Most of you are aware that our band went played a gig at a youth event this week.  We had to take the acoustic drum kit and a portable PA to this event, and although we had plenty of volume onstage, I found it difficult to hear myself, especially my voice.  As a result, though I constantly told myself not to push it, my voice was destroyed by the end of the night.  Had I been able to hear myself better, I am confident that I would have been able to make better vocal decisions that would have added to the longevity of my voice.

Vocal health is serious business, because it is very possible to damage one’s voice in a way that is difficult to recover from (don’t believe me, check this out).  One important tool for a singer is onstage monitoring.  Most of us don’t play in acoustically perfect rooms, so it is crucial that we have a way to hear the sounds coming from our mouths.  If we hear ourselves, we are far less likely to oversing, and our voice will sound better and healthier onstage.

Our church has recently purchased an in-ear monitoring system, and it has become an invaluable tool for each of us, especially vocalists.  When most of us hear the words “in-ear monitors,” we think, “woah, way out of the budget,”  however, the selection we made for monitoring was far less expensive than you might expect. We actually opted for a wired in-ear system.  So although we are all hooked up to the system via cables, at least we can hear ourselves onstage in a relatively inexpensive way.

Whether you have in-ear or floor monitors, it is absolutely crucial that vocalists hear themselves.  Every decision you make as far as sound amplification must be structured around that central concept.  Overall, it will make your music sound better and your worship more poignant.