02jamesdaniel Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Hi All, During all the live rock concerts and other events involving live bands the monitor speakers have always been placed to either the left or right of the microphone ( this is mainly for vocal mics). why is this? I have had a quick search on the blue room and on other search sites but to no avail as of yet. DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominicg Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 The monitors are usually placed on stage wherever the act, monitor engineer wants them, this comes from a stage plan that is sent to the venue along with all the other technical information. As in, what their chaps/chapets want regards in house rig, desk, speakers, lines (channels/microphones/etc) from stage, that's if they're using the venues in house rig. Otherwise it'll be, what they are bringing in, power requirements for their kit. Usually it's a mixture of both. As in venue's multi, stands cables and standard mics. Bands, 'nice microphones', desks, outboard (gates,comps,reverb,eq) Now on the other hand, if you are setting up monitors it purely depends on what you are doing with them. DJ's will usually want a big loud wedge about 1ft away from there face, drummer usually something bigger than me next to them usually on the left, or behind. Depends on how he gets to his drum kit in the first place or whatever is best ear is I suppose. Singer wedges, placed like to their ears, although sometimes I see wedges pointed to their knees? Didn't know people had ears down here as well. But on the whole, if it looks nice and it's pointing to their ears you're rocking. IMHO. If anyone would like to, agree, disagree, improve, correct feel free. Dom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Langfeld Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 I believe the OP was wanting to know why a wedge would be positioned to one side of a vocal mic stand and not right infront of it. This is to do with the polar pattern of an average vocal microphone. Download the spec for an SM58 and have a look at the pickup pattern. You'll soon see why this is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ross Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 +1 For mic pickup patterns However if I was using a SM58 I tend to just place the monitor behind but if I’m using anything with a hyper cardiod pickup pattern then I would place the monitor off to one side so its pointing at the null in the mics pickup pattern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 An sm58 has a cardiod polar pattern (heart shaped) and so there is the most rejection of sound directly behind the mic. With an sm58 I put the wedge directly behind the mic. However, with hyper-cardiod microphones such as the beta58 and beta57 the most rejection of sound is found slightly to left and right of this spot as the hyper-cardioid pattern picks up a bit from directly behind the mic, so you would place the wedge approximately in this spot. If a cardiod mic is being used with wedges like that, it's not like the sky will fall down but the highest level of gain before feedback won't be achieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 sometimes I see wedges pointed to their knees? Didn't know people had ears down here as well Most guitarists do... A lot of singers / musicians seem to like having two wedges; the only sensible way to arrange this is one on either side. If the wedge is angled up steeply, it might be that it can't be placed optimally without getting in the way of the mic stand - that would be another reason why it would be placed to the side. Keyboardists need it as their instrument would be in the way of a wedge in front. Having said that, I don't recall ever seeing a single wedge placed to the side of the mic stand. Are you talking about events in a particular venue? Or always with the same engineer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominicg Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Polar Patterns, I agree with however how I read the question it was aimed at, why they had the wedges in a certain place. Question Mark over the whole, singer wedge to the side, was that aimed at me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlinford Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Polar PatternsExactly. I was rather amused (and pleasently surprised) when opening some new Beta 57As to find a peice of card designed to fit around the microphone head with a "position monitor speaker here" arrow on them. I guess Shure understand the range of their target market... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim b Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 A point which hasn't been covered so far which is important is that the placement of the speakers is often determined by the internal arrangement of the drivers. For instance most wedges you'll come across contain a single cone driver and a compression driver on a horn. If you have a pair of wedges in front of a mic then you want the horns to be at opposite ends of the boxes. The cone drivers interact in a more manageable way and tend not to create as many hotspots as if two horns were side by side. Some wedges use different arrangements of drivers e.g. coax or three way systems and there are different tricks to getting these loud. The aim of the game is to try and place the wedges where the mic rejects them the most but the performer's ears can hear them the best. Hope that helps Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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