Running monitors in orchestral and theatre applications can be challenging at the best of times, particularly in fast-moving theatre productions with frequent cue changes, or large orchestral ensembles in difficult acoustic environments or with no lines of sight to the engineer.
Personal Monitoring gives musicians and performers the control they need over their personal monitor mix, enhancing their performance and improving their overall experience. Additionally, on-stage levels are reduced resulting in more intelligible audio, less bleed and more consistent sound coverage throughout the venue.
ME Personal Mixing for Theatre and Orchestra
Personal Monitoring gives musicians and performers the control they need over their personal monitor mix, enhancing their performance and improving their overall experience.
Empower Performers
Give Musicians Control of Their Monitor Mix
The ME Personal Mixing System gives the performing musician intuitive control of their monitor mix via a compact mixer that’s easily mounted on a microphone stand within arm’s reach.
Simply connect the performer’s headphones or IEMs to the output of the ME mixer and you’re ready to go, and an integrated limiter ensures the musician’s ears are protected from any unexpected signal peaks.
Configurations can be easily saved, loaded, and transferred between devices via USB thumb drive to make set up quick, even with large orchestral sections.
ME Keeps Performers Connected
Orchestral musicians can easily feel “cut off” or isolated from their fellow performers when wearing headphones or IEMs.
The ME-1 features an integrated microphone which picks up the ambient sound around the musician so they feel connected to the rest of the performers and can dial in some of the natural ambience of the performance space.
The ME system also makes it easy for performers to decide how much click or backing track they require at any given time, and directions from the Musical Director can be clearly heard at all times without needing to be audible to the audience through wedges on the stage.
Scales From High School to Concert Hall
ME can accommodate anything from a small group to a symphony orchestra with ease.
Each ME is a standalone mixer, so the number of monitor mixes you can provide is not limited by the number of aux busses in your mixer – every musician can have their own, personalised mix without consuming any busses or processing on your main mixer.
There is no upper limit to the number of ME devices that can be added to a system and, thanks to the ME system’s super-low latency, you can even daisy chain hundreds of units with no audible delay in the signal.
Each ME mixer can be powered via an external power supply, and each ME-U hub can power up to 10 ME mixers via PoE if you want to keep cabling to a minimum.
Case Study
Q The Music
UK-based production Q The Music, a touring concert spectacular playing the music of James Bond, makes use of 27 ME-1 Personal Mixers in conjunction with a ME-U hub to handle monitoring for the 27-piece band. The ME system connects directly to Allen & Heath mixing systems – dLive for large shows, SQ for small to medium show – ensuring consistency of monitoring night after night.
We bought a stack of ME-1s for the rhythm section first, plus I had 2 spares, and the initial intention was for the brass to carry on with wedges as before. My lead trumpet player and I decided to give the spare ME-1s a go on one show, and we turned to the trombones about 3 songs in and said, “you’ll never want any other monitoring than this, ever again”. We immediately switched all musicians over to ME-1s. Having the whole band with a click was a real leap forward on such large stages, but also, all MD instructions and counts could now be silent from the audience’s point of view. Game-changing for us sums it up.Warren Ringham, MD & Director
Case Study
Sanah’s Banquet
Polish singer-songwriter Sanah embarked on a tour of concert halls accompanied by the Polish Film Music Orchestra, the Silesian Chamber Choir Ad Libitum and a rock band throughout the winter of 2022-23. Musicians took control of their monitor mixes via ME-1 Personal Mixers connected directly to a dLive system running monitors, all supplied by rental company Acoustic Soul.
We had 13 ME-1s connected via a switch straight to the dLive S7000. This system was responsible for the orchestra’s monitor mix. Undoubtedly, we will use the same system in future orchestral projects due to the simplicity of connections, and the ease and speed of artists creating their own in-ear mix.Piotr Puchalski, Owner, Acoustic Soul
Case Study
Hip Hop Symphonique 5
The Hip Hop Symphonique combines contemporary hip-hop with orchestral music, performed by the Radio France symphonic orchestra, in the performance space of Maison de la Radio in Paris. In addition to dLive S7000 systems at FoH and monitors, a number of ME-1 Personal Mixers were deployed for performers who require more control of their monitor mix.
Case Studies
Gerardo Di Lella Big Band
The Gerardo Di Lella Big Band have been using the ME Personal Mixing System for 3 years, utilising 42 ME-1 Personal Mixers and 2 ME-U hubs for the 40+ musicians in the big band orchestra.
Monitor engineer Luigi Esposito is a long-time advocate of ME-1 mixers thanks to their low latency, user-friendly interface and superior sound quality.
The ME system connects directly to the Allen & Heath dLive systems used for FoH and monitors.
This Is Me Musical
The musical production This Is Me blends traditional IEMs from a monitor desk for the actors and singers with 14 ME-1 Personal Mixers and 2 ME-U hubs for the musicians in the band who also perform onstage.
Monitor and Production engineer Vincenzo Casadidio chose the ME Personal Mixing System to reduce and control sound levels on the stage, and also due to the ease-of-use for musicians and the overall sound quality.
The ME system connects directly to Allen & Heath dLive systems used for FoH and monitors.
Mix and Match
