Image courtesy of Shure.
When it comes to finding the best type of monitoring solution for stage performers, whether musicians or speakers, there isn’t necessarily a “right” or “wrong” style.
However, when trying to decide between personal monitoring solutions (in-ears) or those with broader usage options (wedges or side-fills), there are certainly pros and cons with each.
Wedge monitors
Stage wedges have been a popular fixture on church stages for decades. They have proven to be reliable ways for worship leaders, presenters, and choirs to all get a broad perspective of how their sound is translating through a venue.
And for a solution like a choir, when perhaps dozens of people need to be hearing the same thing, wedges or fills are really the best scalable solution. Even for a dynamic presenter who constantly moves around the stage, wedges can be a great way to get a constant and consistent feel for how they are projecting, given that slapback and reflections in the room may vary across the stage and inherent “room noise” could shift as a result.
Wedges also tend to be the cheapest and easiest solution to use. There are no batteries to replace or charge, no frequencies to coordinate, and they’ll work with anyone on stage.
Wedges tend to be the cheapest and easiest solution to use, and yet ...
However, they do introduce a ton more stage noise than any sort of in-ear monitoring solution ever would. If the venue already has challenging acoustics, this can add to the problems that an audio engineer must navigate. This can be even more demanding if an engineer is inexperienced or a tech team has a rotating sound crew that could then struggle to find consistency in their sound quality week to week.
Plus, wedges tend to be unfriendly towards some types of headset mics and can introduce feedback if not managed well.
Personal monitoring
Over the last several years, personal monitoring solutions on the market have not only increased, but have also become more cost effective and scalable.
The standard workflow for personal monitoring has been relatively consistent for the last decade-plus: a hardware personal mixing unit connects to someone’s in-ears wired or wirelessly. Wireless units allow a performer the flexibility to move freely around stage without a tether, and the personal mixer can be hidden offstage to eliminate clutter.
Wired units are cheaper, since there’s no added cost for a wireless transmitter/receiver combo, and can be more often seen with stationary band members, like drummers or keyboard players, since there’s no need for them to be mobile during a service. In addition, adding a personal mixer to their instrument setup is barely noticeable.
Even the in-ears themselves have developed more varieties. Instead of just having to use off-the-shelf earbuds, which is both economical and easy to do, many musicians and vocalists are now choosing to invest in custom-molded in-ears.
With an earbud molded to one’s actual ear, these solutions tend to be much more comfortable than more widely available universal fit options. For musicians who play for long periods of time, like at a rehearsal then at multiple weekend services, this can be an invaluable help. Plus, custom solutions tend to come with better drivers that provide a more dynamic range of sound and can also help eliminate any harshness that could contribute to long-term hearing damage.
Regardless of the way someone chooses to implement personal monitoring solutions, the end-user flexibility really is the biggest win.
Instead of constantly having to stop rehearsal to ask a FOH engineer or monitor engineer to boost certain channels or change a mix, band members now have the full flexibility to do that themselves. Typically their personal monitor mixer would get a variety of sub-mixes or individual channels (16 total channels tends to be the norm) and then choose how to adjust levels in their own ears, based on what they specifically want to hear.
A solution like Digico’s Klang platform takes this even a step further. Not only can users make volume adjustments of their channels, there is also the ability to adjust those sounds spatially on a 360-degree axis. So, if the acoustic guitar is at “five o’clock” relative to a vocalist, she not only can choose how to pan that guitar left or right, but she can also make adjustments front-to-back so that her personal mix feels like the stage itself and mimics the location of exactly where those sounds are coming from in the room.
App options
While hardware mixing options like Aviom have been commonplace for many years (and with other solutions like MyMix having also joined the market), app-based solutions are quickly becoming more and more prevalent.
Many audio console companies, like Yamaha, Midas/Behringer, Allen & Heath, and PreSonus, to name a few, now have developed their own software solutions that work with an end-user’s tablet or smartphone and don’t require additional hardware.
By utilizing a private wireless network between an audio console and the end device, the user is fed outputs from the console and can customize the app’s setup to determine channels, levels, and other adjustments. Then, they can stick the device in their pocket or on a stand for service and listen with their own headphones or earbuds.
Many audio console companies, like Yamaha, Midas/Behringer, Allen & Heath, and PreSonus ... have developed their own software solutions that work with an end-user’s tablet or smartphone.
So, not only does this provide an easily scalable solution, it allows for high-quality monitoring at a relatively lower cost than other options that had been on the market.
Having a high-quality audio experience in a church service is critical, and a key part of the equation is for the band and vocalists to be able to accurately monitor their own sounds. Finding the right monitoring solution is a crucial step, and fortunately there are options available that will fit any venue and budget.
