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Why are Monitors so important?

June 8, 2022

Floor monitors / In ear monitors...

I have had and believe it or not still have students saying to me, "I don’t use monitors I just stand in front of my / the PA… I can hear myself really well?"

It floors me every time!

Monitors are the number 1 piece of kit that are gonna save your voice.

When a monitor is set up correctly with front of house sound, it create’s a slip stream, it’s amazing and makes your job as a singer safer and easier.

Your gig will be enjoyable, fun, it should not be a struggle.

Having good monitors stops you from over singing and making sure you wake up the next day with a voice.

I’ve had times myself in the past where we’d turn up at a venue and the vocal monitors were dull or muddy sounding.

This is not good for the singer the sound must be EQ’d so that you can hear yourself clearly over the band.

A good engineer would do this but sometimes it’s the equipment at the venue that’s in ill repair, the times I’ve heard an engineer say…Oh, the tweeters have gone in those wedges…??? When the tweeters (top end speakers) have gone (broken) in a monitor or wedge all you’ll hear is mid range and bottom end…Definitely no good for a female singer... no good for any singer! … It’s unbelievable the disregard that some venues have, Its not the engineers fault, its the venue manager or owner….Get them fixed!

And other times sadly the “The Engineer” isn’t great, this happens a lot depending on the venue sadly, try to learn what EQ you sound best with…You can learn this asking a good engineer who’s actually managed to get you a great sound, what EQ’s he/she has set for you. Make a note, take that note wherever you play, it’ll save your life!

Not having monitors in place will cause you to over sing causing you to push your voice to a place that’s unsafe. Too much over singing leads to problems, including Nodules.

My advice to anyone is either get yourself an in ear monitor system or buy your own power monitor which you take around to gig with you, it's just like an extra suitcase.

The wedge itself will have its own power and controls, you’ll have your own kettle lead to plug in turn it on, you’ll need a jack to jack to or DI box to connect to the venue’s system (the venue engineer should be able to provide that) then bingo, you are in control and can set yourself a good sound. There’s tone control, bass, mid and treble controls all at your fingertips, its the cheaper option to in ears and if set up correctly will be you best friend.

In ears are more expensive but an amazing investment, you don’t have to pay thousands of pounds, get some advice, or better still go to a place where you can try them out. I use a company called 'Hand Held Audio’ they’re in Enfield just outside London, you can go there and try out equipment with the help of a qualified engineer. They’re great for advise over the phone too.

If your voice means anything to you, DO NOT SING WITHOUT MONITORS…

xx Nikki