Wireless In-ear Monitoring Systems

In-ear monitoring (IEM) is at the apex of a series of tech advances that have led up to the ability of stage performers having their own customized monitoring environment in a live music situation. In the ’60s, stage monitoring was a radical, new-age concept at a time when even the Beatles were miking drums in live concerts with a single omnidirectional EV635 overhead. It didn’t matter because no one could hear them playing above the usual adolescent shrieking. As their music and that of other performers became more sophisticated, the live stage systems used by such performers had to evolve to deliver to paying concert crowds the same sound quality and definition that had been heard on the groups’ records.

By the ’90s, enough performers had put together do-it-yourself IEM systems that manufacturers recognized the trend and produced wireless models with better control, while the firms that had been making custom interruptible feedback (IFB) earpieces for TV anchors and reporters found a new market in stage musicians and vocalists. The same technology that was pushing the envelope on wireless microphone systems with frequency agility, improved receiver selectivity, and more recently, automatic frequency assignment, was used to deliver better performance for rapidly evolving IEM systems. Now these systems are everywhere providing much better monitoring clarity, eliminating feedback, and drastically reducing the hernia factor for stagehands and roadies.