Why Are Stage Monitors So Important?
2 min readMusicians need to be able to play in time. It is a skill many struggle with and is essential for a tight performance. To do this you must be able to hear the music as it is being played.
You may wonder why the main PA system isn’t enough. In some circumstances it may well be. An example of this is a tiny stage in a tiny venue. But what about larger venues?
Time Delays
The thing is, sound takes time to travel. If the PA system is in front of the band, pointing at the audience, the sound has to travel all the way to the back wall before bouncing off.
It then has to travel all the way back, past the speakers before it reaches the band. While sound does travel fast, it doesn’t take much time delay at all for it to be out.
Consider a delay delay of 0.2 seconds. Not really long but it is enough. If I tap on my spacebar as fast as I can go, I can hit it once every 0.13 seconds and there is a distinct audible difference between each tap.
This is why you want monitors. They are right up close to the performers and so there is a negligible time delay between input and hearing the sound.
Individual Mixes
Another reason for having monitors is the requirements of the band members. By having a monitoring system, each band member can listen to what they need, at the volume they want.
For example, the bassist is going to want to be really tight with the drums and so he will most likely have the drums turned up in his monitor.
The guitarist may want bass, drums and, vocals but the recorder may not be necessary to hear, and so, the former would be louder while the latter can be turned down.
Monitors can be controlled via aux sends on the live mixer but in larger scale concerts, a dedicated monitor engineer may be used whose sole job is to make the levels right for each band member.
All in all, it is a very important component to your live setup and, even just one or two monitors facing the band may make a big difference to the show.
good info matative,helped alot
Nice Info Tom, I am not that expert and know a thing or two about audio monitors. One thing always confuses me that why monitors are set on the direction of the performers ? They are kind of loudspeakers and should be pointed towards the audience but why they are pointed towards performers on stage ?
One of the main reasons is so the band can hear themselves. If it is only going from the audiences’ speakers, the band can hear the reflections off the back wall so there are timing issues. Also, the band often require different mixes of sounds to the audience. In larger setups, the bassist’s monitors may be separately mixed from the guitarist’s – the bassist might want the kick much louder in their mix, while a singer might want the melodic instruments more prominent so they can stay in tune. In smaller setups, it is just the one mix for the whole band, but they need close monitors so they are all in time and can hear each other play cleanly. Monitors also mean that they have a good sound instead of the dulled sound of outward-facing speakers