What is available? The hardware
As mentioned earlier, there is quite a range of products that can be used to get the signals to the musicians on stage. There are several types of headphone distribution systems available.

The simplest is a headphone distribution amplifier. You can use this to share one monitor mix among multiple users. There are also some headphone distribution amplifiers that allow you to add an extra signal into each channel. This can allow all the musicians to share the same basic mix but add their instrument into their channel of the distribution amplifier and balance the two so they can hear the mix with their instrument on top without affecting the other musicians on stage.

Some of these types of headphone amps or distribution systems are rack-mount versions and others are designed to be mounted on a stand at each musician’s location on stage. Some of these stand-mounted systems can allow the musician to completely dial up their own mix.

I need to stop here and draw a distinction between headphone distribution amplifiers and dedicated in-ear monitor equipment. Traditionally, headphone distribution amplifiers have been primarily designed for use in a controlled environment like a recording studio.

Fortunately, our houses of worship are a controlled environment and this type of equipment can be used. But, there is a hearing safety aspect for those musicians that are wearing earpieces that has to be considered, particularly if you have a combination of amps, floor wedges, and in-ear monitors. You should consider the purchase of limiters (you will need one for each monitor send). This will allow you to set a volume that the ear monitors can’t exceed.

Manufacturers of in-ear monitoring equipment are providing more ways to make the use of in-ear monitors easier, more convenient and safer. The basic piece of equipment in a dedicated in-ear monitor system is the belt pack.

The belt pack will typically have a volume control, some type of limiter and some type of balance control that allows the musician to mix one channel against the other. This allows the engineer to dial up two mono mixes.

For example, one mix could be heavy vocally and the other mix heavy instrumentally. The musician, depending on what he or she wants or needs to hear, can use this control to fine tune the mix to desired requirements. The bass player may run his mix heavily biased toward the instrumental side with just enough vocal for place keeping, while a vocalist may do the opposite to more clearly hear and hit their harmony notes.

The belt-pack will be either a hardwired pack that gets its signal from the monitor sends or auxiliary sends of the mixing board, or it will be a wireless belt pack that will receive a signal from a transmitter that receives its signal from the monitor sends or auxiliary sends.

Additionally, many of the manufacturers of in-ear monitor equipment are introducing gear that will allow you to augment or expand the amount of outputs from your mixing console. This allows for more individualized monitor mixes without having to replace the console you are already using.

What is available? The earpiece
The first rule of earpieces; no matter how sophisticated the hardware or how extensive your capabilities are as an engineer, if the earpieces chosen are of poor quality, the musicians will not enjoy their in-ear monitor experience. There are several types of ear monitors available, from relatively inexpensive generic designs to completely custom multi-driver earpieces that have to be heard to be believed.

The first consideration in choice of an earpiece design is whether to use an occluding earpiece or non-occluding earpiece. The occluding earpiece reduces ambient sound so that a user has control over the volume. This design is like wearing an earplug with a speaker built into it. A non-occluding design works like an earbud. The earbud allows a user to listen to the signal sent to him however, for that signal to be heard “over” sounds on stage he will have to turn the volume up to a potentially harmful level.

There are two types of speakers in common use for in-ear monitoring; the dynamic transducer, most commonly found in ear bud style headphones, and the balanced armature transducer. Each has its pluses and minuses.

In 70 to 80 percent of the designs available today, manufacturers use the balanced armature design. The most significant functional difference between the two designs is that dynamic transducers don’t require an acoustic seal of the ear while balanced armature drivers do.

This leads to a different sound for each design. The balanced armature driver delivers a “flatter” response. You will also have to consider custom molded designs versus generic designs. For use by a praise team the generic designs are probably the best choice as you may have multiple teams that help lead the congregation in worship.

Better generic designs allow the use of interchangeable generic tips or even custom-fit earmolds to satisfy any hygiene concerns. The cost of earpieces varies. High-quality occluding generic designs start at around $100.00 per pair with top of the line multi-driver custom designs exceeding $800.00 per pair.

What next?
The use of in-ear monitors continues to grow. Along with that growth the technology and ease of use continues to improve. If the benefits of in-ear monitoring seem appealing, do some homework. Talk to the praise team and find out what their ideal monitor environment would be.

Take it slow, start simple and grow your in-ear monitor system with care. The advantages of control for the engineer, the freedom to give each member of the praise team a mix that is ideal for them without affecting someone else’s mix, the reduction of onstage volume and a clear uncluttered stage are all benefits the use of in-ear monitors can deliver.

The choice to go with in-ear monitoring may just be the step needed to take your worship environment to the next level.

Karl Cartwright has been employed with Westone Laboratories Inc. for 22 years. As a member of the new product development team, Karl has been involved in all aspects of the design and manufacture of in-ear monitors. He has extensive knowledge of the custom fit Ultimate Ears product line, the E1 and E5 universal fit product for Shure,as well as the more UM series from Westone Musicians Products. Karl can be contacted at westone@earmold.com.