Ringing Out a Monitor System Pre-Show

The standard method for tuning monitor EQ to buy the most gain before feedback, one mix at a time. Reference: SRH-RING-OUT-01. This is an iterative loop, not a one-pass list — you'll repeat several of these steps for every monitor mix, and repeat the whole procedure again before every show.

Key facts: pull the ringing frequency down about 3 dB on the graphic EQ each pass; a full ring-out typically frees up somewhere around 3-15 dB of extra usable gain; leave roughly 10 dB of headroom below your rung-out ceiling before the show starts; and re-run the entire process every night, even on a multi-night run in the same room.

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Set the Stage for Real Conditions

Set the stage up exactly as it will run for the show — every mic in its real position, every console setting where it'll actually sit during the performance. Do this at soundcheck if at all possible, with the actual performers standing at their actual mic positions rather than techs standing in for them. Warn anyone nearby that there's going to be some howling during this process, and offer earplugs if it's going to run loud.

Work One Monitor Mix at a Time

Pick a single monitor output/wedge and have that performer talk or sing into their mic at a normal working level. Slowly bring up that monitor's send level until you hear the first hint of a ring or resonance building up. Push the level a little further until it just tips over into an audible howl. Identify the exact ringing frequency — by ear if that's all you've got, or faster and more reliably with a spectrum analyzer. Find that frequency's band on the graphic EQ feeding that monitor output and pull it down about 3 dB.

Cycle Until the Mix Runs Clean

Bring the level back up on the same mix, with the same performer talking or singing, until ringing starts again. If it rings at the same frequency as before, pull that same band down a little further; if a different frequency shows up, pull that band down about 3 dB too. Keep cycling — raise the level, find the ring, pull it down roughly 3 dB — until several frequencies start ringing together, or you're no longer gaining clean headroom. That's the stopping point for this mix; you've typically picked up somewhere around 3-15 dB of extra usable gain by then. Switch on the console's high-pass/low-cut filter (roughly 60-100 Hz, ideally at a steep 12-18 dB per octave) on every output that doesn't genuinely need the low end — this cleans up rumble and low-frequency stage resonance that can otherwise feed back on its own. Leave the high-pass filter out on outputs that actually need low end, like a drum fill or a keys player running sub synth notes — pull it back in later only if someone complains, which is rare. Move on to the next monitor mix and repeat this entire section from the top.

Lock In Headroom Before Doors

Once every mix has been rung out, pull the working levels back down from where they were sitting during the process — leave roughly 10 dB of headroom below that rung-out ceiling. Keep in mind soundcheck energy isn't show energy — that margin gives you room to push wedges up as the set builds without tipping straight back into feedback. Run this whole procedure again before every single performance, even on a multi-night run in the same venue — temperature, humidity and small stage-layout changes are enough to shift where the resonances sit.

Source: Davis, Gary D. & Jones, Ralph. The Sound Reinforcement Handbook, 2nd ed. (Hal Leonard/Yamaha). Section 11.11.3, pp.187-188. Rewritten in Ryan's own words from the source material.