The IEM missing piece

This one goes in the category of why didn’t I think of this sooner?

Last time I wrote about the improvements to our IEM system that have come from implementing a new transmitter/receiver combo and some additional ear piece options.  The problem with adding more wireless into an already congested environment is a higher probability of failure.  I’ve personally managed to avoid Murphy’s Law when it comes to IEM for a long time but I realize it was only a matter of time before someone’s system failed during a service and we’d be in big trouble.

Enter Sidefills.  A friend spent a couple services with me post-Christmas and suggested that what we were missing was a good holistic stereo mix that will fill in the missing pieces when someone pulls an ear out and also provide some added energy to the first couple rows that might be a tad light from the PA over their heads.  It seemed like a good idea.

In my past life as a monitor engineer, sidefills were an important part of getting a great onstage sound since I worked with lots of vocal groups who would often times only wear 1 ear anyway.  For some reason, I never even considered it at KCC since our old PA already put energy everywhere except where I really wanted it – the prospect of adding an additional full-range sound source was unappealing.  However, in the new reality of a controlled PA without a ton of stage spill, it seemed possible this might just work.

Work it does.  I have a set of EAW KF300s that have been unused for a while.  I put them on top of the subs, about 5 feet off the ground, pointed in towards center stage.  Stereo mix gives more clarity & separation than mono, add some EQ to smooth out the rough edges of the boxes themselves, and add a few milliseconds of delay to the PA so the clusters in the air are in relative time alignment with the sidefills and the result is really good.  I’m feeding these boxes from FOH subgroups so they essentially get a rebalanced FOH post fader mix.  The mix is split up to rhythm, band, and vocals.  Using this approach keeps them specifically music-focused – playback and speech mics stay out of them.

We still keep a set of wedges on the front row for lead vocal monitors.  The addition of the sidefills allows the vocal to literally be surrounded by themselves – just a touch of vocal in those front wedges pulls the singer’s image forward.  Needing less band in those front wedges reduces mud heard at FOH since the sidefills are actually working with and as a part of the PA rather than against it.  I find myself putting 100% vocal in them, 80 or 90% band, and 60% rhythm (since the acoustic kit on stage adds its own ambient sound).

If you mix on a primarily IEM stage as I am and haven’t revisited sidefills in a while, this experience enthusiastically suggests they’re worth a try.