IEM and Solo Boosts....how to not crush your earholes?

Tremonti

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
In a normal non IEM situation, I can move my ears away from the cab and is non-issue. Sometimes it is db and eq to make this boost and think live in ears it is not ideal when you already have your levels where you can play great. How do you all mitigate this and save ear pain/hearing loss?
 
Tremonti said:
think
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Never tried? Then i suggest you check that out first.
I have zero problems with my solo boosts, but that might also be because i boost only 2.5dB and i leave the rest up to FOH.
When i play solo, i very much lean on the 'musical foundation' of the rest of the band; a limiter would push that further away, which i wouldn't want.

Set your IEM's to a healthy level with some room for your own temporary boosts.

However, I do use a limiter on the incoming mix (which i blend with my direct guitar signal), but that is setup to protect me from excessive volumes (micdrops ;), unmuted plugging/unplugging of cables, all kind of issues that might result in a sudden bump in the mix), it normally won't reduce the level of the incoming signal.
 
md1234 said:
However, I do use a limiter on the incoming mix (which i blend with my direct guitar signal), but that is setup to protect me from excessive volumes (micdrops ;), unmuted plugging/unplugging of cables, all kind of issues that might result in a sudden bump in the mix), it normally won't reduce the level of the incoming signal.
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This is exactly what I was describing. The way it's set, it's not doing anything at all until the volume threshold is reached, and when that happens, it just won't allow the volume above a certain level, so I don't need to worry about feedback squeals making me deaf or whatever.
 
jeffgoobs said:
With a compressor/limiter set to be a brick wall limiter with a level threshold which I set during soundcheck.
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This!
I'm a hobby musician, so take as it is, but we run on IEM with great satisfaction...
I have a stereo mix for the IEM (everyone has the same mix) with a simple compressor + limiter at the end..
My lead sound has a +3dB that cuts in the mix without changing the overall volume... it's just on top of other instruments.
I'm more afraid of the powerful singer voice than my "squelches"
 
Bruh.... You must have your guitar signal CRUSHING in your IEM mix if a 3-4db solo boost is going to blow out ear drums. I wouldn't be reaching for a limiter to fix this because you'll get less dynamic range in your solos.

You could try, dropping your solo boost a little (3db is plenty in most cases), dropping your guitar in the IEM mix a little, and making sure you're panning instruments/etc left and right in your IEM mix so there's separation and the guitar isn't having to muscle its way through everything else.
 
I use about 6.5dB as my solo boost and I've never had a problem. I keep my IEM volume down so that a 6.5dB boost at moderate volumes is nowhere near as severe as 6.5dB at high volumes.
 
I have a limiter on my iem pack, but you should never have the volume of the pack up to where it could cause damage. So no matter what happens it wont go past a certain level. I do a 3.5db null filter at the end of the chain before delay and reverb blocks. I'm thinking of bumping it to 4.5db. Pull all the faders down on your mix, put your guitar at it's loudest, and set that volume, adjust your pack to where it's comfortable, then start adding in the other instruments. This way you get a better mix and not everything is pegged on 10.
 
Let's go back to the 'levels where you can play great' part. It is always intriguing to turn your own signal way up in the IEMs, but it's not a good idea.

For rhythm parts I always try to not having my own signal way too loud in my IEM mix. I still want to be able to tell how my signal is cutting through and where I would need to increase or decrease my volume. Which I can't anymore when the guitar gets way too loud and gets like something disconnected in the foreground. So I'm just a little tiny bit louder in my IEM mix for rhythms.
When I switch to a solo from there it gets loud, but not ear piercing loud and it will not harm my ears. I stand out a bit better in the mix in that moment, so I need to hear myself better then and because of the volume boost I get it then.
But only then, I don't see a reason to go on with higher volumes for rhythm parts.
 
There are those who put a brick-wall protective limiter as the VERY FIRST PROCESSING STAGE IN THEIR IEM SIGNAL and there are those who end up wishing they had.

Think of IEMs as the tip of an ice pick resting inside your ear canal. Act accordingly.
 
I run out 1 left to FoH which has a 3db boost on it so I can boost certain fills. Out 1 right goes to my on stage FRFR, Out 2 left goes to FoH with another 3-4 db boost but is only active when I hit my lead scene. My ears come out of Out 3. My ears never get Out 2 in them.

I just make sure the band doesn’t get my Out 2 with the extra boost in their ears. Just did this recently and its been working really well.

I had people tell me my leads could be louder more frequently than I liked and a buddy of mine that also uses the III suggested trying this since I’m only running mono.
 
md1234 said:
Never tried? Then i suggest you check that out first.
I have zero problems with my solo boosts, but that might also be because i boost only 2.5dB and i leave the rest up to FOH.
When i play solo, i very much lean on the 'musical foundation' of the rest of the band; a limiter would push that further away, which i wouldn't want.

Set your IEM's to a healthy level with some room for your own temporary boosts.

However, I do use a limiter on the incoming mix (which i blend with my direct guitar signal), but that is setup to protect me from excessive volumes (micdrops ;), unmuted plugging/unplugging of cables, all kind of issues that might result in a sudden bump in the mix), it normally won't reduce the level of the incoming signal.
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Not understanding the "think" thing but ok....
 
I don't have problems, but I have my IEM volume set so that my ears still have some "headroom".

I also don't use that much of a solo boost - it's mostly a bass cut, a bit more upper mids, and like 1dB of actual volume....more focused sounding than just louder.
 
I haven't had this issue with 8.5 years of running Fractal units into our IEM system. I have used 3-4.5 dB as a solo boost. I agree with others that maybe your guitar is already blistering loud in your ears. I mix my IEMs to be a good sounding mix in general because it's more enjoyable for me to play that way. There's more guitar and less keys than I would mix FOH, but it's not blaring guitar. I have to hear what my bandmates are doing to make sure what I'm playing fits.
 
My IEM mix is not so loud that a 3-6dB boost of my guitar (or any other instrument, or even the entire mix) makes it uncomfortably loud. And I do in fact have a lead boost that I often engage. One of the great things about IEMs is that they don't need to be so loud, since the starting point is to substantially block the sound in the room before dialling in a reasonable monitor mix ...

As for limiters, I control both my mix and the overall level, so I haven't needed one. If I were relying on a monitor tech or FoH to control it, I may be less willing to go without a limiter.
 
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