To the average layperson, the notion of monitoring might seem kind of mysterious. Why, after all, do those diva musicians need their own, special way to hear what’s happening? Can’t they just hear the music from those big speakers dangling from the ceiling like everybody else? “Well,” I would explain to them, “they do hear the music from those speakers, but that’s not enough.”
I would go on to say that the musicians and vocalists not only hear the music from those speakers, but when they sing or play a note, they also hear a big nasty reflection of that note from the rear wall of the sanctuary — arriving 500 or 1,000 milliseconds after they sang or played it. And in music, a delay that long makes it impossible to sing or play in time. Not only that, but in most modern worship music, we like to have a little thing called a click track, which is a nice metronome that allows us to keep our timing nice and tight. And there’s also a thing called a guide track that helps us through the song arrangement. And there’s the voice of our live, on-stage musical director, who helps us play more cohesively together and also helps us by telling us when to stop playing so the pastor can get the message started. These things are all delivered to the ears of the musicians and vocalists via monitoring.
So yes, Mr. Layperson — monitoring is not just a luxurious demand made by egotistical musical types. We simply must have monitoring. The only question is what kind. In the good old days, there was one option: wedge monitor speakers on the platform. Eventually, we started using big ugly headphones, and ultimately nice tidy in-ear monitors that could even be molded to fit our ears perfectly and deliver high quality audio. In-ear monitors (IEMs) have been adopted nearly universally throughout the worship (and secular) music world, but monitor speakers still appear on occasion. If IEMs are so amazingly awesome, why do speakers persist? Let’s find out.
Keeping Score
Allow me to present a side-by-side comparison and contrast of IEMs and speakers, addressing one factor at a time. Let’s start with the notion of click/guide tracks and the voice of the musical director. With IEMs, this is pretty simple business — we simply pipe this stuff straight into the IEMs. With speakers, it’s virtually impossible, because we don’t want the congregation hearing these things, and they almost certainly would if we use speakers. IEMs-1, Speakers-0.
How about the issue of feedback? Feedback is vastly less likely when we get microphones near IEMs, but more likely when we get microphones near speakers. IEMs-2, Speakers-0. Stage volume is not universally reviled, but increasingly over time, we tend to prefer it to be as low as possible. IEMs can completely eliminate the stage volume created by wedge speakers. IEMs-3, Speakers-0.
A tidy, uncluttered platform is desired by almost everyone. IEMs can completely eliminate the stage clutter created by wedge speakers. IEMs-4, Speakers-0. Each musician and vocalist likes to have their own mix, delivering the perfect blend of what they each want to hear. IEMs make this much easier than speakers. IEMs-5, Speakers-0. Similarly, people tend to prefer a nice stereo mix over mono, and IEMs make this vastly easier than with speakers. IEMs-6, Speakers-0.
Not only do our musicians and vocalists want their own individual mixes, but they also want to have control over them. Giving non-engineers control over a system that could create a feedback disaster is not a good idea, so IEMs again win the day. IEMs-7, Speakers-0. On a related note, handing off monitor mixing duties to the musicians and vocalists can eliminate the need for a dedicated monitor engineer — another win for in-ears. IEMs-8, Speakers-0.
Although monitor speakers can deliver good quality sound to the ears of our musicians and vocalists, they just can’t compete with the clear, direct, widely separated stereo presented by in-ear monitors. IEMs-9, Speakers-0.
Another benefit of IEMs is that the audio quality is consistent, while levels and spectral content from loudspeakers change if the listeners move around (and our folks on the platform definitely move around). IEMs-10, Speakers-0.
Speakers are big, heavy, and unwieldy, and if our church is portable, must be loaded in, set up, struck, and loaded out at the end of services. IEMs do have some mass, but it’s next to nothing compared with speakers. IEMs-11, Speakers-0.
Finally, it’s generally accepted that the higher quality sound delivered directly to the ear by IEMs can be kept at lower SPLs than speakers and is hence healthier for the ears of our musicians and vocalists. IEMs-12, Speakers-0.
Monitor Speaker’s Comeback
It would appear that IEMs have absolutely crushed loudspeakers in this comparison. Ahhh, but we have yet to look at the positives that speakers offer. Let’s do so. First off, IEM systems tend to be substantially more expensive than speaker systems. IEMs-12, Speakers-1. IEM systems are more complex than speaker systems and require a lot more engineering. IEMs-12, Speakers-2. Speakers can be hard-wired, while IEMs are almost universally wireless, and that means IEMs require a lot more RF engineering and create headaches that are not caused by hard-wired systems. IEMs-12, Speakers-3. Monitor speakers are designed to be rough and tough and very durable. IEMs are small, delicate, and more easily damaged, not to mention more susceptible to the issues that afflict small, delicate electronic devices. IEMs-12, Speakers-4.
IEM systems require management of numerous transmitters, antennas, bodypacks, batteries, tiny little cables, and more. Speaker systems do not. IEMs-12, Speakers-5. IEMs require us to deploy additional microphones in order to feed room ambience to our musicians and vocalists. Speakers do not require this. IEMs-12, Speakers-6.
I previously mentioned that IEMs typically facilitate the ability for musicians and vocalists to create their own monitor mixes. While this is mostly a benefit, it can also cause problems — on more than a few Sunday mornings at front of house, I’ve looked down to see my faders being moved by a young vocalist on the platform trying to mix her monitors. Sometimes it is better to have a professional handling the monitor mixing. IEMs-12, Speakers-7. Keeping musicians and vocalists happy is an important goal in live music, and people tend to resist change. Shifting from the tradition of monitor speakers to IEMs can cause some people to be unhappy. IEMs-12, Speakers-8.
The Final Tally
It looked for a moment as if IEMs were going to be runaway victors in the battle of stage monitoring topologies, but monitor loudspeakers made a spirited comeback and nearly evened the score. But at the end of the day, IEMs really do edge out speakers. The mountain of benefits they offer is difficult to overcome. But this is not to say that monitor speakers are never a better choice. There are certainly scenarios in which they make sense. But as time, technology, and economies of scale move forward, IEMs keep getting better, cheaper, and easier to use. Our final score of 12-8 in favor of IEMs today will probably grow more lopsided in the future as a result of these advancements. Careful planning and consideration should go into your decision as to whether you’ll exclusively use IEMs, speakers or a hybrid approach including both.
John McJunkin is the chief engineer and staff producer in the studio at Grand Canyon University.
