Does anybody use in-ear monitors at gigs?

[DavidE]

I'm looking at the ones Anotherfreak is selling.

The advantages are tempting.

[Thundernotes]

I use one and leave the other out. I find it gives me a good reference for my own voice, but doesn't insulate me from the band.

[cloakerz]

"I use one and leave the other out. I find it gives me a good reference for my own voice, but doesn't insulate me from the band."

+1

[DavidE]

I guess that would eliminate the need for the ambient pack?

Shure AP201k Ambient Pack

Improve your in-ear monitoring experience!

The AP201k kit is designed to bring ambience to the PSM 200 wired and wireless in-ear monitor systems. Utilizing a small lavalier microphone, these systems eliminate the isolation that a user experiences while using isolating earphones, such as the E2. The AP201k kit is for use with the P2R Hybrid Bodypack Receiver in wired or hybrid wired/wireless mode.

[iownit4]

my singer uses them ,and loves them ,he also has the back ups running through them also ...

[Jimbilly]

I use them, for at least 6 months I think. I don't really like them all that much, but I understand the benefit is for the house to keep volumes down. I should probably buy a better set of earpieces, I'm told that can help quite a bit.

[Guest JackButler]

Used them everyweek for the past 5 years. I too use the "one in/one out".. I like hearing the house..crowd noise, some natural reverb.. we have 5 wedeges for back up, just in case.. the greatest thing it does is eliminates subjecting vocalist to everyone's volume wars.. Once we started using these and everyone could basically tailor "Their mix" in "Their Head".. everyone quit playing that whole game of "I can't hear myself so I'll turn up and then the next guy retaliates"..battery life can be hit or miss.. the only time I've ever had a drop out issue is on big televised things where we run smoke, hazers, a TON of every light imaginable (bot flying and setting on the stage itself) and add to that a couple of video walls and LCD/plasma monitors all at once.

[Stokesdead]

only at my church gig. and in that situation it has been very nice. the old monitors sucked and i was always asked to turn down. now pod direct with in ears is workin great for me. i know thats not your situation but there is my experience

[Steve Haynie]

It is best if everyone in the band uses in ear monitors. If a couple of members are demanding loud floor monitors they will defeat part of the advantages of in ear monitors.

[DavidE]

It is best if everyone in the band uses in ear monitors. If a couple of members are demanding loud floor monitors they will defeat part of the advantages of in ear monitors.

You haven't heard my drummer's snare......

[Jimbilly]

We also use a pair of 'ambient' condenser mics, one front of house, and one rear, that we can add into each mix for a more live feeling monitor mix.

[nosajwp]

Aviom personal mixers with IEM's is the bee's knees for me. You get to hear exactly what you want from the band, and the people in the front row don't cringe!

[licksville]

Somewhat contrary to the previous posts, we have 1 guy in the band who uses them and it is the rest of us that benefit. I mix his guitar and vocals very loudly in his mix but less so in the house mix and we don't get blasted by his vocals in the wedges and his amp is kept to a modest dull roar. He has special ear plugs though that were custom fitted by an ear doctor so they act as both monitors and ear plugs so he can't hear a friggin thing that isn't coming through his mix. This makes it very difficult to call audibles when we want to deviate from the set list but he was developing severe ringing and hearing issues so he didn't really have a choice. Too bad the $700 Sennheiser in-ear system doesn't make his guitar play in tune.

[Ethan]

i play with a guy that swears by them and wont play without them, i used them a few times and liked them but thought i would do just as well without them....i also felt like i had to be extra careful rocking out so i didnt drop the pack or anything.

[DavidE]

My first night with them was very mixed at best. My sound guy never worked with them before.

Since the Shure PSM200 has two inputs with volume control, we put my mic directly into input 1 and then ran it to the board. We put an aux out mix into input 2. The aux mix had some kick, bass, lead singer's vocals and guitar. That way I was able to mix my vocal separately from the rest of the band myself.

Hearing my vocal direct was great, though my voice direct clipped the input much sooner than I expected.

As for the aux mix....... ugh. First, my guitar sounded like I was playing through a trasistorized mini amp with a 2" speaker. I took out the earpieces and it sounded killer in the room. The sound guy played with the eq and we moved the mic around a bit, but it still sounded brittle and trebly. Yuck. It approached being "ok" on the clean sound, but all of the various gain sounds were just horrible. Nothing else sounded good either. It sounded "ambient" even with the ambient mic off.

After first set, I spent time with the sound guy and told him to send me only dry signals. no reverb, no delay etc... just pure signals.

Second set was worse. It was all just a mess. I first took out one earpiece and it helped, but I ended up taking both out and singing off the mains since Ididn't have a wedge monitor. The stage volume was much louder than my in ears and it was really loud. In this particular place, we are stuck inside a little box while the rest of the place has huge soaring ceilings. Our drummer hits really hard and it seems he can't hold back.

So, I'm thinking that the reason everything sounds like crap is whatever eq and/or effects the soundguy is putting on the sounds. The only thing clear is my own vocal that's plugged directly into the transmitter. After second set I realized that I have a second receiver pack and I give it to him so he can hear what I hear. He got me a better mix and I was able to keep my earplugs in the entire set, but the instrument mix still didn't sound good. I also notice that when I sang, the system compressed the aux mix input. This wasn't too bad since it made it even easier to hear myself, but then I didn't hear the rest of the band very much.

The sound guy wants to put two mics on my amp next time so he can eq one of them specifically for the in ears without changing the FOH eq. It's an idea.

Any other thoughts?

[DavidE]

Oh, we're working with a different sound guy this Friday, so I'll see how much of the sound issue is the sound guy...

[DavidE]

I also received my etyomotic E6 ear buds today and I hooked them up to my in ear molded plugs from my musicians earplugs.

They sound pretty crappy. No low end with my custom molded ear plugs or the included ear pieces.

I'm going to have to use my freakin' Bose earphones with my in ears to get some freakin' bottom end! WTF???????

[Special J]

My last 2 bands have used in-ears both for practice and for gigging. The only time we don't use them is in a festival situation where it's too time consuming to get them set up and mixed correctly. They do take some time to get used to, but the benefits (for us at least) are way worth it. We're using a system consisting of a Yamaha 01V, 2 PSM400's, a PSM600 (mine) and a hardwire system for the drummer consisting of a BGW single space power amp and a limiter. All buds are Shure E3's. The digital console allows us to save and quickly recall settings from previous gigs and rehearsal situations making set up and sound check pretty quick. It's got built in effects, dynamics, etc. We don't use ambient mics, but usually there are enough open mics on stage that I have a general sense of what's going on outside of my head. If you go with universal fit buds, I suggest getting the triple flange sleeves. These don't come with the kits, you have to order them separately, but they provide better isolation than the foamy sleeves, and therefore better bass response. If you're looking for more bass, a good option is to go with Aura bass shakers. They give you back some of the feel of having large speakers onstage.

If we're supplying the PA, we just take a pair of powered speakers and we're good to go. Nice and light. If we're using a house PA, I have a rack of mic splitters I bring along and just tie it in. That way we still have full control of our mixes. I would definitely go with the Aviom system if budget allowed it. I tried it out at AES a couple years ago. Very cool stuff.