Selection and Operation of Personal Monitor Systems
Provided by Shure
This article address six questions to Help You Choose Personal Monitor Systems for your Church.
Divided into two sections, the first section gives a short history of monitors and describes, in detail, the benefits of using them. Section two provides specific information on choosing the proper system to meet your needs and the various ways personal monitor systems can be configured.
Six Questions to Help You Choose a Personal Monitor System for your Church
More powerful. Less expensive. And widely accepted. Today, congregations large and small are benefiting from improved sound quality and lower stage volumes.
The guitarist, in order to hear himself better, turns his amplifier up. The singers need more monitor level to compete with the rest of the praise band. The cycle of escalating stage volume begins again – reducing the overall sound quality and worship experience, especially in a high-ceilinged, hard surface environment designed for choirs and acoustic instruments.
An article in Millimeter quoted worship leader Craig Sibley as saying “Stage volumes in churches have gotten out of control. In church, suddenly you have a heavy metal concert going on. People are literally leaving the church because of the volume. The minute you introduce drums, the guitarist turns up his volume so he can hear himself, then the vocalist needs more volume. Next thing you know, it’s volume wars, with unfortunate impacts on worshippers.”
Today’s systems are far more advanced and far less expensive than those appearing on stages and in sanctuaries just a few years ago. But if you lack the luxury of a professional sound crew that includes a FOH engineer and a monitor engineer and more likely, rely on a resourceful staff of sound vets and volunteers, we can guide you through some of the basics and help you identify a system for your church.