My first introduction to personal monitors was about 20 years ago. I was playing an acoustic guitar and singing worship music in front of a Galaxy Hot Spot monitor mounted on a mic-stand. The thing was turned up so loud I almost lost a filling, but in a few minutes after adjusting the EQ and volume, I had my own personal monitor mix. That experience really has very little to do with the in-ear personal monitor systems that I use today, but we all have to start somewhere. By the way, Galaxy is still alive and still making very potent small Hot Spot monitors.
Going In-Ear
However, today I want to talk about multi-user IEMs (in-ear monitoring systems). I think the first thing you will have to figure out is whether your house of worship (or should I say your worship band) is ready for a personal monitor system. My church made the switch about six years ago, mainly because the floor wedge monitors in our sanctuary were louder than the main FOH speakers. Back in the days when I was playing and singing in the worship band, most of the performers (including myself) had, or were currently, playing in rock bands, so we all wanted our floor monitors as loud as we could get them. Ultimately, the floor wedges (monitors) were overtaking the main speakers and were raising the overall SPLs in the sanctuary. That’s the story of why we switched; you will have to figure out your own reasons.
Before you dive into your new IEM system, let me go through some of the pluses and minuses of your new adventure in monitoring. For my church, the first and obvious plus is that the overall mix to the congregation was quieter and more manageable with the addition of a personal monitor system. The stage volume was still fairly loud, but we eliminated the floor monitors bleeding into the microphones and also cured any feedback by eliminating the wedges. The next benefit is improved sound everywhere in the audio signal path. There is greater accuracy having only those instruments one wishes to hear in the monitor mix without anything unwanted bleeding in from adjacent monitors or instruments. This eliminates volume wars where everyone on the stage turns up their monitors to hear themselves over everyone else’s monitor. There is also no doubt that vocal pitch improves and vocal effort is lessened with the IEMs.
As for minuses, I personally feel somewhat cut off from the band. It is difficult (if not impossible) to converse with your bandmates when you have your monitor plugged into your ears. If you pull them out to talk and push them in to monitor, in no time at all you will irritate your sensitive ear canals. Along with being separated from the players, there can be more distance between you and the congregation. In addition, some earphones can present a problem in the form of an absence of bass frequencies. (I used the earphones that my church supplied, but there are much better, higher-end phones available with a lot more bass). And, of course, custom earpieces that are molded to your own ear produce more bass.
Before we go on, one point I’d like to make is that you should always wear both earphones. I used to take one out when I first started to wear them. This practice reduces bass and, sooner or later, you will probably be turning up the one in-ear that you are using. Wearing both in-ears is very important for our body’s natural hearing protection mechanism; this tympanic reflex works with both ears together. Its effectiveness is diminished when one ear is protected, because it leaves the open ear more vulnerable to loud sounds. There is also a stereophonic boost (approximately 6 dB) in perceived volume when two earphones are used together.
The Personal Mix
A step up from here is using a personal mix system. There is another plus for your church’s sound tech. By letting the musicians and soloists create their own mixes, the tech mixing front of house doesn’t have to think about the monitors. Once the signal is sent from the mixing console to the monitors, that’s it. Your guy (or gal) can now concentrate on creating a sweet mix for the congregation.
A lot of companies make personal monitor mix systems and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. I suggest you check out as many systems as you can. If possible, talk with people at other houses of worship who are using IEMs. Take your time and do your homework. I am sure you will find the right system for your church.
By the way, you don’t have to jump 100 percent into the personal monitor world. At my worship house, our drummer still uses a floor wedge. It is a self-powered wedge, and he controls it with his personal monitor mixer. He says it makes him feel more connected to the band, and I believe it does. Besides our drummer’s set-up, the choir uses two small floor monitors. These monitors are running at very low decibels, but they add enough audio to help the choir stay on pitch and blend a bit better.
In the final analysis, there is no set-in-stone method for your personal monitoring setup. So if you plan on working them into your church services, there is really no right or wrong way to do it. However, in the long run, I think you will discover that personal monitors offer more pluses than minuses.
