Pink Unicorn Horsey
Megä Pöny Rÿdr
If so, what's working for you and what should I steer clear of?
- Keith
- Keith
Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
- Thread starter Pink Unicorn Horsey
- Start date
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
been there, done that, wont do it again. my buddys whole band went in ears and i didnt like it at all. cool for vocals, bad for guitar. its like being in the studio on stage, no feeling of air moving. im sure some people like it, but not me. or my buddys band for that matter. everyone is back to lugging heavy gear and a mixer with four prefader aux sends for seperate moniter mixes
been there, done that, wont do it again. my buddys whole band went in ears and i didnt like it at all. cool for vocals, bad for guitar. its like being in the studio on stage, no feeling of air moving. im sure some people like it, but not me. or my buddys band for that matter. everyone is back to lugging heavy gear and a mixer with four prefader aux sends for seperate moniter mixes
Stratman
Guitaris Maximus
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
Sorry, but I had to laugh reading this -because it is so true!
Sorry, but I had to laugh reading this -because it is so true!
Pink Unicorn Horsey
Megä Pöny Rÿdr
guitfiddle
firstlessonologist
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
+1
When the bluegrass band used them, it felt plastic to me. What's worse, my wife said it sounded plastic in the crowd. I'll opt for a wedge in front of me from now on.
+1
When the bluegrass band used them, it felt plastic to me. What's worse, my wife said it sounded plastic in the crowd. I'll opt for a wedge in front of me from now on.
ratherdashing
Kablamminator
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
Our drummer likes it. I don't. I agree with jeremy's complaints.
Our drummer likes it. I don't. I agree with jeremy's complaints.
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
I love them. If you can get your whole band using them the experience for your audience will be better because you can control the volume coming off the stage. They take some getting used to but once you go to them it's tough to go back to wedges.
I love them. If you can get your whole band using them the experience for your audience will be better because you can control the volume coming off the stage. They take some getting used to but once you go to them it's tough to go back to wedges.
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
the ones i have experience with are the shure psm 600. which worked fine but still sucked and the whole band was using them.
our stage volume is dictated by the drummer, unless we go to a virtual kit (which i tried and it was awful) that isnt going to change. a good wedge with your own mix and ample power is almost impossible to beat in any situation ive been in and itll spoil you.
the ones i have experience with are the shure psm 600. which worked fine but still sucked and the whole band was using them.
our stage volume is dictated by the drummer, unless we go to a virtual kit (which i tried and it was awful) that isnt going to change. a good wedge with your own mix and ample power is almost impossible to beat in any situation ive been in and itll spoil you.
Pink Unicorn Horsey
Megä Pöny Rÿdr
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
Our band is just starting to gig out, so we're playing on small stages in small venues so far. No room for wedges.
Our band is just starting to gig out, so we're playing on small stages in small venues so far. No room for wedges.
ratherdashing
Kablamminator
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
We've always managed to squeeze at least two 12" wedges on stage with us. Sometimes there's not much room to move around, but it's bearable. Exactly how big of a stage are we talking about, and who is where?
We've always managed to squeeze at least two 12" wedges on stage with us. Sometimes there's not much room to move around, but it's bearable. Exactly how big of a stage are we talking about, and who is where?
Pink Unicorn Horsey
Megä Pöny Rÿdr
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
Well, technically there is room for said wedges, but so far we haven't been playing venues that require us to mic the amps or drums or anything else but the singer. No mikes, no mixer to mix the mikes, no wedges. However, the down side of that is my on-stage mix is whatever I hear standing amid all the cacophony machines.
- Keith
Well, technically there is room for said wedges, but so far we haven't been playing venues that require us to mic the amps or drums or anything else but the singer. No mikes, no mixer to mix the mikes, no wedges. However, the down side of that is my on-stage mix is whatever I hear standing amid all the cacophony machines.
- Keith
ratherdashing
Kablamminator
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
We've played a few gigs like that. Even if the monitors are there just so you can hear vox, it would be a big improvement.
We've played a few gigs like that. Even if the monitors are there just so you can hear vox, it would be a big improvement.
guitfiddle
firstlessonologist
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
If you're only going to use mics for the vocals, you'll need wedges...the way those in-ear monitors work is to make a seal around your ear canal so you can't really hear what's going on around you. You won't hear your amps unless you put up an ambient mic for the stage sounds besides vocals, unless ya'll play the amps WAY loud.
Wedges are the best for me, cause I can hear the blend between the amps/drums behind me, and the vocals in the speakers.
If you're only going to use mics for the vocals, you'll need wedges...the way those in-ear monitors work is to make a seal around your ear canal so you can't really hear what's going on around you. You won't hear your amps unless you put up an ambient mic for the stage sounds besides vocals, unless ya'll play the amps WAY loud.
Wedges are the best for me, cause I can hear the blend between the amps/drums behind me, and the vocals in the speakers.
krankguitarist
Krankitupologist
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
I use in-ears in practice, as our PA system is a piece of crap. I can barely ever hear myself in there. I don't have a wireless system though, so I use the venue's wedges when we pay live.
I use in-ears in practice, as our PA system is a piece of crap. I can barely ever hear myself in there. I don't have a wireless system though, so I use the venue's wedges when we pay live.
Simon_F
Super Moderator
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
That's my usual experience too. At least it drowns out my tinnitus.
That's my usual experience too. At least it drowns out my tinnitus.
J Moose
New member
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
If that's the case then the very last thing you'd want to have are IEM's.
To really get them working the whole band has to be miked up & ideally you've got a dedicated monitor engineer & console. Otherwise they can be terribly isolating and really inconsistent which doesn't make a lot of sense, given the theory but thats what happens.
Typical problem with IEM's is that they cut whoevers wearing them off from the rest of the world... you hear whats in the ears but little to nothing of anything else like crowd noise. A common way around that is to get some omni mics, hang them around the stage and mix the ambient stuff back in but now you've got more stuff to deal with.
A common pitfall is to have one or two guys on IEM's which doesn't really help stage volume. At the least, the rest of the band needs to hear the singer... even if the singer doesn't want wedges. I recall one case where stage volume went UP from hitting the sidefills harder...
They can also be dicey in small clubs where sometimes we couldn't even hook 'em up because the crappy mixer was out of aux sends or there was some other BS reason, like we need a weird adapter or the tail outs are 50 feet away from the stage and there was too much interference to get a reliable signal.
Few years ago, the band I was touring with as FOH engineer had a singer who decided to try IEM's. One singer, bass, drums, guitar & keys. She wanted the IEM's because the stage volume while reasonable would escalate on some nights and she would blow her voice out. Took maybe three months but we gave up & went back to wedges with a new approach. One mix... vocal only.
If that's the case then the very last thing you'd want to have are IEM's.
To really get them working the whole band has to be miked up & ideally you've got a dedicated monitor engineer & console. Otherwise they can be terribly isolating and really inconsistent which doesn't make a lot of sense, given the theory but thats what happens.
Typical problem with IEM's is that they cut whoevers wearing them off from the rest of the world... you hear whats in the ears but little to nothing of anything else like crowd noise. A common way around that is to get some omni mics, hang them around the stage and mix the ambient stuff back in but now you've got more stuff to deal with.
A common pitfall is to have one or two guys on IEM's which doesn't really help stage volume. At the least, the rest of the band needs to hear the singer... even if the singer doesn't want wedges. I recall one case where stage volume went UP from hitting the sidefills harder...
They can also be dicey in small clubs where sometimes we couldn't even hook 'em up because the crappy mixer was out of aux sends or there was some other BS reason, like we need a weird adapter or the tail outs are 50 feet away from the stage and there was too much interference to get a reliable signal.
Few years ago, the band I was touring with as FOH engineer had a singer who decided to try IEM's. One singer, bass, drums, guitar & keys. She wanted the IEM's because the stage volume while reasonable would escalate on some nights and she would blow her voice out. Took maybe three months but we gave up & went back to wedges with a new approach. One mix... vocal only.
ratherdashing
Kablamminator
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
At small venues we mic the vox, kick, and guitar amps, and we DI the bass. The FOH mix is usually just vox and a bit of kick, since the guitar and bass amps fill the venue plenty on their own. We have three wedges - two at the front of the stage, and one next to the drummer (though lately he's been using headphones). The monitor mix will include a bit of everything, but mostly vox. Since the other guitarist is across the drum kit from me, I can't usually hear him without his amp in the monitors, and vise versa.
At larger venues we'll mic the whole kit, put some of the amps through FOH, and put an extra wedge or two at the front of the stage.
This is all assuming we're providing the PA. If we're playing somewhere with a house system, it's a whole different ball game.
At small venues we mic the vox, kick, and guitar amps, and we DI the bass. The FOH mix is usually just vox and a bit of kick, since the guitar and bass amps fill the venue plenty on their own. We have three wedges - two at the front of the stage, and one next to the drummer (though lately he's been using headphones). The monitor mix will include a bit of everything, but mostly vox. Since the other guitarist is across the drum kit from me, I can't usually hear him without his amp in the monitors, and vise versa.
At larger venues we'll mic the whole kit, put some of the amps through FOH, and put an extra wedge or two at the front of the stage.
This is all assuming we're providing the PA. If we're playing somewhere with a house system, it's a whole different ball game.
3
34029324079
Guest
Re: Anyone Out There Using In-Ear Monitors?
from my experiences the wedges work fine. if u go JBL Eon G2 15" like I did, you can separately plug in a mic straight into the wedge mixer and control volume for that mic, send the signal to the main mixing board etc. works really well! if some of your bandmates dont do in-ear-monitors and you dont have wedges in some places, they can step into some parts of the stage and hear absolutely nothing which is not good.
in conclusion
wedges = good
in ear monitors = expensive and potentially bad if not done correctly.
from my experiences the wedges work fine. if u go JBL Eon G2 15" like I did, you can separately plug in a mic straight into the wedge mixer and control volume for that mic, send the signal to the main mixing board etc. works really well! if some of your bandmates dont do in-ear-monitors and you dont have wedges in some places, they can step into some parts of the stage and hear absolutely nothing which is not good.
in conclusion
wedges = good
in ear monitors = expensive and potentially bad if not done correctly.
