In Ear Monitors – Getting It Right

The bigger the gig, and the bigger the venue, the more difficult it is for musicians to play using wedges. The reflection of FOH sound from room can make it very difficult to keep time. Monitor engineers often struggle with standard monitors to help the artist as much as they need. Over the last few years In Ear Monitors have become a sought-after way for musicians to play live – but it’s not easy to get it right! Having the sound right in the musician’s ears creates new problems, not the least being making it safe for their ears – and that’s more than just sticking a limiter over the mix! The technology also creates problems – you need custom moulds for each musician, as well as for the engineer. The moulds themselves aren’t perfect either, as your ear changes shape whenever you move your jaw, so, for a singer, this means the moulds do not fit perfectly all the time. Keeping track of all the belt packs and monitoring damage to cables etc is also the responsibility of the monitor engineer – so having a good system for this is essential. Other subjects covered: Single use v rechargeable batteries Do you need wedges as back up? Butt kickers/shaking risers Connectors and spare cable Licensing Compression Limiting Output processing & EQ Vocal intelligibility Awareness of artist behaviour Mixing Using ambient mics Filmed at PLASA Focus Leeds 2017