In Part One of this series, we discussed how to help the members of your worship team make a smooth transition to in-ear monitors (IEMs). In this issue we’ll discuss some tips and tricks to help you make the most of your investment in IEM technology.
If you use wireless IEMs, a major concern is possible interference from other RF sources. Shure has a wonderful resource on its web site at www.shure.com/frequencies. Here, you can submit your city or ZIP code and the type of Shure wireless system you are using. The site will then search its database and list any TV stations within a 50-mile radius in addition to recommending frequencies you can use in your area.
Although each system comes with its own antenna for transmitting, multiple systems can interfere with each other even though they are set to different frequencies. This is called inter-modulation and is caused by multiple antennas placed in close proximity of one another. If you have four or more systems, the best solution is to purchase an antenna combiner, which allows you to connect all of your transmitters to a single antenna, eliminating inter-modulation problems. Also available are directional antennas, or “paddle” antennas as some call them, because that’s what they look like. These greatly enhance transmission capabilities, and can be easily mounted on a mic stand for optimum placement. They are then connected to the combiner via a RG-58 coax cable with BNC connectors – short runs of 20 feet or less are recommended.
You should have extra batteries available at each musician’s position. Imagine that you are playing an instrument on stage and your low battery light is illuminated, and/or you can tell from the sound that the battery power is fading. Is it easier to get the sound engineer’s attention and have someone bring you another battery, or is it would you rather reach over and pick up the fresh battery sitting beside you, pop it in, and keep going? You can see how it might also be valuable to have an extra beltpack handy on the stage as well. If something is awry, you can send the signal to the transmitter on the back-up unit, or down a new line (already in place of course) to a hard-wired beltpack.
Now let’s take a look at some mixing techniques. You may or may not have the budget for a mixer with plenty of auxiliary outputs, but if you have enough available auxes to do stereo (discrete left/right) mixes, then by all means do it. The clarity of the sound can be amazing if you use the left/right separation, or panning, to your advantage. Picture yourself on stage again, standing in the center. Some of the instruments are physically located to your right, and some are to your left. If you pan the instruments in the IEM mix similar to how they are physically laid out on the stage, it is an amazingly comfortable way to listen. It is also easier to hear the various instruments as you will have created more separation, or “space” between them. Although most of your effort will go into the individual mixes, it is recommended that you also have a general mix dialed in for any other general purpose (if you have enough available auxiliaries to do so). We sometimes call this a “tech mix” or “guest mix.” You can use this for guest musicians, or for you and your other sound personnel to monitor. It is also nice to have a back-up mix to switch to should there be a major problem with any of the other mixes.
One of the first things a musician will notice when they try in-ear monitors is the “isolation factor.” Since you are basically plugging the ear canal, it is very difficult to hear anything that is not routed to the earphones from the mixer. Not only do you feel cut off from the outside world, but there can also be a very “dry” quality in what you do hear. Adding a little reverb to the overall mix can help with the dryness, but my favorite solution is to position a microphone in an inconspicuous spot at the downstage edge of the stage facing the audience, and add just a little bit of the ambience from this microphone to the mix. This not only provides some natural reverb to take the dry edge off of it; it also gives the musicians a better connection to the audience. This is especially helpful when the audience is singing along. (One important note about the positioning of the ambient microphone: although it may be tempting to simply set it up at the front-of-house mixer or in the back of the room – a balcony, for instance – this would introduce a delayed signal to the mix. Without getting too technical, it takes the sound traveling from the stage to the back of the room about one millisecond per foot to get there. In medium-sized to larger sanctuaries, this time difference is audible, and may make for a mix that is very dif- ficult to listen to because you are actually hearing the direct signal first, and then the delayed sound from the ambient mic later. With the ambient mic on stage or at the edge of the stage, everything will stay in sync and will make for a cleaner mix.)
One important thing to remember as you mix IEMs is to be careful of making any dramatic changes. Because IEMs are so directly coupled to the ear, the smallest change in a mix is audible, and things you would be able to change when mixing in monitor wedges without a dramatic difference are much more noticeable. I have found that when a musician asks for more of something, sometimes the slightest movement of the aux knob is enough of a change to make them happy. This takes some getting used to, but with time you will learn how to “bump” things up or down without making a drastic change. In this respect, mixing IEMs can more like mixing in a recording studio.
Some musicians may prefer equalization on their instrument or voice that works well for them, but may not be suitable for everyone else. If you are in this situation, one option is to split the signal into two adjacent channels. You can do this with an XLR “Y” cable (female XLR split to two male XLRs). This will allow you to have identical signals coming into to two channels, but one can have equalization settings for the musician routed to their mix, and the other can have equalization settings for everyone else to listen to.
Our last tip has to do with instruments that have a great deal of bass or low end in their signals, such as a kick drum or bass guitar. Because the actual bones in your body are responsible for helping to transmit bass frequencies to your ear drum, it is physically impossible to produce these low frequencies from a tiny driver in the ear canal at a level that one would normally be accustomed to. There are two recommended ways to deal with this: for drummers, a bass shaker, or “bone phone” installed underneath the drum throne is a great way to directly couple the low end to the drummer’s body. These small devices contain a piston-like mechanism that responds to the audio signal and creates a vibration at low frequencies. The effect is amazing. A second, and possibly better option (because it would benefit all the musicians on stage) is to install a subwoofer on the stage on its own mix, and send only the signal from the instruments that need it to this mix. This needn’t be a huge cabinet. A single 15-inch or 18-inch cabinet can produce the desired effect on smaller stages. A bonus is that it can also benefit your house mix if it is run at an appropriate volume.
Shane Ellis is the in-ear monitor engineer for MercyMe, currently
on tour with Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. He is also president of On Track
Productions, Inc., a sound and lighting company in Birmingham, Alabama. He
may be reached at shane@ontrackproductions.com.
