In ear monitors

I use in-ears in our church worship. Takes a bit of getting used to but I much prefer them over stage wedges. If everyone in the band uses them there is little chance of feedback. For backing tracks, I can clearly hear the track in the mix and not be, ahem, thrown off by congregation/audience clapping or singing along off-tempo. I use the Shure PSM300 system. Works well as long as you can scan a good frequency. It came with 2 receiver packs and ear-buds. The ear buds I think, only have single drivers, so the sound is okay but could be better for bass response. Most gigging musicians will say, 2 or 3 drivers is the way to go. Receivers run on two AA batteries so rechargeable batteries are recommended. I’d say batteries are good for about 3-4 hours, maybe more. At each venue, you would probably have to scan and synch to a new frequency.

Pros & Cons: In ear monitors are are interesting experience if you never worked with them before. You have to take into consideration if you are in an outdoor or indoor venue. Outdoor venues require all the help you can get; indoor venues require a certain level of fine tuning and individual attention.

There are different types and levels of earbuds, which is dependent on the sound system you are working with. Recording studios and indoor venues have a lot in common, both in advantages and problems. In general; vocals are the primary use for monitors overall. However, the more sophisticated sound systems include monitors for instrumentals as well, and that's where the issues start. It become a balancing act at that point, and your existing equipment will dictate what you need to work with, and how to adjust it.

Best vocal example: Most groups have a number of vocalists singing at one time, taking into consideration the melody and harmony lines. In general the lead vocalist needs to be dominant and the back-up vocalists need to support the lead no matter what the total number of vocalists are. Balance is key to make it work properly and not overpower the melody line..

My own personal observation is that many singers tend to suppress their singing when using ear buds; they don't give it the same effort as when they use floor monitors (wedges). It's a phenomenon you have to expect and overcome. As a drummer (and normally in the back line) I have used "non noise cancelling" ear buds so I have a handle on the vocals, but can still hear the rest of the band without use of a monitor.

I think I tried everything over several years so our lead singer (who is also my wife) could hear herself on stage. In-ears seemed like an ideal solution, but didn't last long. In fact I don't think we got past rehearsals. At first, they would pop out whenever she flexed her jaw (which was a lot). So we got custom moulded ear pieces, which mostly stayed in place. Our sound man wanted to wrap gaffer tape round her head to be sure, but we decided against it. Then the in-ears seemed to be causing headaches. Add to that the feeling of detachment from what's going on and the difficulty of knowing what volume to sing at...so we gave up.

I still think with a lot more experimentation and perseverance there was a solution in there somewhere; in-ears clearly work well for a lot of people. The best we could do from then on was a wedge at the front, plus a little TC Electronic powered monitor which fitted onto a mic stand.

From what I have read, and our recent gig being crammed together onstage and hearing everyone along with audience reactions: I am pretty dang sure that I will not want to use them. Have not tried them at practice, and really don't want to.