Los Angeles, CA (May 18, 2023)—Five-time Grammy-nominee Charlie Puth has made a name for himself as a songwriter and social media mainstay, but performing live in front of paying audiences is still a crucial part of his career. He’s been on the road in recent months supporting his latest album, Charlie, and monitor engineer Josh Cruz has been at stageside throughout the journey, providing a real-time immersive mix for the artist’s in-ear monitors.
Puth listens to himself via a monitor mix that factors in his exact position onstage, how his head is turned, and the resulting changes in what he hears. Mixing on a DiGiCo SD5, Cruz provides that mix using the Lectrosonics DCHT dual-channel digital transmitter and companion DCR822 receiver along with in-ear transducers that incorporate embedded miniature ambient mics—the Ambient Pro system from JH Audio. The Ambient Pro IEM system is designed to be paired with the Lectrosonics DCHT transmitter and either the DSQD or DCR822 digital receivers.
“It’s a unique system that really allows Charlie to connect with the audience,” said Cruz. “In-ear systems have the advantage of a quieter stage and a cleaner mix for everyone, but they can make the artist feel isolated. Charlie wants it to be like he’s right there with the audience, but also preserve that cleanliness.”
The necessary signal path is thus more involved than simply mixing room mics into the monitors to add generic ambience, as Cruz explained: “The DCHT and DCR822 work in conjunction with the JH Pro Ambient Pro system. These are high-end in-ear transducers with omni mic capsules made by DPA embedded in the outer shell of each earpiece. The cable fantails into two connectors—one is an eighth-inch stereo plug that connects to any in-ear receiver pack that delivers a monitor mix to the earpieces from my console; the other is a TA6F connector that feeds the omni capsules’ output into the DCHT. The mics pick up a binaural soundstage from the point of view of Charlie’s head; I then fold them into the monitor mix as I would with any room mics. The best way to describe it is that I’m vicariously experiencing Charlie’s hearing. I don’t think any other system does this.”
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The result is that Puth experiences an enhanced version of his own hearing, which Cruz describes as having definite benefits for the artist. “Traditional room mics provide a fixed and usually broad stereo picture, which doesn’t realistically reflect what a lead singer hears when moving around the stage,” he notes. “With this system, if Charlie looks towards the drums, he hears more of them. It’s not something he has to be constantly conscious of, but it helps him give the best performance. He has literally told me and the production manager, ‘I don’t want to do a show without it.’”
