New to IEMs question. Tone

[bassjim]

Hello all that are experienced in IEMs

 

Making the move to IEMs I have had some UE 5s made for me , custom moulds.

 

Main bass  is a passive Jazz. Sadowsky Pre Amp pedal. EBS amp and cab. If the room is good I tend to get a consistent sound and have used this set up for over 10 years. Main band is mostly IEMs except for me so its time to join in. Its the boomy reflective rooms that are one of the main reasons I'm now going down this route.

 

So far I have found if I roll the passive tone either almost down or off depending on pickup choice the sound in my IEMs is not bad. Very doable. Thing is when I hear live recordings out front and I'm happy with the sound, my passive tone control tends to be well up. The IEMs sound terrible if my passive tone is well up  so have I now compromised my happy place sound wise? The monitor gizmo on the tablet lets me eq my own IEM channel and remove the top end but its seems its just not enough roll off

 

Any advice , tips  would be greatly appreciated

x

[ratman]

I use this method for lead vocals and bass all the time to have different processing out front and in IEMs. If you use a digital mixer that allows you to change the input patching, and if you have a spare channel available, you can use two channels for bass - one channel for FOH, one just for your monitoring. 
In your mixer’s patching section, simply assign both channels to the same input. 

 

[SteveK]

As well as age related hearing loss, after 55 years of playing in bands I now suffer quite bad tinnitus. In order to protect what's left of my hearing, for the last 2 years I've had to resort to IEMs.

There were a few things that I had to overcome:

1. It took me quite some time to get used to performing at a vastly reduced monitoring level - it was initially difficult to "rock out" at transistor radio volume levels. Took about 12 months to properly get used to it.

2. I had issues with the moulds for my IEMs. I had to have my ears moulds taken 3 times before they had a good fit. Insist on "Open jaw" moulds!

3. As you're using amp and speakers on stage, you'll need someone who can tell you if you're playing too loud, or not loud enough. You won't have a clue how loud your amp/speakers are.

4. If your bass is DI into your IEMs via a monitor mixer, your amp EQ won't affect what you hear. I found a significant mid boost really helped with the definition and being able to hear exactly what I was playing. You'll need to sweep through the frequencies to find exactly where, and how much, to boost for your needs.

5. As my band still use full backline, and I'm the only one using IEMs, there is still a significant onstage volume - this means I have no need for guitars, vox, keys in my IEMs, just a good mix of drums and bass.

 

PS. I should've gone the IEMs route many years ago🙄

[acidbass]

I guess it's just the difference of how two different speakers, one being your FOH and one being your IEM, produce the same sound. The extra digital desk channel suggestion above is a good one, however in the absence of that, there may be a compromise available whereby if you like your tone out front, you could make do with a slightly less pleasing sound in your ears in the knowledge that the audience are hearing you the way that you want them to.

[Ben Jamin]

In my experience, IEMs just won't ever feel like a stage sound (if you're lucky enough to have an incredible monitor engineer you might get close!) BUT they do help you monitor your playing and the rest of the band in a more isolated and precise way. I think it often sounds worse for the players. I guess compared to stage monitor, you're missing out on:

• The sound of your EBS cab, how the speakers colour and compress your sound
• The ambient sound of everything else on stage and from the audience
• The reverb of the room, even if it's very subtle, and the sense of space and distance that comes from that

Instead, you're getting a DI signal from your bass, and all the other inputs, delivered directly to your eardrum, whilst muting the outside world. It makes sense that rolling off your tone a bit sounds better in your IEMs, as the high-frequencies that would normally get attenuated by your speakers and soaked up by stuff in the room, instead gets pushed point-blank into your ears. The honesty of it can feel kind of brutal. Pretty much every singer I know hates IEMs, because the directness is a bit uncanny.

 

Anyway things that have helped me make an IEM mix feel more natural are:

• If you can process your bass monitor feed separately to FOH, add some compression and roll-off some high-frequencies
• Have a stereo mix and pan the band to match their position to you on stage
• Blend in ambient mics to get some of the room sound back (obvs not FOH!)
• Try adding some short reverb to things like vocals/guitar where there's a bunch of high frequency. Helps it feel a bit less direct.
• If you don't need to look cool, using over-ear headphones like DT770s or something, gives your ears a bit more breathing space and helps you feel a bit less isolated.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Ben Jamin