That way, when the monitor engineer cues up a mix, he’s hearing the same thing the band is.
If the engineer is listening to really nice, expensive custom molds, but the band is listening on cheap universal fits, getting the right mix can be challenging.
It can be done, but it will require more work on everyone’s part.
Often, a church will go with a hybrid approach of IEM and wedges. We’ve taken this tack at my church; the band is on IEM while the vocalists are on wedges.
Again, it’s important that the monitor engineer be able to cue up a wedge mix and hear what the musicians are hearing. It should be the same kind of wedge, processed and equalized the same.
Consistency will cost more, but it will make your life way easier. Easier means faster, more productive sound checks; and better sound checks mean more rehearsal time. I don’t know of many people who will argue with that.
Taking Hold
About 10 years ago, Aviom introduced the A-16 Personal Mix system. It took a little while to catch on, but personal mixing systems are becoming commonplace in churches, and for good reason. These systems allow you to send between 16 to 40 channels back to the musicians, who then build their mixes.
In addition, these systems reduce the load on the house engineer, allowing more focus on developing a great house mix.
The number of possible mixes is, for all practical purposes, unlimited. Every musician can have their own, custom mix – it’s just a matter of buying enough hardware. I implemented a personal mix system at a church some years ago, and it made a huge difference. We went from four wedge mixes that had be shared by everyone to six personal monitors for the musicians.
The wedges were re-assigned to the vocalists, and since we now had four available, each vocalist typically got their own (or shared with just one other). Stage volume dropped dramatically, which greatly improved the house sound.
At this point, some might argue that musicians are musicians and should concentrate on playing, not mixing. In theory, I agree, to a point. The reality in most churches is that musicians typically fall into three categories; really great musicians who can mix themselves, good musicians who just need to hear themselves and a few other things to play well, and musicians that will always struggle getting a good mix together.
My experience is that most fall into the first or second category, and we can help the third be successful with some pre-planning, and pre-building of mixes. (We did that last time with wedges, remember?) Sometimes, you just have to get out from behind the desk, walk up on stage, plug into their mixer and help them out. That’s O.K.