Cool monitor mix trick

(This is kinda a hybrid of the stereo monitors mix idea.)

I really like having two mixes down front for a lead vocal rather than one. At KCC right now, I havethree wedges down front rather than two, split up so the outside pair is Mix 1 and the center wedge is Mix 2. When there is a vocalist down front, I set it up so the outside pair is a nice band mix with kick/snare, bass, some guitars, and maybe even a bit of keys. The center mix is vocals only. The result is a mix for the vocalist where they can hear their voice front and center in their face, but they also don’t feel so isolated down there because they feel the band directly all around them, have good pitch and time reference, etc.

This also works well whenever band guys have to come down front for solos or artistic stuff because that outside mix only needs a bit of tweaking to be a great band mix for them to play from. This worked well for Fight Club Jesus weekend with the Nickelback tune when the bass player and lead guitar came down front on either side of the lead vocal for the entire song.

When Danny is leading worship and wearing ears, I turn off the center wedge since he’s getting vocals primarily from his ears, but keep the outside mix pretty well as is. This gives him a great sense of space, again so it doesn’t feel so naked and exposed down front all by yourself.

In cases where we have a bunch of vocalists (more than one), the two mixes can easily be treated as a single vocal mix just by what’s assigned to them, allowing you to spread out the outside wedges a bit more from their normal position and cover a larger area of the stage lip for good vocal mix coverage.

I think I’m going to keep that third monitor there for a while.