So, your church or band has decided to move away from floor wedges. Maybe to decrease the stage volume so your ears live longer. Maybe to reduce clutter, so the stage looks cleaner for live streaming and videos. Whatever the reason, you are faced with the challenge of needing in-ear monitors when on stage.
The world of in-ear monitors is relatively new and unfamiliar to most folks. It has its own language and buying process. If we are talking custom in-ear monitors, it might be the first custom ANYTHING you have ever bought.
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR HEARING MYSELF ON STAGE?
Not counting floor wedges, you basically have three options here:
- Headphones
- A universal fit in-ear monitor
- A custom in-ear monitor
Notice we said the word “monitor” and AirPods, earbuds, or Beats are not on the list. A monitor is designed to help you hear yourself and others on the team whereas an earbud or consumer earphones are made for listening to music in a relatively quiet environment.
Headphones offer great sound, but they can be distracting to both a live and a live stream audience. They can sound fantastic, but unless you are a DJ or drummer who builds headphones into the performance they aren’t the most svelte option.
THE BENEFITS OF IN-EAR MONITORS ON THE STAGE
That brings us to in-ear monitors. What are the benefits of in-ear monitors (sometimes referred to as IEMS)?
There are many advantages but the two most important are long-term hearing health and the “right model for the right need”. A good in-ear monitor is first a good earplug. By reducing outside noise, your monitors don’t need to be as loud and are much safer for your eardrums. Safer listening levels mean you keep your hearing longer!
You can also get an in-ear monitor with a sound tailored to your particular instrument or need. If you are a bass player you have different needs than a vocalist and your IEMS can reflect that. This is truer of custom in-ears as universal fit models usually need to be…well… universal.
Often, a church or band will purchase several universal fit in-ears to have on hand for the team to use. We have three models that are really great for this, the UV1 single driver, UV2 dual driver and the UV3 triple driver. Because they need to be “one-size-fits-most” in both size AND function, they are generally less instrument-specific than a custom. Tip: if your church or band uses universal fit monitors, please make sure to keep your tips from week to week or use a fresh set of tips each week.
WHAT IS A CUSTOM IN-EAR MONITOR?
A custom in-ear monitor is a monitor that is designed to fit your ear and your ear only. When you order a set of customs (as they are often called) you will visit an audiologist who will take an impression of your ear that will be used to make your monitors. That sounds like a lot of hassle, but it’s worth it.
There are lots of reasons to go custom over universal but here are our…
TOP 5 REASONS TO USE CUSTOM IN EAR MONITORS ON STAGE
- You can get a model that is designed for your exact needs. Bass players have different needs than vocalists and custom in-ear manufacturers generally have options to fit your exact needs. Click here for help finding out what model is right for you.
- A custom in-ear has the most noise reduction potential and will be safer for your long-term hearing health.
- They are custom-made for you and will not fall out no matter how much you move. The amount of time we spend worrying about universal fit models falling out, pushing them back in, and adjusting them is worth exploring the custom route.
- You can pick out colors to match your personality. We often get this question: “What is the least distracting color?” Here is the thing, there is no truly “invisible” option. When the color is subtle, people stare and try to figure out if there is something in your ear. When the color is flashy, they say oh, there is something in their ear and move on. So flashy can be LESS distracting in the long run – so go wild and let your customs reflect YOU. Use our Designer to design and share your IEMS.
- Custom in-ear monitors can’t be shared. This is healthier for your ears and, let’s face it, far less gross. Sweat and wax will inevitably get in the ports of in-ear monitors. Even if you are getting new tips on universals each time, that sweat and wax is still in the ports and tubes.
WHAT’S ALL THIS TALK ABOUT DRIVERS
When we say driver we are using a technical term for speaker. Most in-ear monitors are made with moving coil drivers, balanced armature drivers, or a combination of both. A moving coil (sometimes called dynamic) driver is the kind of speaker we are most familiar with. A circle made of some material that moves in and out when you put a signal to it. The benefits of these are that they are inexpensive and do a pretty good job at reproducing the low end.
Most custom in-ears are made with balanced armature drivers, originally used in the hearing aid industry. They are smaller than a dynamic driver so designers can fit many drivers into a single ear. They are also quicker with less mass so they tend to have great clarity and punch.
Here is where it can get technical. With multiple drivers, we can divide up the frequency range and let each driver work where it is designed to excel. You might see the word crossover which is a group of electrical parts that divide up the frequencies so each driver is only reproducing parts of the whole sound spectrum.
We can also stack the drivers to get more headroom (headroom is essentially how loud you can play a sound before it distorts). This is essential for bass players and drummers since low frequencies need the most headroom. Because there are so many potential combinations of drivers, it is difficult to compare one monitor to another.
Is more better? Absolutely not. For example, Alclair makes a 5 driver for drummers with 4 low-end drivers (massive headroom) and 1 upper-end driver. They also make a four-driver with 2 low drivers, a mid and a high that is designed to be flat and even. Is the 5 driver better? Not if you are a guitar player.
Keep this in mind when comparing one company to another. One company’s six driver may not be the same configuration or use case as another company’s six driver.
QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED
What about ambience?
Ambience (letting some outside stage noise in) is tricky with in-ears. It can compromise the noise reducing capabilities of the monitor and the low-end wants to leak out and can get muddy. For your hearing health, we always recommend using microphones on stage fed back into your in-ears to provide the ambience you need. That is the safest option, and one that will work for EVERYONE on stage, whether they have custom in-ear monitors or off the shelf universal fit models.
Can I take one ear out to hear the congregation better?
Not if you want to keep your hearing! To hear yourself, the ear with an in-ear will need to be LOUDER than the sounds in the open ear due to how your brain processes information. This is very dangerous for your ears and worse for that one ear than having no in-ears in.
Will I feel “closed off”?
You might at first. We recommend adding ambience with the mic on stage trick (mentioned above) to help with this. The more you use your in-ears, the easier it will get. Before long, your brain will pick up on other non-audible cues from the band and congregation and you won’t even notice that that closed-off feeling.
Can they be repaired?
Absolutely! Make sure you get a pair with a replaceable cable (those tend to wear out over time and some people are harder on them than others) and a good repair policy. They will most likely need new tubes at some point from wax buildup. Also, balanced armature drivers don’t like to be dropped and can get “unbalanced” easily. Most manufacturers can repair them quickly, look for one with a generous warranty and repair policy.
We have a flat $99 repair fee at Alclair. This covers everything from cracks to crushes and lasts as long as you own your monitors.
How much can I expect to spend?
A great set of universal monitors will be in the $250-500 and higher range. Customs can be more expensive because they are…well… custom. Manufacturers can only make one at a time, often with significant “by hand” work. They can range from $350-2500 or more. Expect to pay between $75-150 for your impressions (Alclair will do free impressions if you are near our Minneapolis or Nashville shops).
There is far more information about in-ear monitors than we can ever cover in a single article, but we hope this is a good primer. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to ask about what model is best for you. Let us know your budget and what you play. We’re happy to help you out!