How and why should I use in-ear-monitors in my church?

In ear monitors or IEMs are becoming an ever more popular way to do your band monitoring, but why is that? In short, because they are brilliant! 

There are so many positives to using in ear monitors over stage wedges. They offer reduced levels of sound on stage, that gives better control of the sound for the sound engineer (and everyone else) and therefore a better quality of sound all round. They also give more accuracy of sound for the people using them, they isolate unwanted noise giving a higher ratio of signal-to-noise. They can also work out cheaper too. Admittedly, if you use wireless in ear systems then they will probably cost more but depending on your stage size and what instrument you are playing, wireless systems may not be necessary. On a smaller stage where people have less space to move around it might well be the case that most musicians can quite easily use a wired in ear solution. If they are sat on a stool like a drummer or stood at an instrument that doesn’t move like a keyboard or even if they are tied down by a wire to their instrument like a guitar, often, even the singers will be using wired microphones. If everyone is tied down by wires already and unable to move great distances, there is little point in giving them a wireless monitor system and wired systems can be put together for around £150 where as a wedge system will probably cost something more like £350 per wedge.

As with everything in life, there are down sides. A stage wedge can be shared, for example, by a group of backing singers, however in ear systems can only be used by one person meaning each singer will need their own system. The easiest way to set an in ear monitor system up is to give each system its own output from your mixing desk, this means that it requires a lot of outputs from your mixer. On a digital system this might not be a problem but for an analogue mixer there might not be enough outputs to set the system up in this way. 
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So that’s the why, what about how you should use you in ear monitors? I have a few simple tips when it comes to using in ears.

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