When did On Stage Monitoring become common practice in live rock music?

When I see pics of bands in the sixties I don't see monitors or anything on stage that would function as monitors do these days. It's pretty common to find performers (particularly singers) of that period complaining about being unable to hear themselves on stage. I did some image searches and I see by the mid 70s many performers are using them...but it doesn't seem all pervasive yet. Sometimes the monitors are there, other times not.

Anyone have more info on how monitoring became common practice? There is a wiki page on it but it's far from thorough.

 

So you read that Neil Young was involved in the creation of an early model ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_monitor_system

 

I was looking for a bit more info than that.

 

Good luck, I sure couldn't find it. They've moved on to ear monitors now, and what's the history of them ?
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I believe the Grateful Dead began using IEMs in 1992, and most bands followed suit.

 

I believe the GD came up with the innovation of using on stage monitors in the 60s.

I don't believe they were first to use IEMS though

 

The link I posted has Judy Garland in 1961, then Neil with Buffalo Springfield.
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Just used IEMs for the first time today - all I can say is WOW!!!

 

The Beatles invented it. They just chose not to use it at the time.

 

Of course they did....in fact I believe they invented the universe as we know it

 

I can't believe it took 9 posts before the Beatles were mentioned.

 

Folks bitch about Beatles threads then think how clever they are when they thread crap with Beatles tripe on unrelated threads. Which is more difficult, ignoring a thread known to be about the Beatles or helping out on a thread that seemingly has no relation to the Beatles having crap in it? I know my answer.

To address the OPs question, vocal monitors were uncommon throughout most of the 60s, but were likely introduced mainstream by '69 or so.

 

Well this shot of Monterey Pop in '67 shows monitors on stage, but they are on the side pointing across the front. This would've been considered the best sound system available at the time.

 

1969 gets us to the ballpark. Seen some onstage pics of JA at Altamont with what appear to be monitors. Not sure if the headliners were able to use them later that evening though

Jimi looks a little tired. Is that Al Kooper behind? Is this a daytime soundcheck or did the Experience play twice like Big Brother?

 

And here's Hendrix in '69, again they're on the sides pointing inward. There were even many rock clubs in the 80s still using this technique.

 

That's at a sound check.

 

I wish I liked them but just don't unfortunately. I end up ruining any benefits of using them by turning up the mix too loud. In a perfect world, you would have a great monitor mix every gig with a guitar player and bass player who don't play too loud for my old ears.

 

I've asked this question many times. Apparently I was one of the first to mix monitors on stage. I'm not saying I was the first, but I can't ever remember seeing it before I started doing it. I'm sure it started before me but I can't say how much so. My sound company surely had stage monitors before me, but they were mixed from the front of house position, or were simply a submix or the main pa mix.

I can tell you one thing. We had an outstanding monitor system. We were using dual 12" JBL drivers, a 2470 mid range compression driver with a potato masher horn, and a couple of 2405's for the high end, triamped with Spectra Sonics 700 amplifier cards. The bass and midrange drivers each got a bridged pair of amplifiers and the high end got a single ended amp. That was 7 amplifier cards and a 3 way crossover that fit in a dual space rack with separate power supplies. Each monitor had it's own rack. It was a pretty cool setup, and we even used those amps for hi-fi and studio monitors for a while. They were very good sounding.

I started out using JBL 5306 mixers, but eventually went to a converted FOH console. The things was, those 5306's could put out +24 peaks without clipping, and I was driving them to just under the verge of feedback. I had it down and just about everybody that used them was blown away. I was actually offered jobs with touring acts as a result, and even ended up doing a live album simply because of our monitors.

So I can't really say when monitor mixers started doing independent monitor mixes from the stage, but I started in May 75. I started working large shows starting with Yes in April 74, but for free and as a sound grunt. I surely don't remember Yes having an on stage monitor engineer but I can't say that definitively. I was sitting at the FOH position with Eddie and I assumed he provided the monitor mixes. Wish I could remember more about that but I was pretty overwhelmed.

I can say that before there were slant monitors, there were side fill speakers used, but those were mostly main pa feeds with only the level controllable. The main advantage I had was that I could usually get 10db or more additional gain simply by riding levels, as I got to the point where I could detect feedback before it happened. All it took was a bit of ear/hand coordination and it got very easy to shock people.

 

I was referring to a rock context. Don't know when the Springfield started using them but the GD seem to have started at the Avalon in 1966 including a dedicated on stage monitor mixer
See 11-14-14 entry at
http://hooterollin.blogspot.com

 

Having read many of your posts I was hoping you would chime in and you didn't disappoint. Thank you for your input!

 

Thanks.

You know when I was trying to find answers for myself, I did look at pictures of Beatles live shows as well as their 1969 rooftop performance. I didn't see any monitors in their live gigs. There must be some monitoring for the rooftop set; I do see two long boxes in front of the band which may serve that purpose. So ya, Beatles content in this thread.

 

I seem to recall reading that when the dead played the matrix one time the p.a. speakers got turned around and they heard themselves through them. that's when they came up with their own version of monitors.

 

I recall reading a Grace Slick interview in which she said that Jefferson Starship in the 1974-76 era (can't remember the article well enough to pin it down) used monitors which were much better than what had come before, and that the Grateful Dead
started using the same monitor
setup because it had worked well for Starship. I recall the article because when I read it I was surprised that the advances had come so late, and because I saw Jefferson Starship live in the summer of 1976 and wondered if I had heard their first tour with the improved system.

 

Some good info here on the beginnings of IEMs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Harvey_(inventor)#Ultimate_Ears

 

I'm sure Alembic had a hand in all of this. There's photos of the Dead live in early 1970 (with TC) that clearly show monitor wedges, such as this shot: https://kboo.fm/sites/default/files/nodeimages/70_gd.jpg