In a previous article (Organization, Communication, Anticipation), I focused on the details of how I run monitors at the annual Glastonbury Festival. This time, I’m sharing some tips about mixing monitors at the other end of the spectrum – a solo artist and supporting band.

A large festival requires a different set of “soft” skills than working closely with a smaller group. Both take a great deal of preparation, but while at Glasto this means collating tech specs, session files and stage plots for 24 bands, with solo artists and their bands it has more to do with rehearsals and relationships.

And whereas at Glasto I have the artistic input of making sure that the EQ and any necessary time alignment on side fills and wedges means that the stage sounds good, with artists it gets a lot more refined, particularly if I have a long working relationship with them.

The two artists that I currently work with are both fantastic singers, and I’ve been with them for nine years and seven years, respectively, so by now I have a fairly intuitive understanding of what they want to hear. Both are lovely people, have excellent bands playing with them, and I enjoy their music, so it’s a very nice position to be in.

Develop Rapport

The quality of the relationship between the monitor engineer and the artist is an important part of the job, and as with people in any walk of life, it doesn’t always click. You can do a great technical job of mixing, but if the artist doesn’t feel a connection, you may not get a second run. They need to feel that you’ve got their back because they really are reliant on you. Put yourself in their shoes – it’s a vulnerable position, standing on stage in front of an audience, and their ability to hear what they need is totally in your hands.

This goes for all bands, but is amplified for a solo artist – the backing musicians are a big part of the show, but the crowd is watching the star most of the time, so they’re very exposed and have to trust you. Part of it comes down to personalities – you might gel or you might not – but you can help build rapport by being reliable, consistent, calm, professional, prepared and confident.

Understand The Hierarchy

Being friendly with artists, but not overly so, is important – you want to establish an easy working relationship with them, while remembering that they’re still your boss. I’ve found that balancing friendliness with a little professional distance is a wise move.

Friendly, not friends.

Of course, in most cases, you’re not just mixing for the artist but for the band too. I always sound check with the band by themselves first, so that I can make sure they’re happy before turning my attention to the artist – and often an artist will stop sound checking when they’re comfortable with the engineer. I never stop watching the artist once they’re on stage because you can guarantee that the moment you look away is the moment they’ll look over!

During shows, I keep an eye on the band while my main focus is the artist. So how do I make sure that the band feels taken care of too? I ask the stage tech and backline techs to keep focus on them and to alert me if I miss anyone trying to get my attention.

I also provide every band member with a switch mic so that they can talk directly to both me and the techs. I set up a “talk to me” mix on the console and I feed my own in-ear monitoring (IEM) pack off a matrix, pulling in that talk mix as well as the pre-fade listen (PFL) bus. This ensures that I never miss someone talking to me, even when I’m listening to the artist’s mix.

Sometimes there’s a request that comes at a critical point in the performance. For example, the drummer wants a little more hat overall but I have a show cue. I nod to let the drummer know that I’ve seen him/her and hold up one finger to say that I’ll be addressing it in just a moment. Then when I’ve made the change, I glance over and make eye contact to make sure that all is well. I encourage musicians to give me immediate feedback when they’ve asked for something – it’s no use finding out after the gig that something wasn’t quite right.

Be Aware

Mixing artist monitors is like being an avatar. There’s the need to develop a real understanding of what artists pitch to, time to, what they’re used to hearing, and what helps them enjoy the gig.

I don’t usually alter the backing band’s mixes unless asked to do so, but I’ll subtly ride elements of the artist’s mix as necessary during the show, once I have a good understanding of their preferences – if an element of the mix sounds too loud or quiet to me, then it probably does to them as well. I tend to tap along with my foot, which keeps me aware of whether they are wandering off the beat and might need a little more hat or snare.

My Latest Trick

In rehearsals on my current tour, I had a few days alone with the band first, as usual. Once they were happy I set up my artist’s mix and dialed in her vocal mic. Then I tried something new – I sang along!

Note that this was before I sent the mic to anyone else, and I “may” have temporarily pulled the XLR split to front of house so that only I could hear it, but wow, it’s a beneficial exercise. It really helped me to get a feel for how easy the mix was to sing with.

A more discreet way is simply to keep one IEM in, close off the other ear with a finger, and see if you can identify pitch reasonably easily. If you can’t find the note you need, what can go up in the mix to help your singer out?

Bring In The Audience

Although we never needed audience mics when stage wedges were the only option (showing my age), with the widespread use of IEMs, they can help the artist feel the vibe of the show.

Currently, I’m deploying three mics at each side of the stage (near, wide and rifle) that are mixed down to a stereo channel to give a nice spread of audience sound to the performers.

I high-pass them at around 600 Hz to keep out the low end, and put them on a VCA that I ride up between songs and when there’s audience participation. On the subject of VCAs, I also use one for the vocal reverb, backing it down during chat between songs.

Make A Split

With solo artists, I always split the vocal down two channels: one to themselves and one to the band. This means that I can keep the mic live in the artist’s ears the whole time, so they can hear themselves after a costume change (when jacks can get pulled and volume pots knocked), without disturbing the band.

If we’re using both IEMs and wedges, as one of my artists does, I actually split the vocal three ways to allow for a different wedge EQ and muting when he goes off stage. I always safe the “vocal to self” out of all snapshots but keep the “vocal to band” within snapshots so that those mutes are programmed in.

Keep It Clean

Finally, it’s a good idea to do IEM and mic housekeeping for every show. It’s the monitor engineer’s job to keep the artist’s molds clean and wax-free, so I carry wipes and a little pokey tool to make sure they’re always in good condition.

Alcohol swabs are great for cleaning the vocal mic, which I do right before handing it over – apart from the fact that a “fragrant” mic is gross, if the artist gets sick and can’t perform, the whole tour could be in jeopardy. Hygiene is very important.

In conclusion, every engineer does things slightly differently, but a can-do attitude, hard work, and attention to detail are great foundations for any engineer, no matter who you’re mixing.