Short Description: Speaker in the form of headphones, spot monitor, or stage speaker used to provide sound to specific individuals on the stage such as musicians and singers. 

Details: Monitors are meant to provide sound as an important part of a performance such as a soloist hearing the accompanyment track or a guitarist hearing a drummer. Monitors are not meant to be heard by the audience - though a bit of sound wash in the first one or two rows is ok. Monitoring is very important to the quality of the praise and worship teams. 

There are three types of monitors: 

• Stage/Wedge Monitors: These are speakers that sit on the floor and point towards the performers.
• Spot Monitor: These are small speakers that usually reside on a stand and are pointed towards one specific performer. There are also floor styles.
• In-ear Monitors: There are best option if it's within the budget. Each performer gets a small controller that hooks to a mic-stage or music stand. This controller allows the performers to independently control what they are hearing. Using this method, a guitarist might increase the sound of the drummer and a singer might increase the sound of another singer. Each performer also gets a pair of earbuds that fit securely in their ears. These earbuds then secure into the personal controller for that specific person. The in-ear systems are digital systems and work best with digital mixers. Check with the in-ear companies for exact configuration needs.

Monitors are usually the greatest source of complaint and cause of many accidents. Performers (worship team members, soloists, etc.) need a very specific sound configuration so they hear exactly what they need to hear. Wedge monitors do not provide independent settings per user. Everyone gets the same sound levels. Spot monitors can be used, however, any church with a small stage or a heavily populated stage will soon be overcrowded with mic stands, music stands, and spot monitors. In-ear monitors are therefore the best option where space is an issue or independent levels are required. I'm in a worship team with two guitarists, three singers, a keyboardist, and a very small stage. In-ear is ideal.

Accidents caused by monitors have more to do with user error but here's what can happen with wedge or spot monitors; volume too loud so it overpowers the loudspeakers and degrades sound quality, a CD for a soloist is not stopped after the end of the song and first few rows of people hear the next song start, or monitors are set up in a bad environment to increase possibility of feedback.

It should be noted that in-ear monitors are great with one strong caution. Never take one out and only listen with the other. Doing so requires much greater volume for that ear and thus has been known to cause hearing loss in some professional musicians who have done so.

Brands: Hear Technology (in-ear), Aviom (in-ear),