Choosing the Right Gear: In-Ear Monitors
If you are considering using loops in worship, you may be using in-ear monitors or are interested in making the switch to them. While loops can be used without in-ear monitors (check out our previous article for tips and suggestions), there are some distinct advantages to moving your band to in-ears. If you have shopped for in-ear monitors, you know that the amount of choices can be overwhelming. In this article, you’ll get an overview of what to look for as you shop and some experiences I’ve had with with various in-ear monitors.
What not to use
Let’s start by saying that I would not recommend using cheap headphones as in-ear monitors. iPod earbuds and other cheap earphones will not do the job! For the monitors to be effective, they must achieve a good seal on your ear. This blocks out stage noise and allows the user to hear their custom mix clearly. An ear monitor that does not seal well must be turned up louder to overcome the stage sound and does more to harm your ear, not protect it. When used correctly, in-ear monitors should protect your hearing by allowing you to listen to a lower level monitor mix than a conventional stage wedge. Beware of using headphones that are not intended for in-ear use.
Which Fit?
In-ear monitors fall into two main categories: universal or custom fit. Universal monitors use replaceable foam sleeves and can generally be used by anyone. If necessary, people could share this type of monitor by using separate foams and properly cleaning the monitors between uses. These monitors fit well and are usually cost less than custom-fit monitors.
Custom-fit monitors are created by taking an impression of the user’s ear canal. The ear monitor is created to specifically fit that person’s ears. They provide the best fit but are also more expensive. If purchasing this type of monitor, factor in an additional $25-$50 to get your ear impressions created by a local audiologist. It pays to call around to find the best price. In my area, most ear doctors charged $50 but a local Beltone hearing aid store only charged $25! It usually takes 3-4 weeks for custom-fit ear monitors to be created. If the fit is not perfect, most manufacturers allow you to return them and have them remade.
How Many Drivers?
In-ear monitors are also classified based on the number of drivers inside. A single driver, as the name implies, has one driver producing all the frequencies in the sound spectrum. The dual driver uses 2 drivers – one dedicated to low frequencies and the other to high frequencies. The triple driver uses 3 drivers dedicated to low, mid and high frequencies. In general, the dual and triple drivers produce greater clarity and bass response due to the fact that the dedicated drivers can reproduce the frequencies more clearly. Of course, the more drivers included, the higher the cost. Think of it like a high-quality sound system. You can use one speaker for everything but you get better quality when you have a subwoofer, a mid-range speaker and a dedicated tweeter for the highs.
Check the Return Policy
Whenever you are purchasing ear monitors, be sure and check the return policy. Due to the personal nature of the product, some manufacturers do not allow returns. I’ve had great experiences with earphone solutions (site) They allow you to return Shure and Westone products within 30 days of your order date. In the past, I have ordered several models of earphones for our worship team members to try out and returned the ones they did not like. This is an excellent way to ensure that you get in-ear monitors that fit and sound great!
Custom-fit ear monitors usually have a pretty short trial period (between 10-30 days) for you to make sure that they fit well. If you have any reservations about how well they seal – return them immediately to have them remade. I know it’s hard to wait 3 more weeks but it’s worth it in the long run!
Great Foam Makes All the Difference
Most universal-fit monitors will come with a variety of tips to try out. Try them all to find the one that works best for your ear size/shape. My favorite foams are made by Comply Foam (http://www.complyfoam.com/). They make foams that will fit almost any ear monitor made. Just check their site for details!
Sharing In-Ear Monitors
I know some people may cringe at the suggestion of this but in our youth ministry, we share in-ear monitors. I’ll be the first to admit that this is not the ideal situation. I wish I could afford to buy custom in-ears for every member of our worship team (or at least Westone UM-1′s). But the reality is that we have about 50 musicians who play on a rotating basis. It is not possible for us to purchase ear monitors for each of them. They are all youth musicians so it is also not an option to require them to purchase in-ear monitors to play in the band (although I do make this information available and encourage them to purchase a pair if they are able).
So here’s what we do. We have 8 sets of ear monitors. Every band member is required to purchase their own foams for $5. We give a plastic “snack-size” baggie to everyone for them to store their foams in and have them write their name on the bag with a Sharpie. Each band has a separate plastic box to store their ear foams in. There is also a drawer for all the ear monitors to be stored in. At the beginning of practice, each musician gets their own ear foams from the bin, chooses a pair of ear monitors, cleans them with an alcohol wipe and uses them for that session. At the end of the day, they are expected to return the ear monitors and ear foams to their proper place.
We’ve been using this system for almost 2 years now and have not had any ear infections or other problems. I recommend that everyone replace their ear foams every 4-6 months and this works really well! Keeping some q-tips on hand so that people can clean their ears before they put they use the ear monitors helps out, too!
These are just a few things to keep in mind when purchasing In-Ear Monitors. What In-Ear Monitors do you currently use, or which ones are you considering using? Let us know by leaving a comment below. We’ll take a look at a few different brands of In-Ears for different price ranges in our Next Article!
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Great post Jake, I really like how you have covered everything. There is so much that goes into In-Ear Monitors and you’ve done a great job discussion all of facets. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the encouragement, Gary! We’ll be posting an article on In-Ear Monitor Systems soon so be sure to check that out. I love what you guys have going at worshipministry.com – tons of great content!
Nice Post! But I do believe you left out one other, just as important, classification when it comes to “drivers” and that is Dynamic or Balanced Armature. When it comes to balanced armature drivers not all drivers are created equal and like Forest Gump says “you never know what yer gonna get”. Not to mention it takes multiple BA drivers (dual, triple, etc…) and crossovers to try and reproduce what 1 Dynamic speaker can do. BA drivers are a hearing aid style driver that looks like a tiny flask. A Dynamic driver is an actual loudspeaker that looks like a tiny house or car speaker. Of course audio is subjective and everyone has a preference in sound but it is worth noting that there is another option for consideration when choosing your in-ears; that being armature or Dynamic!
Hey Dayna! Thanks for taking time to comment. You bring up a very interesting point about dynamic vs. balanced armature. Which one do you prefer? It looks like there’s a lot of debate out there as to which one is superior! Which models of in-ear monitors do you think are good examples of each type? Here’s an interesting article with a few examples of each:
http://www.earphonesolutions.com/the-case-for-in-ear-earphones.html
Of the ones they list, I definitely prefer the balanced armature models. Dynamics are too big for my ears and are hard to keep in. I’d be curious to hear other people’s experiences with them though.