My Cheap In-Ear Monitoring Solution

You've all seen these great systems for in-ear monitors. They're fantastic and the even cooler thing is that they WORK. They reduce the overall volume and allow you to focus on making music.

Systems run at around $300 - 2000 per transmitter / receiver / headphone set depending on wireless needs (2 - 8 channels), mixing capability built into the base unit, and interference handling. I have heard mixed things about baseline units, basically that if more than two people are using them, there are issues with interference and reliability.

When I was having trouble hearing myself, I figured it was time to invest in a better way to hear myself.

But problems I've had with in-ear solutions are:

• They are too expensive for most Catholic bands
• Are dedicated to individuals, so when you have higher turnover in your band, it can be problematic
• If you add someone to the band at the last minute and they don't have the monitors, they can't participate
• A drummer isolated from the room doesn't know how loud they are in the room.
• They can be a mixing nightmare as the sound-man needs to tend o individual mixes.

So, I actually come up with a solution that is inexpensive, and simple to use. It doesn't solve all of the above problems, but it does drop the cost.

I had to give up on wireless to keep the cost down. I sit at a piano. It's not a problem for me to be tethered. Same with the drums. I can even do it on guitar and have had great results.

So, what do I use?

I have a Rolls PM351 Personal Monitoring Station (~$99), Shure e2c in-ear headphones (~$99), and a headphone extension cord (~$8). This is probably the cheapest set-up I have seen yet.

The PM351 allows me to plug my mic and an instrument in as well as a monitor. My mic then has a THROUGH port to go to the sound system, as well as the instrument (which comes out as balanced, so I don't need a separate DI box!). The sound engineer then builds a mix like he normally would, and I take my monitor mix from the same mix as the singers. I can then blend my own voice and instrument with theirs, adjusting it up or down. My mixer some something interesting with phase inversion that allows me to adjust my own voice independent, even if my voice is there in the monitor mix!

The end result is for $207 + tax, I have a personal in-ear monitor system that works for my voice as well as my instrument. I have also used the Rolls PM51 which is the same as the PM351, but without the instrument input for about $59. That means you can do this for a singer for only $167 + tax.

There are tons of expensive systems out there that will run circles around the proposal I have here, like the AVIOM system.

I'm talking about a cheap solution.

I suppose it might be cheaper just to tell the drummer what I think about his volume control... ;-)