karyoker @ Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:52 pm wrote:
It seems our last 2 setups work better with the speakers on the opposite end facing the singers. We dont run a stage monitor and never have any complaints about I cant hear me. They hear all the efx and all seem to prefer that way.
I guess this can work in a small hall with a relaxed and quiet atmosphere. I would not do that in a larger venue with 100+ customers. Also keep in mind that the way ear/brain audio processing works, the direction a sound is coming from has a lot to do with the listening experience, hence the advent of stereo, surround sound, blablah vs the old school metal speakers at the drive-in movies
My console-format mixer has on-board FX that can send to AUX1/2 (my monitor mixes) and I experimented with sending some FX into the monitor mix. I think it is okay for karaoke singers in moderation, but if you send so much that they don't hear their voice clearly, their singing will suffer. Professional singers would have a fit about a bunch of reverb on their IEM/wedges. Shy / amateur singers, on the other hand, seem to take comfort in the vocal FX. Also, delay on monitors can be really distracting, as can similar effects like side-chain gated/expanded reverb.
If you want FX on your monitor mix but your mixer doesn't have built-in sends for it, check and see if it has an FX output that you can route into an unused channel strip. Then you can route the FX signal to anywhere you want. Just don't route the FX signal back into the FX processor a second time!
