Converting a band from stage wedges to in-ear or “personal” monitors can be a beautiful thing, yielding better front-of-house and monitor mixes, more enjoyable performances and quite possibly, hearing conservation. Unfortunately, some musicians are so unwilling to change their habits that you might have an easier time converting them to a different religion! Here’s how to present the idea in a way that ensures a positive experience for everyone involved.
First, A Little Education
First and foremost, make it clear to the musicians that you are not asking them to use ear buds. I actually have seen one or two performers walk on stage wearing the same ear buds that ship along with an iPod or iPhone. Really. Explain that this is unacceptable because:
- They probably don’t sound very good, and
- Ear buds do not provide any isolation from stage sound.
It might help to draw a comparison with the headphone mix in a studio situation: “We’re going to do our best to shut out the ambient noise and replace it with a high-quality mix that features exactly what you need to hear.”
The first part is really important. Someone I once worked with had a friend who was an audiologist. No offense to the audiologist, but she had no understanding of how personal monitor systems worked. When the musician brought the subject to her attention, she told him, “This is the worst possible thing you can do for your ears.” Worse than standing in front of your raging Marshall double stack without hearing protection? I doubt it. If we can successfully shut out some of the stage sound, then we can turn down the monitor volume — which is ultimately safer than using either wedges or ear buds.
Planning for “The Test”
The next step in successfully introducing musicians to IEMs is planning a rehearsal. Trying IEMs for the first time at a show is a recipe for disaster, plus it’s going to be a hard sell to get the band to purchase the required equipment before they try it. One unavoidable expense will be that of earpieces. Band members don’t need to incur the expense of custom-molded earpieces, but they will need to purchase earphones intended for the purpose. Sometimes, rental IEMs are delivered with a set of ear buds (please revisit paragraph two) but even if they are in-ear phones, you don’t know where they’ve been (yuk!). Explain to the musicians that the earphones can be used for other purposes if they decide not to use them on stage. There’s a really good selection of “generic/universal fit” earphones from manufacturers like Audio-Technica, Shure, Etymotic Research and Sennheiser in the range between $125 and $150 (I wouldn’t waste money spending any less). “Generic fit” means that the earpieces are not custom molded to a person’s ears — and this is okay. I’ve had great off-the-shelf ears that were not custom molded (I’m gonna die with my Etymotic ER•4S’s).
The key with generic earpieces is experimenting with a variety of ear tips. Ear tips, or “sleeves,” are the part of the earphone that actually fits into the ear canal. There are three popular types of ear tips: yellow foam, black rubber and soft plastic flanged. None of these is “better” than the other. It all comes down to personal preference and the shape of one’s ears. If the sleeve does not fit properly into the ear canal, then frequency response and isolation suffer, so it makes sense for the musicians to try different ear tips.
How will the musicians know the ear tips fit? They should be significantly isolated from surrounding sounds and be able to hear a full bass response. Also, they’ll feel the “vacuum” of a proper fit, and when they sing, they won’t experience any leakage.
The other major hurdle in this practice run is the “front end” of the monitor system. You’ll need a mixing console with a number of aux sends, preferably stereo sends. Trying to mix stereo IEMs using two mono sends is about as pleasant as getting poked in the eye with a knitting needle.
You’ll also need a way to deliver audio to the earpieces. Personal monitor systems typically use wireless transmitters and receivers. You may not be ready to drop the cash on purchasing these just yet, so you can rent (or perhaps borrow) a few sets for the day, or run the mixes via wire. Remember, it’s a rehearsal, so if the musicians have to stay in one location for a few hours, they’ll survive (make sure they take their meds). The aux sends on most consoles are capable of generating enough level to drive a pair of earphones without any sort of amplifier, but you’ll probably need to buy or make cables to connect the earphones directly to the desk.
For example, if the console’s aux sends are on ¼-inch TS outputs, you’ll need a cable with two ¼-inch TS males on one end and a 1/8-inch or ¼-inch (stereo) TRS jack on the other. Did I mention that it’d be a good idea to have on hand a bunch of ¼-inch TRS male to 1/8-inch TRS female adapters? Though somewhat clumsy, it’s a test run, and using wire may be way cheaper than even renting wireless IEMs.
Warn the band ahead of time that there is no plan for wedge mixes at this rehearsal because wedges compete with personal monitors. If at all possible, have an assistant help you create rough mixes before the musicians arrive. Dial in proper gain structure as if you were in a recording studio. Remember: if a musician gets the wrong impression and hears (for example) a distorted vocal the first time out, they won’t buy into the concept. Once the musicians are content with their mixes (now there’s an oxymoron), you can entertain the idea of adding some low-frequency audio into either a wedge or a subwoofer. This can help fill out the kick, bass and lower range of the vocal, giving the musician the feel that they’re accustomed to hearing from wedges.
It’s natural for performers to feel isolated when using personal monitors for the first time. A possible cure is adding an ambient microphone downstage, pointing toward the audience. Doing this in stereo might sound romantic, but consider this: when the performer turns their back to the audience or walks across the stage, their left-to-right perspective of the audience changes while the perspective of the stereo mics does not. Stick with a mono ambient mic for the time being, and bleed it in just a little to each mix.
Reaping the Benefits
If you can successfully present the use of personal monitors to your musicians, you all reap the rewards: decreased stage volume and hearing fatigue, no crosstalk between mixes, high fidelity monitor and FOH mixes and reduced feedback. Oh yeah — you won’t have to drag around ten 15-plus-a-horn wedges with a couple racks full of power amps.
