The What & How

Of In-Ear Monitors

A few months ago we looked at the pros and cons of in-ear monitoring, and for which situations they’re best suited. If you missed out, take a look at the article here.

If you’ve decided that in-ear monitors are the choice for you, and you’re feeling a little stumped by choice of configurations, specs, and price points; fear not.

We’re going to attempt to remedy this situation by breaking down some of the most popular configurations piece-by-piece, arming you with the knowledge to make the right choice for your setup.

The Earphone Shape

The first step in the process is, of course, the earphones. The earpieces used for in-ear monitoring are functionally just a set of earphones with a specific focus on audio quality and sound isolation.

Why Isolation? – Alongside sound quality, sound isolation is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing your in-ear monitors. Stage environments can be loud and unforgiving, so ensuring you can hear the audio from your in-ears clearly by blocking outside sound is a high priority.

In the interest of this, their are two main types of earphones, molded and non-molded.

Molded In-ear Monitors

Molded earphones are shaped specifically to your ear by the manufacturer. A mold of your ear is submitted and the manufacturer will shape the casing around your particular ear shape to ensure maximum comfort and isolation.

Non-Molded In-Ear Monitors

The more common and more affordable option is a standard non-molded earphone. While not molded directly to your ear, they do come with a number of earpieces in various sizes to find the best fit for you to provide the maximum level of comfort and isolation.

Hybrid Monitors

A great middle ground option is to consider hybrid in-ear monitors. This is the process of taking a set of standard non-molded earphones and having custom molded earpieces shaped for you. This is a far more affordable way of going about it, and allows you to decide if a non-molded solution can work for you without the financial risk of testing it out.

The Earphone Drivers

The next step is to look at what’s going on inside the earphone – the drivers. These are the speakers that amplify the sounds you hear. You will find everything from basic single-driver setups (a single speaker that works to produce the full frequency range, to 4-driver units which have individual drivers focusing on different parts of the frequency spectrum to allow for better response at each point.

Another common feature is balanced armature drivers. These are a re-imagining of the way sound is produced.  An electric current is passed through a coil that is wrapped around an armature. The coil is suspended between two magnets, and the changes in current causes attraction between the coil and magnets.

The upside of this is a smaller driver size, improved treble response, and the ability to tune each armature to perform optimally in a specific frequency range, allowing the retention of the excellent bass response provided by dynamic drivers.

Putting Them To Use

So you’ve picked out your pair of in-ear monitors – Where to next?

There are a number of ways of going about setting up a monitoring system for live use, but they’re most commonly split into two camps; wired and wireless.

Wireless Systems

Wireless systems are certainly the most popular method of running in-ear monitoring. It is important to note that wireless systems are, by their nature the more expensive option.

In order to run wireless, you will need a in-ear monitoring specific transmitter/receiver such as the Shure PSM300 or similar. This signal chain in this instance would be to plug the transmitter into the monitor output on your mixing console, at which the transmitter would send the signal  to your receiver (usually a beltpack) which you’ll have your in-ear monitors plugged into. If you’re planning on running around onstage, and you’re looking for ease of use and flexibility, a wireless in-ear setup is certainly the premium option.

Wired Systems

For those on a budget, and those not looking to run around on stage, fortunately a wireless system is not he only way to achieve a great in-ear monitoring rig. One of the most popular is the wired “hack”.

Simply buy a headphone jack as long as the distance you intend on moving around (the length of your instrument cable is always a good starting point). You will then need a means of getting the monitor output signal from the mixing console to your in-ears – a simple headphone amp works perfectly in this case. It’s as simple as that, you can experience premium in-ear monitoring, have some freedom to move about, and keep the budge relatively low.

Have any questions or looking for advice on your in-ear monitoring setup?

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