At your church, is stage volume too loud for the congregation? Does it seem like your sound engineer has too little control over the house sound? Do the people on stage complain that they can't hear themselves or each other? Are you constantly battling feedback?

Stage monitoring systems are complex, sometimes more complex than house PA systems. For this reason, if you are experiencing any of the above-mentioned problems, it is important to thoroughly evaluate your current situation (equipment selection, placement, etc) and to know the possible solutions that are available. Wedges, headphones or in-ear monitors (IEM’s): which is right for your church?

Dale Alexander, principal consultant of Creative Technologies in Carrollton, Texas, replies “That is not a simple question to answer, as there are many factors. How big is your room, what is your worship style, how many musicians do you have? What is the skill level of the tech crew, are your musicians professionals or amateurs and, what is your budget? (For more from Dale, see PSW Live Chat).

Another aspect to consider is where the monitor mixes originate. Are they all to be mixed from the front-of-house (FOH) position, or do you have a dedicated monitor mixer? Or, will the musicians have an opportunity to customize their monitor mixes?”

Wedge options & criteria
Tom Young of Jaffe Holden Acoustics in Norwalk, Connecticut explains, “Monitor systems can create spill into the front-of-house listening area simply due to reflection. Box-shaped platforms with hard, untreated wall surfaces are prime reflectors. But careful aiming of wedges can help keep the upper-frequency reflections from reaching the front-of-house seating areas.”

Tom Young

The most common type of stage monitor is the floor monitor, or wedge. Criteria for selecting a stage monitor include: coverage angle, maximum sound pressure level (SPL)/volume, vocal clarity, bass response, size, fidelity and price. Ted Leamy, formerly of Electrotech, a major tour sound company, and now with JBL suggests, “It is very difficult to evaluate a monitor system as you would a stand-alone speaker. The clarity of the mid-range frequencies is all-important when the monitor is placed in the stage environment. One model doesn't fit all.”

Paul Folkestad of Guitar Center, the nationwide musical instrument and pro audio retailer, suggests, “There are two distinctly different horn orientations when it comes to stage monitors. Horizonal orientation is better suited for use when several performers must hear one monitor. This is due to the wider dispersion angle of the horn.” A strong vertical coverage angle would be more appropriate for a single performer.

Vertical oriented wedge.

A third option includes monitors with horns or co-axial drivers providing conical coverage offered by Radian, Tannoy and EAW. Of course, wedge monitors are available from an extremely wide range of manufactures. If you want to make a more informed decision about stage monitors, contact a local and qualified dealer about auditioning stage-monitors in your church.

Miniature monitors, such as those that can be mounted on mic stands, are another option for churches. But many of those we interviewed urged caution. Folkestad says, [Miniature monitors] are the most misunderstood type of monitors on the market today. The small, 4-to 5-inch driver size severely limits their usefulness. They are designed as a vocal monitor and perform only marginally in this capacity due to their limited frequency response.”

Tom Young concurs. “Mini monitors may be appealing for their visual size. But with very few exceptions, they do not provide good quality sound and they generally splash sound all over.”

Another option is to “fly” or suspend monitors above the stage. A common practice is to attach the monitor speakers to the back of the house speaker cluster(s). Young says, “Depending on size and layout of choir, acoustics of choir loft, hang points and quality of [house] cluster design, [flown monitors] can either be wonderfully effective or a com-plete waste.” He notes the same need for very precise loud-speaker coverage applies here as much as it does for a front-of-house loud-speaker system.

Mixing those monitors
“Mixes that are created from the house console will not necessarily translate into good mixes for stage monitors,” Young says. “Over the past two decades in secular performance, we have developed methods for successful stage monitor mixing that include splitting the mic lines to an on-stage monitor console and with a human operator.”

A separate monitor mixing console with it’s own dedicated sound engineer may be an option for some larger churches, but most average-sized churches will find this cost prohibitive. As an alternative, Rocky Giannetta of Fault Line, a rep firm represents Crest Audio and other brands in Northern California and most of Nevada, suggests a more cost-effective solution would be to “allow the band to create its own mix…using a small monitor mixer that is designed specifically for that purpose, such as the new Crest XRM monitor mixer.”

Crest XRM mixer