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Author Topic: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra  (Read 3170 times)

Miguel Tapia

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Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« on: May 26, 2015, 08:32:49 PM »

Hello friends, here I am looking for some help. The singer that I mixing monitors will have a show full band and 24 strings orchestra, what you suggest for feed them monitor mix, I will prepare a stereo mix, but what kind of hardware you choose for that. I saw some headphones distributors but I am not sure with this system.

I appreciate your comments guys
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g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2015, 09:17:50 PM »

Hello friends, here I am looking for some help. The singer that I mixing monitors will have a show full band and 24 strings orchestra, what you suggest for feed them monitor mix, I will prepare a stereo mix, but what kind of hardware you choose for that. I saw some headphones distributors but I am not sure with this system.

I appreciate your comments guys

The one and only thing you need to keep the strings in synch is a director/conductor.  Give him/her the monitor.
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Roland Clarke 1964

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Re: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2015, 07:30:02 AM »

Hello friends, here I am looking for some help. The singer that I mixing monitors will have a show full band and 24 strings orchestra, what you suggest for feed them monitor mix, I will prepare a stereo mix, but what kind of hardware you choose for that. I saw some headphones distributors but I am not sure with this system.

I appreciate your comments guys

I would strongly recommend iem for this app.  Of course Dick is right, however, the artist might like the feel of hearing the whole mix and feeding this into monitors will potentially give you problems with string mics.  The whole success of the job will greatly rely on keeping stage wash/volume to a minimum as bleed on string mics is always an issue.
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Scott Helmke

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Re: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2015, 09:56:31 AM »

Generally only a little hot spot monitor for the conductor, or (especially if there's click) some kind of earbud or half-headphone setup.

The most complex I've dealt with involved a whole lot of Aviom mixers and a bag of cheap earbuds (throwaways from eBay, bought by the dozen). That was an orchestra with tracks and click, backing a dramatic acting/singing production.
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Brian Adams

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Re: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2015, 11:42:09 AM »

The musicians in the orchestras I mix usually don't want much, if anything in the monitors. These are typically symphony shows, sometimes with an accompanying act or soundtrack. Usually if I put monitors in the winds or brass, the musicians ask for them so low they're inaudible anyway. Sometimes percussion wants some vocals from the accompanying act, but that's usually about it. In my experience, the orchestra wants to hear their sound the same way they usually hear is, which is without monitors.

The conductor usually wants a mix of the act they're accompanying, and depending on the show, occasionally some of the orchestra. But again, the conductor usually wants to hear the orchestra how they actually sound.

Most of the musicians I know would never want their ears blocked with headphones or IEM's, they want to hear their instrument acoustically. Of course, there may be exceptions depending on the show. The conductors I know wouldn't want their ears blocked by anything either. Usually a click for the conductor works better if it's a graphic or image flashing in sync with the track on a video monitor rather than an audible click, but that might not be practical for your show.

If I were in your position, without knowing exactly what I'd be getting into, I'd give the conductor a hot spot with whatever he wants from the accompanying act, which is probably going to be mostly vocals. Then I'd put a few wedges on separate mixes around the stage, depending on how it's configured. A wedge or two for woodwinds, a couple for percussion, and maybe one or two for brass. They probably won't want anything in them, but at least you'll be prepared if they do. It'll probably be just vocals if they do want something in them. Strings are usually close enough to the action that they don't need monitors.
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Matthew Knischewsky

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Re: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2015, 12:51:29 PM »

Hello friends, here I am looking for some help. The singer that I mixing monitors will have a show full band and 24 strings orchestra, what you suggest for feed them monitor mix, I will prepare a stereo mix, but what kind of hardware you choose for that. I saw some headphones distributors but I am not sure with this system.

I appreciate your comments guys

I've worked with an orchestra in their "home" theatre space and the group I work with performed with them, a basic rock band and multiple vocalists.

The audio engineers at the theatre are intimately familiar with the orchestra set-up so I relied on them to place and mix monitors for the orchestra, I mixed IEMs for the band as usual. The house provided orchestra mix for me and I provided vocal sub mix, and the band was split so house monitors could get anything they needed. Sounds convoluted but it worked really well because everyone knew exactly what was expected…not to mention that we didn't have time in the rehearsal schedule to iron out any technical issues, so having 2 house audio engineers that knew what they were doing was invaluable. As I remember the conductor had a hot-spot he could adjust level, the percussion section had monitors and I believe the basses had a monitor, some other sections/performers could have had monitors as well. I'm sure the locations of monitors and what's in them has been sorted out over the last 30 or so years of this orchestra playing in this hall.

It really depends on the situation…is your singer performing with the orchestra in their hall, or is the singer hiring the orchestra to perform at a venue that's unfamiliar to them? are they an orchestra that performs together or is it made up of hired guns for this gig? I'd be contacting the conductor or technical liaison if they have one… But I would suspect less is better and I wouldn't expect strings to perform with IEMs in.

Matt


« Last Edit: May 27, 2015, 12:54:56 PM by Matthew Knischewsky »
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Re: Monitor mix for 24 strings orchestra
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2015, 12:51:29 PM »


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