So, what problem does this solve? Maybe I don’t get it. Usually,Ring out the monitors pre soundcheck, after dialing in mixes, go to each station with the tablet while the band plays to make additional adjustments, and check in on the mixes via a cue wedge throughout the set?
Sure. I like having an immediate visual confirmation of each monitors frequency response. Theres a lot of situations where it helps me.
Throw and go at a festival or if I have an opener that only ends up line checking. I definitely dont have the luxury of ringing and walking around with my iPad at every show.
Monitor world isnt always in ideal situations. At this position I had a stack of KS28’s right below me and two arrays of K2 and Kara hanging over my head that were reflecting off concrete.
Sometimes I’ll have a Leslie cab or guitar cab that are shooting straight back at my position. Loud bands with tons of stage volume.
FOH sound can interact differently with the stage during the performance. Maybe FOH is pushing more bass and I have a bluegrass band with a standup.
Maybe the band is playing and singing louder during the actual performance. Maybe the players or singers dont have enough experience and once the show starts they are asking me to push an acoustic or their vocals more and more.
Maybe FOH says something vague like “the vocals are a little hot in like a midrange-y spot.”
In any of these situations I have an immediate and freq specific response to the situation and can get things stable faster without any guess work. I can dial in freq and q super accurately. I dunno. I like it. You can also just set it up on the cue which is nice too.
I spent many years as a dedicated Mon engineer before switching back to primarily Sys Tech work. There are definitely times were it's very difficult to pin down a specific frequency that's wanting to take off. Sometimes it's because the stage volume is out of control on the band side. Sometimes it's the 28 Adamson 119's spread across the front of the stage that are shaking your entire being so hard you start to phase shift into another dimension. Sometimes there's just weird shapes around Mon world that cause enough phase shiftyness that nothing in that space sounds the same as it does on stage, and everything becomes an educated guessing game.
TLDR: I can think of a few reasons why having a reference mic directly on a cue wedge could be an awesome thing. If it elevates your ability to create better sounding, more stable monitors, more power to you!