The IEM (in ear monitors) Bible thread - a guide to help every musician

[Woodinblack]

18 minutes ago, Rich said:

 The idea being that the in-ears themselves just give me a vocal feed and are loosely inserted so that they do NOT provide a tight seal in my ears, so that I get the ambient sound of my bass coming through (the bass being quite loud on stage as it's backline only and not going through the PA).

 

Loosely inserted earplugs fall out. In fact part of the problems with IEMs is them falling out, one of mine always does. And once you have something inears, you would probably want the bass there. If you are getting your IEM feed from the mixer, can't you connect a DI from your bass amp to the mixer? you don't need to put it out through the PA, just there so you can feed it to IEM.

 

As to the ZS10s, I love mine, other people not so keen but it is a good place to start as they are not hugely expensive so you can decide whether you like them or not. Although if you are genuinely going to try the loosely inserted things, maybe not the right choice as I am not sure it would be possible with those - they are reasonably heavy so not fitting them properly will make them just fall out - maybe something like iPhone headphones or something are a better way to go as they don't make a seal

[JPJ]

So I have been having such a positive experience since I started using my IEM’s more and more, with the exception that even the largest Comply tip doesnt seem to want to stay sealed in my left ear. As suggested by @dave_bass5 I’ve tried a smaller tip too without success. So, I am now thinking of going down the custom moulded route. My question is, is there a significant advantage in going with a vented ambient IEM such as the ACS Evolve over a standard non-vented ambient design? I’ve had great service from my ACS custom moulded ear protection, and I am minded to go with them for my IEM solution with the Evolve being about the price point I’d like to pay. 

[tayste_2000]

So obviously this is a hugely long thread so I’ve not been able to check if someone is already doing this.

 

But basically I had a really bad gig the other day (fine out front and performance etc) but my IEM mix was awful, so it just ruins my enjoyment.

 

I was using my new Cosmic Ears C8A’s and the isolation is absolute. So add in the PA only had the acoustic guitar, vocals and bass in it. My sound was lacking to say the least.

 

I’ve always had to hack an IEM mix and my current pedalboard is built around a Behringer P2 (Tried a Passive Rockboard option and I need the boost of an active circuit) doing XLR/Jack conversion and Stereo/Mono conversion (so I can take any type of feed basically) into the aux in on a Darkglass Element. So this gives me a blend between bass and feed. Works really well, was on tour in March/April and it was some of the best sound I’ve ever had.

 

But at the time I didn’t have my moulded IEMS and the band was going through the PA.

 

Anyway, I’d thought for ages about like an ambient pack or something. I know a few options exist but they only work with specific IEMs or are quite expensive.

 

Then I saw a content creator recommend these, they were recording guitar and vocals at the same time.

 

https://rode.com/en/products/wirelesspro

 

And it dawned on me I could use the receiver as a wireless IEM pack.

 

Run out of the element headphone into the 3.5mm in on one of the transmitters and stick the other transmitter somewhere central on the stage/on the singer/ or even wear it myself.

 

This would allow me to blend in whats going on on stage, whats in the PA and my bass.

 

Same setup could be used for just running out of the headphone out on the mixer into one of these wireless transmitters blah blah.

 

So it gives me a versatile way to hack a feed which just seems to be all I can ever do.

 

Can also click a button and record everything going through them which is an added bonus.

 

 

Other than that I think I’ll have to practice and get better gigs, but who wants to do that 🤮

 

So anyone doing this? Any issues anyone can see (except latency, I imagine it’s the same as any digital wireless system), blowing the mics out of the transmitters first snare hit?