Finally made the plunge!...IEM's

So after debating for the past 6 months, I finally decided to buy some in ears. I'm tired of {censored} monitors at gigs and pushing myself just so I can hear...even some of the higher profile places we've played have {censored} for monitoring. I guess sound guys just don't care anymore?

Anyways, wakeup call for me was a couple weeks ago, fri and sat night, 4 sets each. I took it easy the first night, to save my voice for the sat gig...which was Vince Neil's club out here. The monitors there were the worst I've ever had! And they're "supposed" to have the best sound and lighting in the city. It sounded great out front, but on stage was a different story.

So long story short, I bought a Shure PSM 200 IEM system today. I've played with it a little bit, but I'm gonna break it in at our gig tuesday. I've seen a lot of people just use one earbud? Think I'm gonna try it this way so I'm not completely disconnected from everything. Anybody on here use IEM's and have any feedback let me know!

If you use it on one ear, you get back to have the worst of both worlds: You hear the crap stage sound + you get to damage your ears because you need to turn up the volume on the side you use the bud cause the stage volume is so high + you can't hear yourself much better and won't have the positive effect of the isolation.

Do yourself a favour and try some gigs where you get used to this new strange feeling. For me it meant saving voice and ears, singing way better and no ear ringing. You can plug in a ambience mic from the stage with a volume pedal, so you can have some ambience between songs.

Also: Get custom molded earphones, it's a different world!

Add a ambiance mic to the stage that only feeds your ear mix, this way you get the feel for the audience and stage with no ear damage. Like was said, if you use one ear only, you end up pushing the volume louder so it hurts your hearing, and the sound will be crap.

I also second the custom made molds, there is no other way to go than that, the crap that sure ships with the system is useless. Plenty of threads on the live gear section a,bout this.

I personally can't stand IEM, and I have tried some pretty good ones, but I also never gave them enough time to adjust. For what I do now, it's pointless. Good luck brother.

Rod

Yeah, we will see how things go. I've been messing with them all day, and so far I like 'em. The earbuds they came with sound pretty damn good, SE215's. Eventually I may go the custom mold route. So I'm gonna go with both earbuds and an ambience mic for this gig tuesday and see how it goes!

Great!

You'll be so happy you went with IEM (as a singer)

although there may be some growing pains to get you there.

Our entire band is on EIM and it really helps our blending and pitch on BGVs

You'll eventually need a custom mold (more for the isolation but the quaility is a bit better too)

It's ideal to have your own mixer, compressor,verb that you use at every show(even just a simple 8 channel Mackie is sufficient), relying on a house guy to dial in your ears (and keep it that way) can be a gamble.

Communicating w/ your audience might initially be an issue to you as a front man (ambient mics MIGHT help some)....people yell requests or have a "happy birthday" or whatever but you can't tell what they're saying....since ear buds don't have as much iso you might not have many issues w/ this at first.

See if you can get a full-on rehersal with them before Tuesday's show to orientate yourself.

That's what I was wondering. I've got a small mixer I may just use for the IEM's, for the EQ and verb. As far as isolation, that's one thing I was worried about because I really like to interact with the crowd. I was reading that with the PSM200 unit, it's got a feature to where I could plug a lav mic into it as well and use that for ambience. I'm sure this is gonna take some experimenting!

IEM / EIM

how did u decide on the PSM 200s over everything else out there?

Mainly price, $600 was right in my range. Plus they come stock with a pretty decent set of earbuds. They're not the $400 earbuds but they sound great to me. That and the ambient lav mic feature the bodypack has.

I do gigs without the ambience, but I'm planning on adding one I can turn off when I sing. It's the whole Idea for me, to be able to focus on the music and hear ervery little detail of my singing. But sometimes it's nice to have a way to hear the audience between songs too.

Another method is to use a compressor with sidechain function and long gate delay, so that ambience is opened up into the mix when there is no signal tru the mic (while I'm not singing) and muted when I sing. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to manually switch on and off ambience.

these sound cool.

so many gadgets, so little money

Ok, gig +1 down with the IEMs. So I didn't do what is recommended and use 2 earbuds.....I used just one and it worked great for me. I will prob use both, once I get some cash for the ambience lav. BUT, this is by far the best I've ever sounded live, great feedback from the crowd. The first couple songs were weird, but after I got used to the IEMs, there is no way I'll ever go back! By far the best investment I've made!!....just sayin

The only problem I've found thus far is the seal being broken on higher notes around B4...

What does breaking seal mean in this context?

these sound cool. so many gadgets, so little money

+1 Brother... +1

I would guess that due to the wider mouth eztensions, the earbud poped out of the ear...just guessing.

I will stress the importance of using both earbuds but I know you know this...get that ambiance mic, even if you go with a cheap radio shack lavalier for now...your kid needs a dad with hearing! And i haven't come see you yet so please conserve your hearing at least untill I come to Vegas!

Rod

yeah, with some people sometimes a nice,friendly smile can even break the seal...

they fit everyone a little differently.

I think he's referring to the earbud coming out slightly. When that happens the stage volume will bleed through and you lose isolation.....it can happen if your mandible (or jaw) is a certain shape.

edit: whoops....I JUST read what Rod said. .....yeah, what he said.

@Rod - yeah you gotta make it out here sometime dude!...got a lot of stuff lined up for this fall.

As far as the one earbud, radioshack has a lav mic for $30 that'll work. Thats a lot better than the $120 shure wants for theirs...gonna pick one up today.

As far as breaking the seal, I think I mis-worded what I was trying to say. On higher notes, with an open jaw, it's like it pinches the earbud shut and I get no sound for a split second. Maybe I just need to experiment with some of the different foam tips the earbuds came with...

Custom earpieces are they way to go.

*UPDATE*

So I went ahead and bought the radioshack lav mic for ambience...and I must say that for RS...it's not too bad! I just plug the thing into the 1/4 jack on the bodypack and I'm good to go. Not quite the same as "open air" ambience, but it is def enough to hear the crowd and bandmates talking to me. Can't wait for the next gig to try the whole setup out!

@ido - custom molds are next...just need some $$ first, lol.....wlecome back bty

Hey static, do the in-ear monitors also act as noise-reducing earplugs?

I occasionally rehearse using earplugs, but takes something away from the acoustic environment. I really need something to protect my ears.

hi staticsound, i was just wondering if your brand new in-ear monitors have helped get you laid yet?

thanks for taking the time to answer my question!

didn't need the in ears for that bro

didn't need the in ears for that bro

you only need to show them the lavalier for that then? i wouldn't think the lavalier would be impressive enough on its own.

the lav mic seals the deal