Tips For Using Wireless In-Ear Personal Monitors Onstage

If you are considering a first-time purchase of a wireless in-ear system, here are some tips for buying and using the rig onstage.

Wireless in-ear monitors are very common with worship bands and large tours as their use provides a number of benefits. But these benefits are also important for smaller stages, smaller bands, and even solo artists. Let’s review the benefits here.

1. Isolation for a better monitoring experience. Be it a large or small stage, the acoustics of any venue can be drastically different. This can cause different listening experiences with floor monitors. For instance, if there is no stage and the monitor is sitting on a concrete floor, you may need to roll-off more low frequencies as there is no dampening to absorb the low frequencies that can build up. Using in-ears can solve this and remove many other acoustically related variables from venue to venue.
2. The stage volume can be much lower. The in-ear mix can be tailor made to suit your needs. Your instrument amp doesn’t need to be loud on stage when the in-ear mix can be turned up or down as needed.
3. Vocals are better heard with in-ears; therefore, singers are able to hear clean and clear monitoring without competing with stage or audience noise. This can greatly improve a singer’s accuracy, stamina and dynamics.
4. Using wireless monitoring can also mean less gear on the stage and less weight to pack if you are transporting the sound system for your gigs. This is a great advantage for solo or duos as it greatly reduces the gig pack.

Tips for Using Wireless In-Ear Monitors For the First Time

1. Before you purchase a wireless in-ear rig, look at your monitor mix capabilities. If you are more than a solo performer and have only one monitor mix with your existing sound system, be aware that the mix you create for your ears may not benefit the other band members. You should be able to have at least 2 monitor mixes. 1 for your ears and 1 for others to monitor.

2. If you are limited to 2 monitor mixes and need to have 3 or more band members use in-ears, consider the number of input channels on the wireless transmitter before you make the purchase. Many budget in-ear transmitters are mono with only one input channel. But premium systems, such as Carvin Audio’s EM900 offer 2 inputs/channels. This has a dual function. You can run your in-ears in true stereo or in dual mono. In dual mono you can, for example, have all instruments on monitor mix 1, going into the EM900 Channel 1. Then have all vocals on monitor mix 2, going into the EM900 Channel 2. You can use one transmitter with multiple receivers and each band member can adjust the ratio of instrument and vocals to taste for their ears. It’s a great way to provide some mix control for bands on a budget.

3. If you are accustomed to using monitor wedges for rehearsal and gigs, then give yourself time to acclimate using in-ears. You may want to employ a combination of both monitoring systems until you are accustomed to only using in-ears. You can pull your earbuds out partially to hear the stage monitors as a secondary monitor while you try the in-ears.

4. Using in-ears will provide isolation that can be disorienting. If you are used to hearing the stage volume and ambient noise of the room, using in-ears will take some getting used to. If you have a spare channel on your sound system, set up an ambient stage microphone. Do not put that into the audience mix. Blend that ambient microphone into your in-ear monitor mix. This will help reduce the isolation and allow you to hear a bit of ambient sound such as band member or audience speech.

5. If you are a band looking to have everyone utilize in-ears and have their own dedicated in-ear mix, then you’ll need a mixer that can provide the correct number of discrete monitor mixes. Bands that only use in-ears employ a multi-channel XLR splitter box that will send each microphone to a dedicated monitor mixer and to the sound system feeding the audience. This can get more complicated and costly. Some dedicated monitor mixers utilize smart phone apps so each band member can remotely control their monitor mix. This is a great solution but will require both time and money to learn, set-up, and maintain.

  Carvin Audio's EM900 Wireless In-Ear Monitor System

The use of in-ears can be simple or as complex as you want. The most basic setup can be to feed a vocal mic and guitar preamp into the in-ear transmitter so a solo performer can have control of their mix with the main sound system handling the audience mix separately. Find which is best for you by trying things in rehearsal before employing on a gig. Give yourself time to get used to your in-ears and enjoy a better monitoring experience.

Also in Audio Info & Education