Drum Forum

[Merlin Coryell]

Looking at getting a new pair of in-ears for use in studio and on stage for click tracks. I had great luck with my old UltimateEars buds that were around $80, but they don't make them any longer.

Looking at the Shure SE215, Bose IE2, and Senn MM70i units. Wondering which would be the best for drumming applications. Noise cancellation of 15-35db or so would be great but doesnt need to seal out sound that much. Just wondering if anyone has experience with any of these models, or have recommendations of others.

Thanks.

[AaronF]

I have the SE215s and love them. I've never used them live. I use them at work because it is loud and distracting and the headphones block out a ton of outside noise. 

[Humble Pie]

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Merlin Coryell wrote:

Looking at getting a new pair of in-ears for use in studio and on stage for click tracks. I had great luck with my old UltimateEars buds that were around $80, but they don't make them any longer.

Looking at the Shure SE215, Bose IE2, and Senn MM70i units. Wondering which would be the best for drumming applications. Noise cancellation of 15-35db or so would be great but doesnt need to seal out sound that much. Just wondering if anyone has experience with any of these models, or have recommendations of others.

Thanks.

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I bought my Shures new for around $60, not sure the model, but they look just like the E2C's. The earphones cut out probably 85% of the stage noise. As long as your earphones tuck into the ear canal and fit snug, they're going to block out enough noise to do the trick. I did find that running the backing tracks right made a huge difference in how audible AND tolerable they were to hear. Since the album cuts were done on computer, I had them make me a backing track MP3 for each tune with the click track panned hard right and the backing tracks panned hard left. I fed each side into a separate channel of a mixer, set the pans to dead center, and then was able to blend the clicks and backing tracks in my earphones evenly via the sliders on my mixer. The backing tracks went via aux feed to the sound man. Anything I wanted from the band was fed through the monitor beside me. I did run a comp/limiter for my earphones so that I didn't accidentally blow my eardrums out while setting levels.

As a footnote, never accept any house feed for monitors into your mixer that is feeding your earphones, since you don't know if the sound guy is going to do something stupid and blast you accidentally. I didn't learn that the hard way, thankfully.

[1001gear]

If you're doing that much playing, don't skimp on audio - hearing protection no less.

[Merlin Coryell]

I take plenty good care of my ears. Shooters plugs for 15 years and in-ears when I need them. 2 of my bands use backing and click tracks so its time to go back to the in ears. These provide up to 37db it seems, plenty for our playing. I still have two guys that insist on hearing "pure" sound. So I guess I wont be working with them down the road, when they can no longer hear themselves.

[devinw]

I just bought the Shure 215s. They are very nice for $99. I'd recommend.

[Merlin Coryell]

Ive found that I might be able to pump a little more cash into these than I thought. So Im thinking of upgrading to the Shure 315s or the 425s. Give then $100 price difference, does anyone have experience with either model, or any dual driver model period? Will I really notice the improved dynamics that much on stage, or will the ambient noise make both models similarly effective for a drummer's monitors?