Front of house engineer Brendan Prout discusses using the myMix Personal Monitoring System for mixing bands in houses of worship
With the myMix personal monitoring system, each musician has complete control over their own monitor mix. Traditional methods of monitoring for live performances tends to use on-stage monitors, with a monitor mix supplied to the entire band. The main problem with this method is that doesn't provide much flexibility – everybody in the group gets the same mix of instruments and vocals. On top of this, smaller venues can suffer from the monitors reflecting off of the back-wall behind the band, smearing the audio and reducing the quality and clarity of the sound of the gig.
To counter this, many musicians prefer to perform with IEMs (in-ear monitoring). The myMix system takes this method one step further, giving each individual in the band complete control over their own monitor mix. So, if the bass player wants to hear more drums and less vocals, he or she can turn down the singer whilst turning up the drummer. This is performed via a simple and intuitive user interface which has been designed by musicians, for musicians, and as a result is very straight-forward in use.
In this interview, seasoned FOH engineer Brendan Prout discusses why he chose the myMix system for two different churches, along with the benefits and improvements to performance he’s observed over a traditional wedge monitor setup.
This interview originally appeared on the official myMix Facebook Page on 14th July 2016. It has been reprinted here with the express permission of myMix.
How has personal monitoring changed the worship experience?
"I’ve integrated personal monitors in two churches in which I’ve overseen worship and technology over the past decade, and it’s been a game changer for the musicians and for the congregation at both. I went with the myMix Personal Monitor System. This particular system allowed the FOH engineer to mix the house sound with crisp clarity and target SPL levels with consistency. It increased the level of musicianship dramatically because the musicians could hear exactly what they needed, could hear themselves clearly – and that enabled them to hear every nuance, every pitch they may have otherwise have missed with a traditional wedge monitor system. The exquisite sound quality really makes the musicians happy!"
"the musicians could hear exactly what they needed…
…every nuance, every pitch they may have otherwise have missed."
What changed for the worship audience?
"A much cleaner sound! At San Diego Community Bible Church, we replaced our main wedge monitor arrays with myMix in conjunction with an older Soundcraft Spirit 40 board using analog interfaces. Keeping the analog wiring in place allowed us the flexibility of having wedge monitors available for special nights of worship or for choral ensembles, but removing the wedges eradicated the majority of stage volume sources for most events.
At South Side Baptist Church, we needed to revamp the entire audio system, as it was experiencing many problems due to age/abuse as well as improper installation in the first place. Besides rewiring the platform, replacing power amps and rewiring the speaker cable runs, we needed to replace the Allen & Heath GL2400 board which we’d simply outgrown, and take advantage of the opportunity to move to digital audio. We installed a Behringer X32 board along with a full 32 channel myMix setup."
What motivated you to move to a personal monitor system?
"We spent way more on in ear monitoring than we did on the house system upgrades, and for good reason. Our sanctuary was not acoustically designed, and the volume required from the wedge monitors in order for the band to hear themselves colored the house sound so drastically that the overall volume and clarity desired was unachievable. We had a budget choice of either spending on acoustic abatement materials in the room itself, or spending that elsewhere – what was going to get us the best result in terms of getting us the ability to hit our targets in audio clarity and sound pressure levels?
We decided that an in ear monitor system would serve us best in this regard because of the ability to eliminate the majority of the stage sound that was coloring the house sound so heavily. We felt that was better bang for the buck than an acoustic abatement treatment would accomplish."
"Our musicians with volume sensitivities and hearing loss issues also appreciated
the ability to limit volume or accentuate certain frequencies with the customizable parametric EQ"
Why did you end up with myMix?
"Having used a wide variety of IEM systems (even some we’d cobbled together ourselves), I came across the myMix system and immediately fell in love with the pristine sound quality; the onboard stereo effects that made listening have realistic depth (reducing listening fatigue and increasing ability to distinguish different sound sources). The multitrack recording which allows for studio quality post production, opens up the possibilities for anachronistic individual rehearsal times. Our musicians with volume sensitivities and hearing loss issues also appreciated the ability to limit volume or accentuate certain frequencies with the customizable parametric EQ. Having the ability to save individual user profiles and recall them instantly, and the ease of use really made this the best choice in a market full of good choices. Even non-techie people “get it” pretty easily and quickly, and are able to dial in what they need to hear right away.
The MyMix Control unit, which allows manipulation of the system global settings wirelessly via Tablet or PC, is also a very intuitive, easy to operate interface. Makes it possible to copy/paste profiles from one workstation to another quickly, and edit the channels when necessary.
The capability to save personal profiles for each musician or even for particular sets allows for repeatable consistency in reducing setup and sound check time and the ability to save digital scene/profiles has made setup and sound check an under 5 minute affair. Basic signal check and we’re off to the races, with the FOH able to make room adjustments that don’t affect the monitors, and each person able to dial in exactly what they need without 35 – 45 minutes of back and forth with the sound engineer.
Also worth mentioning, the staff at MyMix provides PHENOMENAL customer service and tech support! They put in the extra time necessary to make every customer extremely happy."
Our thanks to myMix and Brendan Prout.
To see more examples of myMix installs, please visit the myMix website. To find out more Brendan Prout's work, you can visit his website here.
If you'd like to know more about the benefits the myMix Personal Monitoring System can bring to your band, studio, venue or tour, call us on 01727 821 870 to speak to one of our team.
You can also find out more about the myMix Personal Monitor here.