The advent of the in-ear monitor system (IEM) is viewed as a watershed moment for stage monitoring. For most of the era of amplified live performances, the ability for musicians and vocalists to be able to hear themselves to maintain pitch and cohesion has rested with an often one-sided negotiation between those on stage and the person at the monitoring position.
With the arrival of IEMs, some predicted the end of monitoring as a separate job title in many cases. IEMs have essentially democratized the monitoring, giving each person on stage individual control over their own personal monitor mix. Collaterally, more than a few church finance committees looked at IEMs as the signal they needn’t have to make a capital investment in yet another audio console, saving their congregation money.
Well, not so fast. As Robert F. Kennedy once pointed out, democracy is messy. And when applied to monitor mixing, it turns out that IEMs can use a little help from above.
DIY monitoring
Ryan Shelton, national sales manager for IEM maker Klang, analogizes IEMs to how, in the age of home recording, musicians have taken on the twin burdens of creativity and technology simultaneously, with both often suffering as a result.
“In church, we’re asking musicians to play their instruments and mix themselves, the two don’t always go together that well." Ryan Shelton, National Sales Manager, Klang
“In church, we’re asking musicians to play their instruments and mix themselves, the two don’t always go together that well,” Shelton says. “They get distracted by the technology.” In fact, he adds, he’s been seeing churches that looked at IEMs as a way to eliminate dedicated monitoring consoles and mixers starting to reverse that trend.
“It looked good from a financial perspective initially, not having to buy another console, or having to pay someone to run it, if they used paid staffers,” he says. “But in practice, they realized that they needed a monitor mixer to manage the overall monitor operation. When you have a lot going on — an orchestra, a praise band, a choir — it gets pretty complicated. It’s great that some musicians can get the exact mix they want on stage, but not everyone has the technical ability to do that.
“The tech burden on musicians is getting bigger,” he concludes. “It’s great that there are ways that musicians can get custom, personalized monitor mixes. But you can’t just give them an iPad and set of earbuds and say go fend for yourself. The pendulum is swinging back to having a dedicated monitor position and console, and that’s a good thing, even with IEMs.”
"The pendulum is swinging back to having a dedicated monitor position and console, and that’s a good thing, even with IEMs.” Ryan Shelton, National Sales Manager, Klang
IEMs can complicate the workflow
Carl Bader, CEO of Aviom, agrees that IEMs used in conjunction with a monitor console can enhance a monitoring ecosystem. However, he cautions, the engineer behind that console needs to know his or her stuff.
“The workflows for IEMs and wedges are different,” Bader explains. “The mixes for IEMs are hypercritical and need to be more refined than those for wedges. The level of refinement you need to have with IEMs is significantly greater than what can be tolerated with a wedge-based monitor system.”
“The mixes for IEMs are hypercritical and need to be more refined than those for wedges." Carl Bader, CEO of Aviom
Bader recommends that those working the monitors in churches and other HOWs study the workflows and techniques of monitor engineers who work on high-end tours. For instance, he says that building a mix that works for wedges, or even what sounds good in the engineer’s headphones or IEMs, won’t necessarily translate well to the individual musicians working with IEMs on stage.
“[A wedge mix] is a [closed] system, where IEMs are very tailored to each musician, and that’s what a monitor engineer needs to keep in mind,” he says. “If the monitor engineer doesn’t have those skills, it’s likely better not to have a monitor mixer at all, or to just use wedges rather than IEMs.”
Bader brings up another key point about IEMs, which is that the category has become so ubiquitous now that many musicians have their own IEM systems as part of their kit, along with amps and stomp boxes. That can lead to mixing of IEM brands’ components within the monitoring system a church might deploy, further complicating mixing nuances.
“IEMs are a very personal thing — it’s something you’re putting directly into your ear,” he says. “But you’re better off if all of the components are part of the same system.”
Setting a baseline
Kevin Kimmel, systems application engineer at Yamaha Commercial Audio, also makes the case for IEMs being used in conjunction with a monitor mixer and console.
“Someone has to set up the initial mix in order for the individual mixes to make sense,” Kimmel says. “That’s particularly true if you have a high channel count for monitors. Someone has to set up a useful gain structure in order to give musicians on stage a good chance of making usable mixes for themselves.”
“Someone has to set up the initial mix in order for the individual mixes to make sense." Kevin Kimmel, Systems Application Engineer, Yamaha Commercial Audio
Kimmel points out that without a dedicated monitor mixer, the “housekeeping” aspects, such as setting up a proper gain structure and creating usable stems to send to the IEM system, will likely fall to the FOH mixer, who may already have enough to do, and who will have to manage monitor duties from afar, compared with the stage-side location of most monitor consoles.
IEMs have been transitioning to using personal devices, such as smartphones, as their GUI. However, Kimmel makes the case for a dedicated piece of hardware for that purpose. The problem with using a touchscreen as an input device, he says, is that without a tactile interface, the user has to look at it to hit the right buttons, which can be a distraction on stage during a performance.
But no one doubts that IEMs are an excellent solution for monitoring in the HOW environment. “There’s a lot going on onstage these days,” says Shelton. “If performers and monitor mixers can create a good, working relationship, the entire church benefits.”
