Clearly, in an ideal scenario, there should be a completely independent system to provide the band with crystal clear sound so they can hear their own individual performances and the overall sound of the ensemble. The problem now is that the band are no longer in any kind of control whatsoever of what they hear. The FOH engineer is now ideally placed to control the sound the audience hears.

The one advantage is that the band can angle the speakers and set their levels so that they can hear themselves and each other reasonably well, most of the time.įortunately, progress has been made and we now recognise that it is essential to have the mix position at front-of-house, placed centrally amidst the audience area. Although many exciting performances (and undoubtedly many distinctly unexciting ones) have been given in this way, the fact is that no-one is properly in control of what the audience hears. In the early days of pop and rock bands it was common to provide only front-of-house (FOH) amplification, commonly mixed from the stage by a member of the band (who, of course, couldn't hear the FOH PA properly). Suddenly, one's ability to perform well has been diminished severely by the inability to hear one's own playing. But sometimes the acoustics on stage make this difficult. For example, in an orchestra performing on stage, each musician needs to hear his or her own instrument clearly and distinctly from the other instruments around them. But there are situations where this doesn't happen as it should. If you can't hear yourself clearly, how will you know that you're playing or singing well? In purely acoustic music, being able to hear oneself is often taken for granted. To create a musical performance, two things have to happen: your audience needs to hear you, and you need to hear yourself. We take a tour around this most crucial of live-sound subjects. Although monitor engineering is often thought of as subordinate to handling the FOH sound, in reality it's at least as important.

Martin jensen sound engineer