In ear monitor sound, good and bad

Hey forumites

I am a huge supporter of in ear monitors, and most times I like the sound the produce, and they are saving my hearing, for sure, BUT.....

Sometimes on some songs and with some mixes I get very strange results in my ears. It sounds like I (on bass) am out of tune with the guitar, and generally the whole thing sounds like crap. Stop the tune and check, and everything is perfectly in tune, we are playing the right stuff together, it's bizarre.

This happened at rehearsal the other night. I wonder if this is the 'comb filter' effect I have heard about, where due to the delay between the sound produced from the speakers and those in my ears, some frequencies get cancelled or reinforced.

It also happens on a few songs were the tuning of the kick and floor tom are close but not on the key of the song. Playing live, it's not like you can choose to re tune the kick for every song, right.

So, has anyone had any such issues, and does anyone know of any solutions? I have been thinking of putting an equalizer in the signal chain going to my monitor, but that seems overkill.

Cheers!

Rod

Sympathic tones from drums that are not gated can definitely yield an off pitch sound. Try reducing your tom levels, and use the overheads more. Also, light gating on the kick will help reduce unwanted intermodulating frequencies between the instruments and drums.

Doing some of that now. I wonder if it's the floor tom mic. I think I have that one gated but maybe it's not tight enough.

Thanks!