In ears. Who loves and who hates ? Why?

Tremonti

Tremonti

Fractal Fanatic
Also what tricks have you done to make them better? Custom molds, universal fit, ambient tunnel, etc.
 
I have Audio Technica IEMs. I prefer the "amp in the room" sound to the IEMs, but most of my playing now is in worship service setting, so I have to scale back on my McFly moments. IEMs did take some getting used to, but I try to make the best of whatever playing environment I find myself in.

We use an Aviom system at church (2000 seats) and the Aviom allows each performer to dial in a personal mix at a small remote control box. I take the time at each rehearsal to quickly dial in an acceptable mix. Does my guitar sound as good in the IEMs as it does in the room? No, but I just use the IEMs as a reference in listening to the other musicians so I can add my guitar voice to the other instruments. I use a wireless rig (Line 6 G-90) and have walked out front and listened to my guitar in the FOH. Sounds amazing. The IEMs, not so much. I really do not care what the monitor mix sounds like as long as I can have my guitar sit well in the mix. The only people listening to the monitor mix is the other musicians. The congregation/audience are listening to the FOH and I know that sounds excellent.
 
Custom Molds are nice to have. I don't know about the whole 18 driver thing but I've been pleased with triple drivers for awhile. Plenty of options. If you have the money to spend over 1k on just the ears then hey they should sound awesome. running ears stereo and with a nice digital mixer where you can add some verb in helps. I'm still investigating running some ambient mics. If you grab a digital mixer and can record a show and play it back you can mess with your in-ear mix for hours which is nice to dial it in. I love doing this at shows.
 
I was a big fan of IEMs for a few years and liked the ideas of quieter stagesound (with axe NO guitarsound on stage), no feedback and of course not to bring monitors to the gigs.
Nowaways I have to use them in the bands I play with because that's the monitor solution they went with. I personally hate the feeling of wearing IEM's but that's personal preference. Big disadvantages are the dependency on the soundguy (if he sucks you do to). IEM also points out every mistake the band makes. While this is mostly not that obvious over PA the in ear let's you hear mistakes very clear. This can be discouraging in a live situation. average bands can sound not even average through in ears
 
Stagepig said:
I was a big fan of IEMs for a few years and liked the ideas of quieter stagesound (with axe NO guitarsound on stage), no feedback and of course not to bring monitors to the gigs.
Nowaways I have to use them in the bands I play with because that's the monitor solution they went with. I personally hate the feeling of wearing IEM's but that's personal preference. Big disadvantages are the dependency on the soundguy (if he sucks you do to). IEM also points out every mistake the band makes. While this is mostly not that obvious over PA the in ear let's you hear mistakes very clear. This can be discouraging in a live situation. average bands can sound not even average through in ears
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How are you getting your feed to IEMs from the sound guy? If they are using a digital mixer, you should be able to manage your own mix.
 
I am. Behringer mixer to behringer powerplay and then stereo into IEM.
With dependancy I meant there is no guitarsound on stage. This means when the soundguy screws up there is no super loud amp that makes you loud enough without him. This may sound silly but after you played a gig where the soundguy forgets to unmute your guitar for half the first song you will understand what I mean.
With a good soundguy there won't be a problem but you'll never know what kind of guy will be mixing you. At least with my bands :(
If you meant about the discouraging topic
That's the result of having your guitar really loud in your monitor which is also a good thing as you know what you are playing. Stage and roomsound can often hide some mistakes or make them at least less noticeable. With in ear everything is direct. This is again a good thing as long as the stuff going into the in ear is good. If it's not good you will hear it. Doesn't matter if it's me, the drummer or whoever. But it's super clearly when someone fucks up
 
Stagepig said:
With in ear everything is direct. This is again a good thing as long as the stuff going into the in ear is good. If it's not good you will hear it. Doesn't matter if it's me, the drummer or whoever. But it's super clearly when someone ****s up
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Heheh I guess it's personal preference. When I make mistakes, I want to hear them.
 
I have a love/hate relationship with IEMs. I have had custom moulds in the past but your ears change as you age, so you need to update them every few years, which is expensive. I now use Shure SE535s and they work OK. The band I play in is all mixed from on stage, so no engineer. We don't mic up the drums or bass and my guitar is live (I have an FX8), but I take a line out of my Mesa MKV head to the mixer, which is a Allen & Heath QU-16, to put a bit in the FOH and for my IEMs.

On the plus side for IEM, I like the fact I can hear my vocal and everything else I want clearly and it cuts down on the stage volume to protect my hearing, but it is not the same as the 'live' sound. I must try the reverb 'trick' to see if that helps with the sound.

On the negative side, as I mix from on stage, I have to keep taking an ear out to keep a check on the overall balance. The rest of the guys are good at helping me with this and we are so used to playing this way, we are all good at self regulating our volumes.

However, I do like the smaller quieter gigs where I can just use a micro monitor (Behringer B205D) as that all sound more natural to me.
 
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