With many productions now favoring IEMs for the benefits of lower stage volume and a CD-like stereo monitoring experience for the performers, it’s still important to understand the fundamentals of microphones and old fashioned floor monitors. In this article, we’ll learn about monitor wedge coverage angles, microphone polar patterns, and how you should take these into consideration for microphone and monitor positioning. With this, we’ll learn how the equipment you have on the gig may require small tweaks and modifications to your stage plot in order to maximize your results. Understanding the coverage angles within your monitor setup and your microphone’s polar patterns is imperative to ensuring a high-gain-before-feedback experience for the performers on stage, can help drastically reduce excessive stage volume, and help prevent an environment susceptible to microphone feedback.

What is a wedge? Many pro audio manufacturers make specialized wedge-shaped speaker boxes that are designed to aim the microphone source back at the performer, and are often referred to as “monitors”, “wedges”, or “foldback speakers”. They come in all different varieties of sizes, coverage patterns, self powered and conventionally powered – If possible, you’ll want to choose a wedge that works well for the space you are working with and also the types of performers you are most likely to encounter.

Monitor coverage angles are typically published in the user manual and/or tech sheet, and will give you an idea of the “sweet spot” you can expect while standing near the monitor. Every model is going to have different specs, with some favoring a tighter coverage pattern, and others with a more broad, wider throw. Depending on the situation and the number of performers who are sharing the monitor, you may have to optimize your stage plot for the most consistent and manageable coverage for the performers. In an ideal world, each performer has their own wedge with a tight, well targeted dispersion, but that is not always the case– especially in situations with larger ensembles like worship bands.

Meyer’s MJF series of stage monitors are an excellent example of a highly focused, high volume wedge-shaped speaker box designed to give an accurate monitor mix to the performer. The MJF-210s have been a choice monitoring solution for high profile artists like Metallica for the better part of the last decade, and for good reason! Their little brother, the MJF-208, comes with a slightly wider coverage in a smaller package. Both of these are excellent low-profile monitoring options for most live productions. We have many MJF series monitors to choose from in our rental pool here at TC Furlong Inc. (including the recently discontinued big brother, the MJF-212A)

A herd of Meyer Sound MJF-210s in deployment on Metallica’s M72 World Tour in 2023
Photo credit: Ralph Larmann, via meyersound.com

While it’s not uncommon to have to manually “ring out” a wedge mix by using a hefty amount of subtractive EQ, feedback prevention starts with a good stage setup and understanding a little bit about how the equipment you are using may interact with one another in a loud environment, like a small stage with a rock band. This brings us to the next half of the equation: understanding microphone polar patterns and how they will interact with your monitor coverage angles.

For most live performance sound reinforcement productions, the most common directional microphone polar patterns you will find in use are cardioid, supercardioid, and hypercardioid. All part of the same family of directional microphones, cardioids are built to capture sound coming from the front of the microphone only, and thus rejecting sounds coming from the rear of the microphone. This makes them an excellent choice for reinforcement applications where the source will need to be routed back on stage for the performers to hear through a dedicated monitor speaker. In some cases, other polar patterns may be desired, but for today’s article we will focus on cardioid directional microphones as opposed to other common polar pattern options like omnidirectional or figure 8.


Generally speaking, cardioid microphones, like the time-favored classic Shure SM58, will have the best gain before feedback ratio when being placed with the rear of the microphone (the pointy end) aimed at the monitor speaker. This, along with its uncanny robustness, is one of the many reasons why the Shure SM58 is cherished amongst live audio professionals all around the world, and is considered by many to be a must-have piece of audio gear.

Cardioid pickup pattern of a Shure SM58 via service.shure.com

With the SM58’s directional cardioid polar pattern, it works very well when staged properly in front of a monitor speaker, and is often an engineer’s first choice for most live vocal applications. When placing your speakers, it’s also important to note that your main PA speakers (aimed towards the audience) should be well ahead of the front plane of your stage/performance area, in order to further reduce the chances of feedback, as seen in the left side of the diagram below.

Recommended speaker and microphone locations from the Shure SM58 guide via service.shure.com

Hypercardioid and supercardioid microphones, like the Shure Beta87A, have a similar-looking front pickup pattern when compared to their more-tame standard cardioid counterpart, but both hyper and supercardioid microphones have an 180° off-axis lobe directly behind the capsule. These types of microphones will have the best results with a slightly off-set monitor angle coming from one or both of the sides (approx. 120° off-axis), rather than directly from the rear like a standard cardioid. They also are more focused in their on-axis pickup pattern than a standard cardioid, further rejecting unwanted sound coming from the sides of the capsule. Supercardioids are a good choice when you have many sources on stage that may be bleeding into the microphone, but they require the artist to have consistent mic technique to maximize those benefits, due to the narrower pickup pattern.

Supercardioid pickup pattern of a Shure Beta87A via service.shure.com

Stage volume is often a big reason why many worship bands and rock ensembles choose to switch to IEMs. In the worship world, it’s also common to see the deployment of bleed-reducing tools like drum shields, guitar amplifier isolation cabinets, or stand mounted trumpet shields to help reduce excessive stage bleed, even with a full band already on IEMs.  An often overlooked solution to excessive stage bleed is to ensure your stage plot and monitor coverage is ideal for the performance area– If the performers keep asking for “more me”, giving them more of their microphone in the monitor mix can only go so far before you run into trouble. 

Firstly, you’ll want to ensure the performers are within the throw of the monitor, usually at least 4-6 feet away from the wedge, with the horn of the speaker pointed upwards, relatively at head height. Secondly, you’ll want to be sure to only include the channels that are absolutely necessary for the performer to do their job effectively. This will vary due to each individual’s personal preferences, but as a general rule you should not be sending every channel on your board to an artist’s monitor mix. Some performers may ask for quite a few things in their wedge, and in those cases it’s a good idea to ask what the three priority instruments are, and go from there. You can always sprinkle in a little bit of everything else requested, but the goal is to keep the monitor sends as clear as possible, with little crowding or masking of instruments within the same frequency range. Instruments with a lot of low end information will also take up a lot of headroom, so you will want to add in these types of elements sparingly. It’s common to see a ground-stacked subwoofer and top next to the drums for this exact reason, as drummers typically like to feel the kick and bass strongly while performing.

With this knowledge and guidance, we hope to help you achieve many feedback-free shows in your professional audio career. This is, of course, all just a general guideline, since it’s likely you’ll have many artists who will handle the mic by taking it off the stand during the show. In such cases, if you believe your artist may be traversing the stage excessively during their performance, it would be best to include a quick walkaround with the live microphone during soundcheck. Optional hardware like the Rupert Neve Designs 5045 Primary Source Enhancer can give you up to 20db gain-before-feedback without major coloration to your source, and the 5045 is used quite often here at TC Furlong Inc. for one of our large-scale collegiate sporting events, where historically feedback from the microphones on the playing field was a major issue for our client.

Choosing the right monitor and microphone combinations for your stage and production is key to delivering a top notch experience for not only the audience, but the performers as well. Interested in purchasing for yourself? Check out our line card of over professional audio 100 manufacturers. Our sales team is ready to help and can be reached at sales@tcfurlong.com or by phone 847-367-9588. Contact us today for a quote!

Not ready to purchase? Want to take some mics and wedges for a spin? Send a message to our rental team at rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our office at 847-367-9588 and our experienced team of audio technicians will help ensure your next event is a success!

At TC Furlong Inc., we understand the importance of providing exceptional customer service during and after every purchase. That’s why we developed our own no-cost comprehensive post-purchase support program that sets us apart from the competition – called Warranty Support Advantage. 

If an item purchased from us fails while under manufacturer warranty, we offer customers a free loaner of an equivalent item from our rental inventory to keep their system up and running until their gear is repaired or replaced by the manufacturer. If an item fails after the manufacturer warranty expires, we offer customers substantial discounts on rentals and in-house repair services, for as long as they own the gear.

To help illustrate our dedication to customer care, we have a few recent compelling examples below that demonstrate how our team goes above and beyond to ensure your peace of mind with every purchase from TC Furlong Inc.:

  • A local performing arts center’s digital audio console failed before a weekend show. On short notice, we delivered a rental of a replacement console to get them through the gig, then facilitated a repair of their console. The rental and repair were heavily discounted, despite the rental prep and delivery occurring outside of our standard business hours, and despite the fact that the customer had purchased the console from us 15+ years ago.
  • A production company purchased a stage box that wasn’t performing correctly out of the box. We worked with the manufacturer to get a replacement unit shipped out, and offered the customer a free loaner stage box from our rental inventory until the situation was resolved.
  • One of our customers experienced a sudden power loss on their wireless receiver, and we helped out by identifying the root issue and replacing the front panel power switch to get their receiver working properly again. Repair labor was done at our discounted rate.
  • A local church had an entire fader bay stop working on their digital audio console. We located the source of the issue and replaced the affected fader power supply and control cards. All repairs were performed on-site, and billed at our discounted rate.

There are many other benefits to our no cost Warranty Support Advantage, and each purchase made at TC Furlong Inc. is supported by this program. Interested in learning more? See the full details on our website. You can also contact us at 847.367.9588 if you have questions about our Warranty Support Advantage or if you need any support with your new gear!

The Warranty Support Advantage program is just one of many reasons to buy gear from TC Furlong Inc. Interested in purchasing gear from any of the 100+ manufacturers on our line card? Reach out to our Sales Team at sales@tcfurlong.com or call us at 847.367.9588.

We are excited to share that we are expanding our capabilities by adding some professional lighting assets to our rental inventory. These additions allow us to act as a “one-stop shop” for many of our customers, providing them with all the professional audio, video, and lighting gear they need for their next production.

Chauvet Professional’s Reve E-3 is an LED ellipsoidal fixture that is one of the brightest in its class. The fixture provides a broad range of colors and highly adjustable whites to dial in the perfect look for any show. The included adjustable yoke makes it easy to mount the E-3 in cramped areas when space is at a premium. All these features combine to make the Reve E-3 a workhorse suitable for a full spectrum of applications, from theatrical productions, to broadcasts, to corporate events, rock concerts, and everything in between.

The Reve E-3 is available with gobo holders and a wide range of fixed and variable zoom lenses.

In addition to the lighting fixtures, we’ve added a ChamSys QuickQ 10 1-Universe lighting console. The QuickQ10 is compact and intuitive to use, with a large touchscreen and simple user interface that allows novices to get up and running quickly. More experienced users can take advantage of the full 512 DMX control channels and powerful control options to build and run impressive shows with no friction.

Interested in adding a lighting package to your next rental? Send a message to rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our office at 847-367-9588 and our experienced team of technicians will help ensure your next event is a success!

We’re also dealers for over 100 professional audio manufacturers. Check out our line card, and email sales@tcfurlong.com, or call 847-367-9588 to request a purchase quote.

We are excited to announce that we have added the newly released Yamaha DM3S Digital Mixing Console to our extensive rental inventory! This brand new product from Yamaha is raising the bar for small format consoles, and will offer unparalleled control and flexibility for your next rental with TC Furlong Inc.

With its compact and intuitive design, you’ll speed up your workflow and lower your FOH footprint without compromise for quality. The DM3S also comes with Yamaha’s renowned reliability and build quality – you can be confident that it will perform flawlessly night after night.

Other than its size, what makes the Yamaha DM3S stand out is its user-friendly interface. Featuring a large multi-touch color touchscreen and a tactile 8 + 1 fader control surface, you can quickly navigate through the various channels, effects, and settings to fine-tune your mix to your event’s needs. 

The DM3S sports 16 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs up to a 96kHz sampling rate, and brings Yamaha’s world-class sonic purity to their smallest high-end digital console released yet. A Dante equipped version (the DM3D) will also be available to rent later this year, for even more I/O capabilities.

Another highlight of the Yamaha DM3S is its extensive range of built-in effects and advanced processing and routing capabilities. With onboard effects like EQ, compression, reverb and delay, coupled with flexible patching options, the DM3S offers the same kinds of tools and features found in our favorite high-end large format digital consoles. With everything built right into the board, you can add that extra bit of sparkle or depth to your mix without needing any bulky external gear.

Looking for more info on the Yamaha DM3 Dante and DM3 Standard? You can find the spec sheet and comparison chart here.

Ready to take your rental to the next level with the Yamaha DM3S? Send a message to rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our office at 847-367-9588 and our experienced team of audio technicians will help you build the perfect small format mixing system for your next event!
Interested in purchasing your own DM3? We are authorized Yamaha dealers as well as dealers for over 100 other manufacturers. Our sales team is ready to help and can be reached at sales@tcfurlong.com or by phone 847-367-9588. Contact us today for a quote!

Are you having trouble getting your transmitters to sync with your new Axient Digital receiver? You are not alone, and TC Furlong Inc. is here to help! With many of our customers now receiving the remaining pieces on their backordered Axient orders, we’ve noticed this somewhat common issue when our customers start unboxing their highly anticipated top-tier Shure wireless systems.

The factory default setting for the Axient Digital receiver is set to the G53 band. If you are having an issue getting your existing Axient beltpacks or handhelds to pair with your new RX, likely your transmitters and receivers are not set to the same bands. Changing the band on the receiver to match the transmitters is quick and easy.

To switch the frequency band on your Axient receiver, follow the steps below:

  1. Press the red “Exit” button on the front panel to make sure you are on the home screen.
  2. While on the home screen, press the control knob in to access the settings main menu.
  3. On the main menu, choose the first option “Device Configuration”
  4. In the device configuration menu, choose the first option “Device RF”
  5. On the device RF screen, choose the first option “RF Band”
  6. On the RF band selection screen, press the control knob inwards again to choose the RF band parameter. The band selection box will highlight on the screen. Choose the correct frequency band, which will likely be G57 if you are in the US.
  7. To confirm the change, you need to press the (now blinking) “Enter” button next to the control knob. You will see an image on the screen that lets you know your settings have been saved.

And that’s it! Your receiver should now be able to connect to your transmitters in the desired band.

For more information, you can visit the Axient Digital page on our website to check out our rental brochures, spec sheets, and manuals for all the Axient products we carry.

Interested in renting Axient Digital from TC Furlong Inc.? Our vast inventory of Shure Wireless includes dozens of Axient receiver channels, corresponding body packs and handheld transmitters, as well as hundreds of other wireless microphone options and accessories. Send a message to rentals@tcfurlong.com or call our office at 847-367-9588 and our experienced team of audio technicians will help ensure your next event is a success!

Interested in purchasing Shure Wireless or anything else from our line card of over 100 manufacturers? Our sales team is ready to help and can be reached at sales@tcfurlong.com or by phone 847-367-9588. Contact us today for a quote!