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Why in-ear monitoring?
Regardless of your level of fame, budget, or the size of your band, whether you’re fighting
for success or playing for passion, hearing yourself well is a prerequisite to improving your
performance. And whether you are a pro or an amateur, you won’t want to ruin your hearing
during loud rehearsals, or on stages that can feel like acoustic battlegrounds.
There are many things
musicians might disagree on,
but rarely this
There is maybe one topic that almost everyone in the
music industry agrees on: in-ear monitoring. Wedges are
an acoustic compromise. They not only interfere with mics
and PA systems, they also take up space and you have to
stay within their sweet spot to be able to hear yourself.
In-ear monitoring can end the noise battle on stage, where
amplified and non-amplified instruments wage a war
nobody can win. Everything is lost on this acoustical
battlefield: detail, precision, orientation. And, more often
than not, so is the musician’s hearing.
When you play on smaller or mid-sized stages, the wedges
not only take up a lot of room – they add to the PA sound,
especially in the mids and lows, which results in a confused
sound, both on and off stage. Plus, they take up a lot of
space in your van and need extra setup time.
With IEMs, you can take your perfect sound anywhere – in
a lightweight package.
In-ear monitoring makes life
better
On site, you simply plug in your IEM rack, and you’re ready.
You set up faster, you play better, and you deliver a better
experience for your audience. You can work with lower
volumes but get much more precision and orientation.
Your audience will notice the improvement in sound. The
engineer will like you, because you’re saving them a lot
of time during soundcheck as your monitor mix is already
perfect. You allow them to focus on their job, which is to
provide a solid sound for the audience.
Take your talents seriously
In the end, it’s not only about efficiency and quality on the
road. It’s also about taking your talents seriously. You need
to hear yourself to deliver your best, and you need to hear
the others to work as a band, as a team. This includes not
ruining your hearing with too much volume and too much
acoustic interference. Even if the band is your hobby and
you don’t want to perform live on stage, in-ear monitoring
will give you a new experience.
Change “loud” to “precise”
In-ear monitoring lets you play better,
simply because you have a better
representation of everything that’s
important to you: your band, your
sources, and your sound – all in a
perfect resolution.
