Getting "ears"

Going to in ear monitors. Super tired of having to yell into the mic to hear myself. I didn't get through the first set last night before I felt myself start to get hoarse.

I know there's tons of guys on here with experience with in ears. What can I expect? It'll be baptism by fire at next weeks gig, so let me know what to expect.

In ears can be great, esp if the whole band uses it and and you have a good monitor guy.

I use my Unique Melody custom molds several times weekly in two very different contexts -

1. contemporary church service - 6pc band plus vox, amps mic'ed under stage, dedicated monitor engineer, wireless receiver packs.

2. Solo acoustic gigs - eliminates need for foldback wedge, blocks out ambient chatter, headphone cable out from my mixer, DIY mixing.

The critical feature i'd want to ensure is the desk send or receiver pack has a limiter. just in case you get a blast if feedback or a crackle/pop from someone plugging/unplugging when they shouldn't. You dont want that directly into your ears. This is more likely if you're the only one with IEMs and the rest are running wedges.

If you don't have an engineer, you want a system that will at least give you control over the mix level AND your own vocal level. I think sennheiser make one with separate volumes.

If your goal is to get better heard, perhaps consider a mic and wedge placement that will allow more gain before feedback. ie learning where the rear null points in your specific mic are and angling wedges accordingly.

Lastly if you're shouting instead of projecting (not saying you are) perhaps vocal technique might need to be addressed.

Lastly, just for considerations sake - soundguy I work with says sometimes on IEMs singers sing quieter (because they can hear more of themselves) and that leads to a lack of projection and him needing to turn up the mic - which introduces more stage wash into the vocal mic.

My .02

Always a wealth of knowledge man. Yes, my system has a limiter & we mix our own right from the stage.

As far as vocal technique, mine isn't the greatest to begin with, but I can definitely tell the difference in shouting & singing.

Yes, last gig was not an ideal situation for us. Owner was adamant about using his system. All was pretty good in soundcheck. We left for some dinner. I came back to venue early to find manager going through his board switching cables etc. When I inquired he said he was trying to wire up his subs. That didn't work & we hustled our subs in & wired them up. Of course when we got back up on stage to start the night, the sound was a mess. We had to have the guy make several adjustments over the course of the first few songs. Only then did we find out in horror that the stage mix was the same as FOH! Just got louder & louder on stage to the point where I couldn't hear anything at all much less vocals (that had to be turned to the point of feedback). That just sealed the deal for me for the ears.

Currently I won't have the ability to turn my own vocals up on my receiver, but I've already talked to our "sound guy" & he says no problem running me my own monitor mix. If I find I need that ability, it it's a very cheap solution.

I never need my vocals in the monitor, because I always wear earplugs on stage which means I can hear my own singing loud-and-clear above everything else around me.

In ears can be great, esp if the whole band uses it and and you have a good monitor guy.

The critical feature i'd want to ensure is the desk send or receiver pack has a limiter. just in case you get a blast if feedback or a crackle/pop from someone plugging/unplugging when they shouldn't. You dont want that directly into your ears. This is more likely if you're the only one with IEMs and the rest are running wedges.

If you don't have an engineer, you want a system that will at least give you control over the mix level AND your own vocal level. I think sennheiser make one with separate volumes.

If your goal is to get better heard, perhaps consider a mic and wedge placement that will allow more gain before feedback. ie learning where the rear null points in your specific mic are and angling wedges accordingly.

Lastly if you're shouting instead of projecting (not saying you are) perhaps vocal technique might need to be addressed.

Lastly, just for considerations sake - soundguy I work with says sometimes on IEMs singers sing quieter (because they can hear more of themselves) and that leads to a lack of projection and him needing to turn up the mic - which introduces more stage wash into the vocal mic.

My .02

Vocal mic etiquette is key,I had a vocalist with IEM's sing too quiet and have problems with input gain. I replaced the SM58 with and Audix OM7 where it forced her to sing on the center of the ball,thereby teaching her to stay on front. She was hearing her new found headvoice all too well. That goes for people with earplugs in too,you hear yourself so well that you do not project.

Case in point,watch American Idol/X Factor, as the contestants progress and they are introduced to IEM's. At the start of IEM's they struggle.

I run alot of IEM setups where the band supplies the rack with receivers and give me a USB drive with presets for the digital consoles. Yamaha LS9,Soundcraft Si,etc. I purchased my own IEM earphone to monitor my mixes from the headphone out on the console.
If you try to do a mix of both IEM's and monitor wedges,keep the mix in the wedges to just vocals as a backup to the ears. Things happen like batteries dying,cables get unplugged,ear fatigue from the ear piece,etc.

We're definitely going to have a wedge on standby for me at this first one.

Just a word if caution - dont mix your ears one-in-one-out. You'll end up driving your in-ear way too loud to keep up with the ambient stage noise from the non-IEM ear.

It's ok to pull one side out once you've got your levels set (you might see some acts do this).

Vocal mic etiquette is key,I had a vocalist with IEM's sing too quiet and have problems with input gain. I replaced the SM58 with and Audix OM7 where it forced her to sing on the center of the ball,thereby teaching her to stay on front. She was hearing her new found headvoice all too well. That goes for people with earplugs in too,you hear yourself so well that you do not project.

The expression "new found headvoice" makes me cringe.

There is exactly one reason why I'm able to have fun playing punk rock in noisy bars at the ripe old age of 42, and that's that I wear ear plugs. It doesn't matter if I'm playing a show, watching a show, or even sitting in on a loud-ish rehearsal. Earplugs in, no exceptions.

I know 20-something guitarists who can't hear nearly as well as me, and that's a damn shame. Take care of your ears, people!

The expression "new found headvoice" makes me cringe.

There is exactly one reason why I'm able to have fun playing punk rock in noisy bars at the ripe old age of 42, and that's that I wear ear plugs. It doesn't matter if I'm playing a show, watching a show, or even sitting in on a loud-ish rehearsal. Earplugs in, no exceptions.

I know 20-something guitarists who can't hear nearly as well as me, and that's a damn shame. Take care of your ears, people!

I wore ear plugs everyday in a manufacturing envoirnment and had hearing tests. I got to the point where I could name off the frequencies they tested me at. I purchased the fitted earplugs at the same time I got my fitted IEM's. With 3,5,10Db cuts. 3 noticable,10 is perceived as half as loud.

Just a word if caution - dont mix your ears one-in-one-out. You'll end up driving your in-ear way too loud to keep up with the ambient stage noise from the non-IEM ear.

It's ok to pull one side out once you've got your levels set (you might see some acts do this).


Suprisingly you will notice the vocal mics pic up enough stage bleed that you might not have to add too much to your IEM mix.


Let us know how it things go this week JJfatz.

with one IEM out, there will be a perceived drop in level .... this leads to wanting the monitored ear to go louder, which leads to fatigue to set in earlier.....
wearing both ears will give approximately a 6db gain of perceived level

with one IEM out, there will be a perceived drop in level .... this leads to wanting the monitored ear to go louder, which leads to fatigue to set in earlier.....
wearing both ears will give approximately a 6db gain of perceived level

Total agreement.

Suprisingly you will notice the vocal mics pic up enough stage bleed that you might not have to add too much to your IEM mix.


Let us know how it things go this week JJfatz.

It went well. Overall, I liked it a little better than the wedges.

Cons:
1. My buds didn't stay in that well. They stay in great until I start to sweat, & I didn't anticipate that. Working on a solution with custom molds.
2. Couldn't hear any conversation that wasn't in mic. This made it tough to communicate verbally on stage. On stage talk during music which is at a minimum anyway, but it was a new challenge. I got stumped on a line in a song & couldn't ask the other guy, hey what's the line.
3. Mix was D R Y! we always run our monitors dry, but there's usually enough "verb" from the room to warm things up a bit. My vocal & guitar sounded WAY different to me. Upon review of the tape, my vocal sounded normal enough through FOH. I think I had my guit up too loud in monitor mix cause it was totally lost in FOH. I ran substantially less gain on my dirt pedals than normal cause they sounded like Black Sabbath in the IEM's.
4. We actually had to mic the snare just to run in the monitors. I could not hear it well enough w/o it mic'd

Pros:

1. No vocal fatigue at all after show. That has never happened.
2. I could actually hear my performance really well.
3. 3 out of the 5 of us ran IEM's this week. Two less wedges than normal & the stage sound was MUCH quieter, resulting in a much better & lower house volume that was really appreciated by the crowd.

Overall, I was pretty pleased. Like anything else new, it was different. Better in some ways, not as good in others. I am going to stick with them & make some tweaks. I'm sure I will continue to get better & more confident with them as the experience level goes up.

It went well. Overall, I liked it a little better than the wedges.

Cons:
1. My buds didn't stay in that well. They stay in great until I start to sweat, & I didn't anticipate that. Working on a solution with custom molds.
2. Couldn't hear any conversation that wasn't in mic. This made it tough to communicate verbally on stage. On stage talk during music which is at a minimum anyway, but it was a new challenge. I got stumped on a line in a song & couldn't ask the other guy, hey what's the line.
3. Mix was D R Y! we always run our monitors dry, but there's usually enough "verb" from the room to warm things up a bit. My vocal & guitar sounded WAY different to me. Upon review of the tape, my vocal sounded normal enough through FOH. I think I had my guit up too loud in monitor mix cause it was totally lost in FOH. I ran substantially less gain on my dirt pedals than normal cause they sounded like Black Sabbath in the IEM's.
4. We actually had to mic the snare just to run in the monitors. I could not hear it well enough w/o it mic'd

Pros:

1. No vocal fatigue at all after show. That has never happened.
2. I could actually hear my performance really well.
3. 3 out of the 5 of us ran IEM's this week. Two less wedges than normal & the stage sound was MUCH quieter, resulting in a much better & lower house volume that was really appreciated by the crowd.

Overall, I was pretty pleased. Like anything else new, it was different. Better in some ways, not as good in others. I am going to stick with them & make some tweaks. I'm sure I will continue to get better & more confident with them as the experience level goes up.

Some of the con's might be come pro's later down the line.
Turning your amp down,and giving more level to your IEM's will allow the FOH PA to get more guitar. The light drive setting my bring clarity and better intonation to your playing.
Drummer might lighten up,or even if his mic isn't on in the FOH at least its in your IEM's

And both of these will get the band sounding better as a unit.

Trick to communicating with your other IEM using band mates is a mic placed at the side of the stage and sent back to you IEM's only. Like a paging system a little whisper in the mic for only the band to hear. Phish uses one hidden in a beer pitcher. They pick up the beer pitcher to communicate with the band IEM's and techs.

The first thing I noticed when running on IEM's on the monitor console was the thought of there overdrives being a little bit brittle. Guitarist's that go IEM usually end up completely rethinking there tone settings.

The first thing I noticed when running on IEM's on the monitor console was the thought of there overdrives being a little bit brittle. Guitarist's that go IEM usually end up completely rethinking there tone settings.

Because most ppl don't stick their ear where mic goes when cranking the amp:-)

Glad to hear it went well overall. Good that you're not the only one on IEMs in the band - and I too think the cons with diminish over time and morph into pros. Much like you guys are already ;-)

Ps I've to see a phish band argument onstage :lol:

Because most ppl don't stick their ear where mic goes when cranking the amp:-)

Glad to hear it went well overall. Good that you're not the only one on IEMs in the band - and I too think the cons with diminish over time and morph into pros. Much like you guys are already ;-)

Ps I've to see a phish band argument onstage :lol:

Not even close, but I'm in the school of "fake it till you make it." :wink: