Poll: Who's using In-Ear Monitors?

[steve V. johnson]

I primarily don't mean who among pro touring artists, but who among Cafe folks, tho I know that includes a good number of touring pro's.

The 'pickup or microphone' thread had some mentions of monitoring and In-Ears, and as I read I just wondered how many of us use 'em. I also have
lost touch with the 'state of the industry', and what works and doesn't these
days.

(A drummer friend asked me to spec out an IEM system for him, but he was adamant that he didn't want to use any limiting in the signal chain. Now, the best systems used to contain limiting functions, and he couldn't afford those. I was very concerned about the protection of his hearing, so I declined to take the job, mostly because of his prohibition on limiting. And this highlighted my ignorance of the products available today.)

So, please sign in if you use In-Ear monitors, and descriptions of your systems, and the costs of 'em, too, would be really nice.

Thanks,

stv

[Rick Crenshaw]

Looks like you're getting no love for your post. My group uses IEM... Shure 200 series. They were inexpensive.. bought most of the stuff off of eBay. Work pretty darn well. They have individual volume controls, but there is little else in the way of sound manipulation. If you want crystalline clear sound that is true to what's coming out of the mains, this system probably isn't it. I think I paid $325 or so for the transmitting unit with one receiving unit. The other three paid somewhere around $165 for their receiving units. Then we all chipped in to buy some assorted foam and silicone ear fitting to go on the earpieces. We usually only use one ear piece so that we can talk to each other and the audience when we are working. We're an amateur group and I'm certain the upper end IEM would sound better, but these get the job done and make using a single mic (LD condenser) with a satellite mic (SD condenser) much more trouble free while allowing us to blend our sound through proximity to the mics.

We practice with these regularly to help us learn to work the mics. BTW, we play some gigs where the sound is provided and is almost always dynamic mics. If you are an amateur band used to practicing in a circle or semi-circle, going to a straight line individual mics set up can really affect your playing and singing. So we often use dynamic mics (3 voc/ 4 instr.) set up across the width of the room in a straight line and use the IEM to learn how to blend and play without all the visual cues.

The IEM system is valuable just for these purposes alone. We've learned the hard way, that good sound coming out of an amplified performance is not a given... even if you are all on top of your parts and well rehearsed. You gotta learn to work those mics. The IEM helps if you use them AT PRACTICE.

[Scott Tichenor]

We have the capability of doing real polls with voting here, but no one ever asks. Don't think we want to turn this on for everyone--that wouldn't be a good idea but if there's a legitimate need, the tools are there. Just contact me first if it's a legitimate poll.

[steve V. johnson]

Thanks, Scott, but I'm meant the term very informally.

Great to know that the means are there, tho!

Thanks for a wonderful Cafe!! While we enjoyed the St. Louis Tionól, there were many
comments offered in appreciation of the Cafe.

Kudos and gratitude,

stv

[steve V. johnson]

Hey, Rick!

Thanks for the info. It's early yet, I'm sure others will reply. I don't feel unloved. :-)

Great point about the practice!!

You wrote: "If you want crystalline clear sound that is true to what's coming out of the mains, this system probably isn't it."

In what ways do you find the sound to be not crystalline clear?

Thanks,

stv

[mdlorenz]

TonyP has many a post about in ears & his gigmatic rig that he runs. My band is thinking about going w/ wired in ears. We are in the process of buying up the necessary equipment & think we're finally there, but we'll need to do a bunch of practicing with them before we use the system out anywhere...

Basically in a rack we have a 31band eq, a limiter & a headphone amp, & we'll all plug in there. We're hoping to do a single LDC, & 2 c1000's on the wings for breaks & a little more instrument in the mix. Possibly would do 2 LDCs, but not sure.

[Tim2723]

Yeah, I was going to say that TonyP is probably the walking encyclopedia of this. Maybe you want to PM him.

[Don Grieser]

We used one of the low end Shure systems in a bluegrass band I was in. We mainly used it in noisy venues. The $100 earbuds from Shure come with an assortment of foam and silicon attachments to seal in your ear. It's essential that you get them inserted correctly or the sound quality is not good. I found the sound quality very good although they don't handle bass very well. You have to get used to singing with them more than playing your instrument through them. You get a lot of your head voice because your ears are plugged (it's like singing with fingers in both ears).

If you take the time to get the mix right before the show, especially if you're in a noisy bar, the in ears can make it a very pleasant experience. They attenuate the bar noise and you can run them at moderate levels instead of having wedges blasting at you.

I believe they ALL come with limiters, BTW, and you'd be crazy not to have one on them.

[Tim2723]

Originally Posted by Don Grieser

You get a lot of your head voice because your ears are plugged (it's like singing with fingers in both ears).

THAT'S what I didn't like about them! Thanks. Until this very moment I never realized what it was I didn't like. I use earplugs in loud venues and get a lot of head voice and my own instrument coming through my body, but the mix coming in with the other factors is what I didn't like. Thanks for that.

[TonyP]

Like a moth to a flame, I've been fluttering by, hoping I wouldn't get pulled in. Too late.

I like Don's observation about the singing and the IEM's, that explains a lot why some have been so resistant. You do get used to it, and at first it's a little disconcerting. But in places like bars is where the IEM shines to me.

Steve, most drummers I've seen have used the Shure receiver, wired in. I can't remember which models or if they all have the capacity, but they can be run either wireless(if you have the trans) or hardwired. If he didn't want limiting, I'd just go with one of the little personal headphone amps they have out that he could mount on his kit and have the controls right there. I think you could come right off the board aux and get a custom mix.

The main complaint I've seen with wireless is the fact it has lower freq. response, and they can sound kinda compressed as I think they compress the signal to get a narrower bandwidth to help with the "clutter" of all those wireless things going on. Also you gotta worry about dropout,(depending on how far you are away from you trans) and the fact that soooo much is now wireless, it can be hard to find an open channel. But for me it's the added cost of wireless, over a straight wired setup. and since he's playing a drum set, why does he need wireless? Same with keyboard players....

Also I don't think any of the regular studio headphone amps have any limiting on them. My system which is just a 4ch studio headphone amp doesn't. Some flip out that there's no limiting on my headphone system, but for the most part, the only time I'd be worried about it would be if we had feedback. I keep two feedback "slots" on the dbx "live" just for those unexpected accidents and when they have happened, it's caught 'em so fast we didn't get hurt or barely have time to figure out there was a problem. I do run the IEM's through one input ch of the dbx and it has various processing it can do, and I had the autolevel going at one time. But we were playing outside and it was hella windy, and you could hear the headphones, not cutting out, but almost "pumping" like at badly adjusted compressor/limiter. It was reacting to the subsonics of the wind in the mics that was auto eq'd out, and we couldn't even hear. So I turned it off, and no more weirdness.

[steve V. johnson]

Tony and I have been thru a lot of this in other threads, so I expected that he'd get sucked into this one (as he says above).

I just want to find out how widespread the use is among folks here.

Tony, I don't want to be the guy to put the drummer's system together w/o a limiter because he plays with a bunch of different bands, electric and acoustic both, and I don't want the responsibility. I thought sure that the headphone amps do not include limiters, I've never seen a limiter nor compressor in any of 'em.

I'm not against the use of systems w/o limiting, universally. Not at all, I just don't want to specify that for a guy who plays in a lot of different situations.

Using the dbx Driverack in applications to the wired in-ears is really cool. Good use.

Thanks to all, please keep 'em coming!

stv

[Rick Crenshaw]

Steve, my post about not getting 'crystalline sound' is in regards to the what ever effect (compression?) having all the instruments and vocals coming through the ear pieces and not sounding live... or clearly seperated. Maybe it is the effect of having all those signals push through the one transmitter and then the ear piece. I don't know how else to explain it. After all, I'm a bluegrass musician and all this electronic stuff is out of my area of expertise. I do know that after some time, you can use the IEMs quite effectively. You just have to get acclimated and learn to trust what you hear through the ear piece.

[steve V. johnson]

Thanks, Rick.

stv