IN EAR vs WEDGES

[soundmanjim]

thought i'd get this section going!!

what's your opinion? i know all the big stars use in-ear, some use a mix of both, some like somewhere to put their feet whilst banging out a solo.

what say you lot?

[John Bell]

I have often thought about in-ear monitoring while behind my drum kit, instead of using cans. My only fear is, that at the moment, if my cans get too loud or there is feed-back on a channel that I am monitoring, I can push my cans back a bit to protect my ears. I don't fancy even a short blast of feed-back using something that is jammed into my ear canal.

I use my cans as a form of ear protection from my drums and my lead guitarist's amp, as well as for monitoring. They are the open type, so I don't have to put much drum fill into them, just a bit of kick and toms and all 4 vocals.

I know I would get much more noise protection from well fitted in-ear-monitors, but I would need a much more complex mix.

I do have a 650w drum fill, using a 15" sub and a 12" monitor on top, but I don't use it when I am drumming.

[pasounds]

i think the in ear thing is best suited to the large acts, as they req

[pasounds]

sorry, pressed enter whilst typing accidently .... lets start again!

i think the in ear thing is best suited to the large acts only, as they require complex mixes, disinfecting between different users if theres acts sharing and are generally one more thing to go wrong!

wedges are more versitile, can be used for different people at the same time, such as a pair of backing vocals, two guitarists wanting to hear the same thing ect... Also theres no wireless stuff which i really dont trust still (unless its the super expensive gear most people can't afford!). cant beat a nice phat pumping monitor in front of you!

benefits - nice and compact (kg each), doesnt need ampracks ect, and saves on storage space, the user hears exactly what they want

at the end of the day, what we think doesnt really matter, its the client who gets their way most the time!

[soundmanjim]

'wireless stuff'. have you read total production magazine lately? my friend Mark cunningham has posted a very interesting article that states we might lose the whole spectrum for wireless soon if ofcom get their way!!

[pasounds]

glad i havnt bothered with any of that then! (appart from a signal jammer i conjoured up, blocks all FM, AM, Mobile waves in 100m area (outdoors, less in buildings, runs off 12v too!!). was built entirely out of interest, not for illegal useage before u winge at me!! a passion of mine is complicated electrical circuits.... my telsa coil is gud fun too!

[soundmanjim]

rofl. well i am a licenced amateur so i should warn you - blah blah -;-)) anyway i just bought a 50mhz rig that actually covers the baby alarm frequencies. great fun!! are u a ham too?

[ben]

fine one you get used to them, The key is to have a simler spec head phones on the afl channel of the desk so you know what your given them. The receiver unit has a built in limiter and wont allow feedback.

I had real problems with at first getting the mix right. they have a through out to though so always use a wedge to in case the in ear should break for any reason.

[muppet]

IEMs can be great,

Feeback isn’t such a problem,
Everyone can have their own mix without battling against each other,
Less ambient noise means that they are more likely to hear the things they want to hear,
You don’t have 6 different mixes going off in the same room making an easier and tighter sounding FOH mix,
Far less heavy equipment, why spend money touring, crewing and transporting heavy amp and wedge cases when you can throw a 4u rack in the truck?

However, trying to get a big sound from a small driver can be a challenge and you are also not really generating any pressure on stage so the artist often cant feel the music so well, that and try to explain to the drummer why there is no weight to his kick drum. The lack of ambience can not only give them a very unrealistic and overly clinical sound but also leave the performer isolated from their surroundings. However many engineers will combat this by simply placing mics over the audience etc. and of course will add the weight by combining the ears with conventional monitoring, this could be something like a small side fill. It also depends on the vibe you need to create and programme material, is this a stage shaking metallica or a teeny bopper will young?

Of course lastly as you say Jim, you’re going to look pretty stupid chucking out that gut busting solo with nowhere to put your feet!

[commsman]

Hi All,

I have a Trantec IEM kit, but I must admit I have yet to use it in anger for a band. (FYI I am only a passionate amateur rather than a seasoned professional)

Some bands I have done sound for have expressed an interest, but my concern initially is what it would take to put together a suitable mix for In-Ear use.

I reckon that firstly you would need to mic up pretty much everything on stage in order to provide a "palette" from which you can add in whatever the user needs - vox, guitar, bass etc. - because once the earplugs go in, the user is largely cut off from the ambient stage fill of drums & backline output.

This is fine for a large auditiorium, but for a 100-200 size room, you may not always want or need to mic up all the drums or large backline stacks, so IEM could mean a bigger mic setup to do the job properly.

Secondly, what do you all reckon about the dryness of an In-Ear mix? I would imagine performers using In-ear would like some room-like ambience on voices, as well as some general background room & audience sound to keep them in touch with the outside world.
This are just my thoughts on the matter, but I would welcome any feedback or real-world examples of what is needed to do IEM properly.

Cheers, Vince

[razorback]

Surely could a performer not just put one earphone in and leave the other ear to hear background??

[pete]

Could an Olympic swimmer not just use one arm to swim and the other to well knit maybe??

[muppet]

That's a good point and is in fact what a lot of people do razorback. I think that some people might find this a little uncomfortable or even confusing though. After all it isn't easy to listen to one thing in one ear and something else in the other

[muppet]

the cool thing with iems is that this



can replace this!

[muppet]

cool, just really wanted to test the photobucket thingy!