the monitor engineer has changed.

To get up to date on the subject, I contacted a number of monitor engineers who have worked with both wedges and IEM, including Ian Beveridge with Foo Fighters, William Miller with Josh Groban and Chris Sharp with Rob Thomas. Each provided insight on the topic while dispelling some of my misconceptions.

Although so many artists have moved to IEM during the past decade, there are still plenty that still prefer wedges and sidefills.

Ian Beveridge: “What may make a snare-top sound amazing may absolutely destroy the rest of the drum sound.” (Ian is at right, with FOH Engineer
Nick Raskulinecz)

And many acts use a combo of both. Beveridge, in fact, notes that only one band he’s worked with over the years has been completely on IEM.

The only common element I could find is that for many “more experienced” performers, particularly in the rock ‘n’ roll genre, wedges are the norm.

Obviously, artists in this genre want to interact with the audience, and they also have performed for decades using wedges, so it’s their “comfort zone.”

William Miller: ““Now, performers don’t have to make a choice between good sound and a massive set.”

Further, they want to “feel the vibe” of the show, and frankly, this is easier with wedges because the audience, backline, mains, wedges and fills all forge a cohesive overall soundscape for artist and audience alike.

Miller puts it this way: “In a traditional wedge situation, your job as an engineer is to augment the world on stage. There’s already some sound happening up there, some acoustic energy. In other words, there’s sound present before you ever switch on your console.”

There are several reasons for the trend toward IEM and away from wedges. The most obvious is leakage, i.e. loud volume on stage makes it more difficult to mix because of bleed into the stage mics, reducing isolation and therefore control. And, feedback (or at least the potential for it) is always a cause for concern.

Chris Sharp: “It’s always nice to start off with your lead singer on ‘ears’.”

That said, Miller and Beveridge both feel that the job can still be done just as well with the traditional tools. According to Miller, “Feedback is most often caused by improper gain structure, misplaced monitors and poor equalization.”

Beveridge adds: “Modern mics and loudspeaker technology allow you to make a very good sounding conventional monitor system with whatever coverage you like - sound quality does not have to be sacrificed for volume.”

But on the issue of stage coverage, Miller doesn’t completely agree. “Assuming no RF (radio frequency, with wireless systems) problems, an IEM mix is going to sound relatively the same no matter where you are on stage,” he notes.

“Obviously this isn’t the case with wedges. However, on a recent tour I found that by using line array loudspeakers as sidefills we could really provide the ‘sonic glue’ to the stage sound. The vertical consistency certainly helped to widen the ‘sweet spots’ on stage and provided a fuller sound when performers weren’t right in front of their wedges.”

Performers are also interested in protecting their hearing and feel that this can be better accomplished with IEM. Sharp adds: “It’s always nice to start off with your lead singer on ‘ears.’ It makes life easier at FOH when the engineer doesn’t have to fight stage wedges blowing into mics.”

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