Standalone IEM solution recommendations

[Jolltax]

The IEM thread is a bit overwhelming, lol, I decided not to add this to it - but I have read the first section and was hoping for some advice, I have been playing 4 years (but 58 yo), and just started rehearsing with a local band which is amazing / brilliant fun.

 

They rehearse in a small room and play very loudly (to me), at times I can't hear what I am playing and I quite worried about hearing damage. I have bought some Fender Musician Series Ear Plugs for our next session. The band mostly play through their own speakers / cabs and I am standing right next to mine which makes it even more difficult to hear.

 

Is there a standalone / self contained solution whereby I can have my bass, some ambient sound so I can hear what the band are playing into IEM's which allow me to control the volume and what I am hearing but still hear my bass in the mix. I read the 'bible' at the beginning here and see that potentially the Zoom H6 or similar might be the ticket with built in mikes - is that right?  Can it be combined with wired or wireless IEM's - could anyone suggest something suitable?

I don't mind spending some money but it looks like it will cost enough to not want to make a wrong purchase! I would be very grateful for some advice on what will work well.

 

EDIT : The more I read about wireless IEM's the more scary (and expensive) it gets.  I'm going to buy some wired IEM's and a Behringer P2 just to see if I can get used to it first, maybe I'll be able to hear enough noise through the IEM's to avoid the need for additional mikes and mixing etc etc

 

Thank you

 

J

Edited April 25 by Jolltax
duh!

[Mottlefeeder]

The behringer P2 and its rivals are designed to take line level outputs from a mixer, so your bass may not have a strong enough signal to give you enough volume, especially if it is passive.

 

A cheap used mixer (2-3 channels) and a basic microphone would allow you to mix ambient sound and/or PA sound with your bass and would give you a headphone feed. When you decide what mix works for you, you can buy the gear you need and sell the mixer on, or you can use it for silent practice at home.

 

David

[Kirky]

The Zoom or similar will work.   The H4 (I think) which I have, has stereo mics, and two XLR inputs, with separate volume controls.  The simplest option is to take a DI feed from your bass amp or a different pedal, plug into one of the inputs and mis that and the stereo mics, plugging your IEMs directly into the headphones out of the Zoom.  No need for a P2.   If possible you can take a feed from the desk and plug that into the other input and mix as little or as much as that into it.   How effective it will be will depend on how effectively the IEMs block out ambient sound from the room.   

Edited April 26 by Kirky

[Phil Starr]

I've used the Zoom H4N for just this purpose and it was the experience that sent me all the way to IEM's I wish I'd done it earlier and my hearing loss would have been less. I bought the H4 as a recorder so I already had it to hand but any small recorder would work I tried my old Olympus WS-650S dictaphone thing and that works just as well, at the cost of having to record everything and then erasing it to free up the memory for next gig. I'd look at something like the Zoom H1 if I was buying something to do this now though, the H4 is bulky and over the top for this purpose and you could wear the H1 on a lanyard. Plenty of other rivals to the Zoom also, look at Tascam and Olympus too.

 

What was stunning and should have been obvious is that I simply plugged myself in and could instantly hear everything on stage much better than without them. That was entirely down to the reduction in sound levels. to make this work you need to concentrate on getting the best for possible for your headphones, the more of the over-loud drums and backline you can cut out the better your experience will be.

 

Using a personal mixer can be just as good. Think of it as a system in three parts Microphone>headphone amp>headphone. You can use an ambient mic and a mixer as your headphone amp or a mini-recorder as both mic and headphone amp. Using a recorder assumes that you have a decent monitoring sound where you stand anyway. If you want control over levels and creating your own monitor mix then a personal mixer is the way to go. I know at least one bassist with a mixer fixed to their pedal board for their own monitoring.

[ratman]

ASI 3DME. They're not cheap at £650 but you could easily spend that on normal IEMs. You can use the built in ambient mics to attenuate the room volume, and you can mix in an IEM feed too. I've had mine almost 2 years and I think they're awesome.

 

https://3dwaveaudio.co.uk/

[pete.young]

Another Zoom H4 user here. Does the H1 have any inputs to take a feed from the bass? I can only see one 'microphone' socket which presumably replaces the built-ins.