in-ear monitors

[vector]

Anyone using an in-ear to monitor their guitar sound along with the rest of the mix? Any recommendations?
When using floor wedges, we seem to be incapable of finding a happy medium in balancing floor space issues (small venues) with volume issues. Then there's the complaint of "his monitor is making it hard to hear my instrument... blah blah blah."
Just want to be able to hear the mix best suited to my needs without getting tripped up on wedges in a small floor space and tangled up in debate over volumes.

[MarceloBR]

I have some experience with the Shure E5. Perfect for it's purpose but I feel kinda strange playing with these in-ear monitors.

[jgcable]

I am not a fan of in ear monitors. If you are worried about space a nice solution is getting a couple of hot spots. They are super small, powered and they sound great. You can mount them on mic stands if you want. Just a couple of them is enough.

[vector]

I am not a fan of in ear monitors. If you are worried about space a nice solution is getting a couple of hot spots. They are super small, powered and they sound great. You can mount them on mic stands if you want. Just a couple of them is enough.

jg- sounds good in theory, but those hot spots don't handle the frequencies of electric guitars and/or bass. Our monitors need to be capable of handling bass, guitars, drums and vocals.

[markD]

i have IEMs - i use the AT M3M system with custom made drivers by alien ears. i rarely ever use them. not by total choice, though. my band plays 20-30 minute sets opening for nationals in medium to large theaters. the promoters run a tight schedule - we have our set-up/tear down to 6 minutes. IEMs take too long to set up, and more often than not the headliner has the extra channels on the monitor desk for their IEMs. we still get wedges and side-fills, so hearing isn't too big of an issue - but considering how much i spent on the IEM system it is a bit of a drag to not use it.

but there are things i do NOT like about the IEM when i do use it. a lot of times (99.9%) the sound is too focused. unless a club is running ambient mics or they have a separate reverb feed on the monitor board with a REALLY good reverb (which is NEVER the case because you don't want reverb in your wedges) the sound is weird. i usually end up taking my ear pieces out about half way to compensate (then they usually fall out because mine are molded to fit my ear).

the good thing about the IEM is that you CAN hear everything, and you can control your own volume. i still like to feel a little stage rumble (and to try to compensate for the lack of natural sound) so i keep mine as low as i possibly can while still being able to hear.

bear in mind, that EVERY venue i play has a house system, a separate FOH and monitor soundman, wedges and sidefills. sound reinforcement is never an issue. sometimes, it would just be nice to have a little clarity. if you are carting your own PA, then you will probably be able to utilize IEMs more succesfully than we have been able to.

[xenophobe]

Just want to be able to hear the mix best suited to my needs without getting tripped up on wedges in a small floor space and tangled up in debate over volumes.

The only thing I can really suggest is have a musician friend not with the band or a roadie pay close attention to your sound levels during a quick sound check and make sure you get it right... That seemed to work best for me in small clubs where there is no PA, another band provides the PA or where they have an unattended/DIY in-house sound system.

If you're only using the IEM for your instrument, setting up should be easy enough, but the only times I've used it is during rehersal recordings at a friend's studio experimenting, with full mixes, but I could never really get comfortable with them myself...

[mattsmusiccenter]

My entire band runs in ears. We gig alot and we're pretty loud for a cover band, between tinnitus and dealing with crap monitor mixes, it was my only choice. I've got a pair of Westone ES5's (custom molds) but the other band members use stock buds and it works for them. The key is using a system like the Behringer P16-M and the Behringer P16-I, several companies make systems like this now but the Behringer is the cheapest and it works VERY well. This allows each band member to control their own individual 16 channel mixer, so everyone gets a mix they're happy with and the soundman doesn't have to deal with monitors at all. I keep my mixer in my rack on a sliding shelf for easy access so I can change stuff on the fly. The mixers are digital so they can store different mixes. Setup and tear down is fast, I'm not sure if it would work with short sets opening for nationals, but we typically play 3 sets and it's a lifesaver for us. The ONLY downside is it's tough getting a good guitar sound through IEM's because you're only hearing what the mic is picking up. Mic choice and mic placement become extremely important! I also run an Alesis Microverb in my IEM chain to liven everything up a bit. On a night that everything is dialed in correctly, the sound I get through my IEM's is very similar to what I'd hear if the band was in a recording studio and I was listening to the mix in the control room. It's pretty cool and I'd hate to gig without them. I can make it through a 3 set night without my ears ringing, I get the exact mix I want to hear and I don't have to depend on a monitor guy to give me what I want. It's a total win for me.

It's pretty cheap to put together a system like what we use, PM or call me if you need more info.

[AdRock]

If you're the only one in the band that'll be on IEMs then it's probably going to be difficult depending on the gig. If you're doing a cover show and will be the only band then you can get it setup ahead of time and dial it in with a soundcheck. If you're in a lineup with other bands it's going to be difficult to get them setup quickly. If there's a 15 minute changeover type thing between bands the soundman is not going to want to eat up a bunch of the time trying to hookup and dial in your iem's.

[vector]

AdRock- Not the only one- every one in the band is gonna be wearing them except maybe drummer.

[197666]

Yup, we use a MOTU 828 mk3, all gtrs/bass/keys are direct (gtrs are gsp and impulses) all other mics are split. We can control our mixes on the fly with our iphones/ipads via wifi. Will be changing over to the behringer x32 rack later this year. We use sennhesier ew300 g1s. Quick setups. No relying on drunk or 'professional' sound guy to make one mistake and destroying your hearing.

That whole 'too focused' sound is true, you have to get used to playing almost direct sounding guitars to your ears. What I mean is, close micing has zero room sound (to an extent it does but lets call it direct for the mean time) so distorted guitars to your ears sounds extremely dry. A way to combat this (assuming you had the right tools i.e axefx) You could set up a small room reverb to help get used to it.

Or have ambient room mics. Or get those in-ears that have 'ambient ports' Defeats the purpose imo

[tomanyjacksons]

We use Carvin IEM and have been really happy with them. We have an "aggressive" drummer lol. We lost all of the small bar issues with being able to hear our monitors. The main mix out front on the other hand is turned up loud enough to cover the drums. On a lighter note our drummer is talking about getting a plexiglass surround to help with that. Good luck sir.