Basic Principles of Monitor Mixing

Above all, remember that your SPIRIT mixer is designed to extend your creativity. The more you explore the controls and the effect they have on the sound output, the more you will appreciate the flexibility offered by your SPIRIT Monitor mixer.

There was a time when the P.A. system and the operator ex- isted only to increase the overall volume of the performers, so that they could be heard in a large room or above high ambi- ent noise levels. This just isn’t true any more. The sound system and the sound engineer have become an integral part of the performance, and the artists are heavily dependent on the operator’s skill and the quality of the equipment. While the quality of the front-of-house PA mix is of prime impor- tance, the ability of the artists to deliver the best performance may be directly influenced by the quality of the stage monitor mix. Indeed, the monitor engineer may be required to pro- vide a number of quite different individual monitor mixes, often under the most adverse conditions.

The following introduction to the basics of mixing are in- cluded for the benefit of those users who may not have any significant familiarity with sound equipment, and who are baffled by the endless jargon used by engineers and artists alike.

The Mixer	As one would expect, the main purpose of the mixer is to
	combine sounds, but under precise and smooth control. The
	faders provide you with total control of the final sound at
	your finger tips and like an artist playing an instrument you
	should listen to your fader movements, not look at your
	hands.
	Your SPIRIT Monitor mixer accepts a wide range of input sig-
	nals via a microphone input, for very low level signals, or a
	line input, for higher level signals from, for instance, tape ma-
	chines, effects processors, etc.

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BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MONITOR MIXING

The Mixer