In ear monitoring

[Karl Houseknecht]

It always puzzled me when people praised some IEMs saying they’re “good for guitar”

There are some, although more rare with today’s gear, where they had extended bass and highs, or a crossover frequency that left too much scoop in the guitar range.

I agree they should be balanced. Love mine. I hear everything perfectly and really don’t want to ever go back. 10 years now of only IEMs.

 

[Art van Delay]

Yes, latency is a factor.

Wireless guitar >> modeler >> digital mixer > wireless IEM ...

That adds up.

There's a solution: send a signal output from the modeler directly to the IEMs,m and mix that with the aux signal from FOH.

+1

I do pretty much the same thing, but in addition, with an expression pedal connected to PDL 3, I control the mix level of the other band members (I get my guitar sound directly in my headphones, I don’t receive the guitar signal in the aux from the console).

 

[nolesj]

Another thing that helped me tremendously when we switched to IEM’s at church was adding one or two room mics and blending them in with the mix from the board (we all have our own Aviom’s so we control how much “room” we have, but this can be done with a good sound engineer and trial and error without the Aviom’s). One of the most crucial parts of IEM’s is having a good tight fit in your ear, but the downside to that is that when fitted properly, you are VERY isolated from the room and that can be a shock to most who are new to IEM. Adding room mic(s) overcomes this isolation IME and is absolutely a game changer.

 

[Sauro_on_guitar]

You can add a reverb block before out2 (I assume you use out 2 for iem) so you can add some ambience to your guitar in your ears only

 

[marsonic]

I'm honestly at the point that I prefer IEMs to room sound.

Part of it is a bit of ambience on my IEM feed. Part of it is taking non-guitar into input 2 and mixing it to my (wired) ears inside the Fractal. If Fractal added an HRTF crossfeed to the headphone out, it'd be perfect as far as I'm concerned.

I should probably also say that I've always had a love/hate relationships with amps. I've played some pretty cool ones....and by the time any of them sound good, they're too loud for my preferences. The sensation of volume I get from good IEMs and light correction at reasonable volume combined with the feel I get from the output compressor is what I always wanted out of amps but couldn't get until I wanted hearing protection.

ETA: I still kinda want a 4x12 because they're cool. But, I don't actually want to hear it.

 

[vangrieg]

ETA: I still kinda want a 4x12 because they're cool. But, I don't actually want to hear it.

Same here. To me it’s been so much better to hear the real guitar sound finally instead of this weird excessively reverberant and unrealistically thumpy noise with little relevance to what the audience heard since I switched from real amps, what a relief it was. Not to mention hearing very clearly what I’m playing, knowing that it’s close to what’s being delivered through the pa, being able to have meaningful conversations with FOH about it, and having way more control over the end result. Can’t believe so many people want to avoid all this bliss.

 

[Jim Amsden]

I don’t know why this setting exists but maybe it can work in some circumstances. However headphones/in-ears is like the least probable scenario for this.

There are some situations where you want to mix the dry signal with the IR. It can help retain some dynamics and attack. I use it for example for acoustic body image IRs with acoustic guitar and mandolin to blend in a little of the piezo pickup. I really helps with the overall tone and is more flexible than doing the blending (and EQ) in the IR ahead of time.

 

[vangrieg]

I use it for example for acoustic body image IRs with acoustic guitar and mandolin to blend in a little of the piezo pickup

Oh, that makes sense indeed

 

[Aja]

Room setting is a reverb and it does make sound smoother

Air is just direct signal mixed into the cab, IIRC, it is harsh and extremely unpleasant. I don’t know why this setting exists but maybe it can work in some circumstances. However headphones/in-ears is like the least probable scenario for this.

FWIW I don’t think it mixes in the DI signal. It mixes in everything before the cab block in parallel. I asked about how the air parameter was routed and this was the answer I remember.

 

[vangrieg]

FWIW I don’t think it mixes in the DI signal. It mixes in everything before the cab block in parallel.

Yes, I guess my wording was confusing, you are correct.

 

[marsonic]

Same here. To me it’s been so much better to hear the real guitar sound finally instead of this weird excessively reverberant and unrealistically thumpy noise with little relevance to what the audience heard since I switched from real amps, what a relief it was. Not to mention hearing very clearly what I’m playing, knowing that it’s close to what’s being delivered through the pa, being able to have meaningful conversations with FOH about it, and having way more control over the end result. Can’t believe so many people want to avoid all this bliss.

Yeah....

I'm also very much a home-wanker when it comes to guitar. I really only care about what I hear....but the rest of that applies to me.

The last time I even attempted a comparison, it wasn't at all scientific...but it was a real Silver Jubilee into a 4x12, my Fractal with a Silver Jubilee model into a Powercab 212, and the same Fractal setup into my in-ears. It came about because one of my local shops had the amp and the power cab and wasn't busy, and I couldn't not play it...and I just happened to have my fractal because I went to try out a couple guitars.

Other than the actual 1987 Silver Jubilee being freaking cool, the in-ears won by a country mile for me. And they let me turn the amp/FRFR up to ~90 dB (phone SPL meter). Maybe it would have sounded better at 105-110 like most amps do....but I never want to play that loud.

 

[Budda]

@marsonic proper earplugs for the time you do try playing 110dB (loud concert volume). It's worth trying at least once

 

[marsonic]

@marsonic proper earplugs for the time you do try playing 110dB (loud concert volume). It's worth trying at least once

I've definitely done that. I also prefer my IEM sound to almost any concert sound I've ever heard (whether I'm playing or not).

The exceptions was Depeche Mode. I legitimately have no idea how they get concert sound that good. I mean...I do, great mixing, great PA, and a great FOH engineer who knows what he's listening for. But, still....it's amazing.

 

[InsideOut]

I've definitely done that. I also prefer my IEM sound to almost any concert sound I've ever heard (whether I'm playing or not).

The exceptions was Depeche Mode. I legitimately have no idea how they get concert sound that good. I mean...I do, great mixing, great PA, and a great FOH engineer who knows what he's listening for. But, still....it's amazing.

Another example would be Ronnie James Dio. Every time I saw him live (even in big arenas), his sound was just loud enough to feel it, but that's it. Perfect sound that you could discern every note being played. The flip side of that was Kiss - so freakin loud I couldn't even tell what song they were playing even though I had been listening to their stuff for years. If it's so loud you can't hear it, well, that's just stupid.

My 2 cents on the air thing - I've found through FRFR cabs, it can add the sizzle of a real cab when A/B'ing. I don't know that I would want that with in ears as it seems it would lead to ear fatigue quickly.

 

[Rex]

I've definitely done that. I also prefer my IEM sound to almost any concert sound I've ever heard (whether I'm playing or not).

So true. Super-loud music is pointless to listen to. I’ve been to so many bars where the sound was better outside the door than inside the club.

 

[macfly]

It seems the reverse of that everyone else is doing, but somehow I've gotten into the habit of using Out 2 to FOH and Out 1 for IEM. Guitar to ears is stereo with an Enhancer block just in Out 1. I have a Shure P4M mixer that allows me to push the band mix a little to the left and guitar a little to the right, so info is coming into my head pretty much as it has for almost 50 years. If I can't hear myself, there's a knob to quickly turn the band down or adjust the pans a little more left and right. I use a touch of Ambient Reverb and that's it. Sounds better than my amps/cabs did through IEMs, and given that it was always too loud with those, now I don't have ear fatigue so it sounds better in general from start to finish!

 

[vangrieg]

I’ve been to so many bars where the sound was better outside the door than inside the club.

As if drums weren’t a problem in and of itself, as everything else must be loud enough, people bring amps on stage and it all becomes a complete mess because now things can only get louder and louder. Even if somebody is at the FOH desk the only thing they can do is turn vocals louder. And then that guitarist decides his precious solo isn’t loud enough (based on who knows what) and turns up his amp, and the vicious circle repeats until it all becomes unbearable.

Thank goodness silent stage requirements are becoming more and more of a norm.

 

[marsonic]

It seems the reverse of that everyone else is doing, but somehow I've gotten into the habit of using Out 2 to FOH and Out 1 for IEM. Guitar to ears is stereo with an Enhancer block just in Out 1. I have a Shure P4M mixer that allows me to push the band mix a little to the left and guitar a little to the right, so info is coming into my head pretty much as it has for almost 50 years. If I can't hear myself, there's a knob to quickly turn the band down or adjust the pans a little more left and right. I use a touch of Ambient Reverb and that's it. Sounds better than my amps/cabs did through IEMs, and given that it was always too loud with those, now I don't have ear fatigue so it sounds better in general from start to finish!

That's what I do. The HP out on the FM3 is tied to output 1. I use an Ernie Ball cable that has a HP cable and the guitar cable inside a single shield - it's the simplest workable setup I've come up with.

If I ever actually played live, I'd run output 2 into a stereo DI.

 

[unix-guy]

I always had one out and one in.

You should really try to never do this...

The volume with only one ear in place seems much less than both and you will compensate by turning it up a lot more.

Then you risk hearing damage.

 

[Sleestak]

I've been using IEMs with my AxeFX for more than a decade. Initially I experimented with custom-molded drivers that sounded absolutely amazing, but then I had to put in a good bit of work with the monitor engineer to build me a dedicated mix, AND I always felt weirdly isolated despite the sonic bliss. After a lot of fiddling with the mix, I eventually settled on using Westone generic-fit IEM drivers that have an ambient port and only putting my guitar in the IEMs. This was the solution for me. The ambient port allows other sonic information to reach my ears, so I can hear all the other instruments / vocals, and if someone comes over to talk to me, I can hear them perfectly. The benefit is that I have a very nice stereo mix of my guitar that I can control independently. They are never very loud, but I can go anywhere onstage and have my guitar in my ears as if I were standing directly in front of my cabinet. My vocals are still in the monitors, but that's fine because I'm always standing at my mic when I sing, and the mic / monitor never move during our shows.
I use Sennheiser wireless gear for both my guitar and IEMs, but any decent wireless system would set you up nicely. My Sennheiser IEM xmitter is a half-rack unit, and is connected to output 2 of the AxeFX. It has no impact on the signal chain going to FOH or backline. It is a nicely uncomplicated solution, and requires zero additional setup time at gigs.