Is there a "best IEM" for Fractal?

i finally buckled and got some 64 Audio A6’s with custom molds. In the gig right before the arrived, I was standing abou 10’ in front of a loud drummer, and my ears were ringing after the show. Plus I could never get a mix on my floor monitor that balanced against them without deafening me further.

One week later, I could stand right next to his kit with my IEMs in, and could hear everything. And it all sounded great. And I wasn’t going deaf. Should have made this move about 10 years ago.
 
SinglecutGuy said:
It's worth noting that the 535's are designed for Low Frequency focus, and are recommended for bass players and drummers.
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I have the Red SE535, which are a “LTD” version and I guess means they’re limited, and which are supposed to have a different curve. “Cinematic” is the term I’ve read and they’re definitely not low-end heavy. Listening to movies is like sitting in the center of a really good theater and the FM3 and FX3 sound killer. If anything they’re a touch bright but I’ve got a GEQ block to flatten them.

There are several reviews and comparisons between those and the regular 535s and the Red come out on top.
 
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touch33 said:
Conversely, get the mix right (with quality IEMs) and the stage sound is great no matter where you roam.
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Getting the mix right is never up to me, or up to one person for that matter. Too many past bad nights and not enough years left to try this again.
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
How you liking that 2027 XL????
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I'm not sure what that is but as to taking care of your own ears a rack mixer and a splitter solved my issues. The amount of control you have over your ears w say a Presonus 32R w UC running?

The guys set their ears up in the studio with anything they want. Gate, comp,EQ and for each instrument. We save it.

Usually we do our own sound though. If we don't, you know, wedges. Whatever.
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
Getting the mix right is never up to me, or up to one person for that matter. Too many past bad nights and not enough years left to try this again.
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I totally hear you (pun semi-intended) and I’m sad your previous bad nights haven’t worked — done right, ears mean better performances onstage and better sound for the audience. I think IEM systems are a sort of like the AFX3: you can make it sound really good if you know what you’re wanting to hear and are willing to invest the time to create it — or you can pay a talented pro to create your “presets” (stage sound/wireless rigs/IEM mixes) for you. Also hearing you’re not planning to play much longer, but to most of my clients (esp. “mature rockers”) the time-effort-cost investment is apparently worth not having your hearing loss say when it’s time to hang up your spurs…

(Old SoundMan rant over 🤭)
 
unix-guy said:
Every person in my band can easily adjust their own mixes via an iPhone or iPad app.

I'd be surprised if that option weren't available to you...
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Unless he is playing the very few places where it's still just wedges or the place has a terrible PA.

I agree w you here. As I said before, all the guys have access to all parameters for their ears via UC and then levels on iPads, phones etc...

A splitter allows the ears to go to any venue and tap in.
 
It's been a l o n g time since my gigging and house sound days, but if it's the house mics and cables, it seems like a pretty big ask to insert your own split. Is that standard procedure now? Or do you bring all your own mics, stands, cables, DIs, everything, and just give the house feeds off your split?
 
The OP asked what the "best IEMs for Fractal" are.
The simple answer is that if you want "the best," get custom ear molds. JH Audio, 64 Audio, Ultimate Ears . . . these are what the pros wear.
Take a look at each company's endorsement list and it will give you a pretty solid understanding of which are trusted by professionals.
IEMs will save your hearing, allow you to consistently hear the same things (no matter the environment), sound the same whether you are stage left, right or right next to the drummer's cymbals, and once you have them dialed in, save you a heck of a lot of time at soundcheck. The Fractal units are perfect for IEMs. Stop hauling around power amps and heavy speaker cabinets for no reason.
Almost every touring musician uses them, so don't let anyone tell you the sound is not right. Just like ANY new way of doing things, they take some getting used to. Once, you do, you'll never go back.
 
tysonlt said:
Was gonna try these to see if it solves a crackle in my SE215s. What is the upgraded cable for?

also did you get the one with a mic?
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The upgraded cable is just that. A little nicer one than the one that comes with the KZ's.

I did not get the one with the mic.
 
Years ago, I went to friend's houses and jammed a lot.
In my imagination, I still think I might like to do that, though I haven't, yet.

In-ears seem like a great thing, except maybe not in that context, unless you know everybody has their own, and some kind of silent rig, and someone provides a mixer.
 
Dickie Fredericks said:
Unless he is playing the very few places where it's still just wedges or the place has a terrible PA.

I agree w you here. As I said before, all the guys have access to all parameters for their ears via UC and then levels on iPads, phones etc...

A splitter allows the ears to go to any venue and tap in.
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But he said IEMs, so obviously only having wedges isn't relevant to that discussion ;)

Yes, we have our IEM rack with a splitter. FOH gets all our signals (we are 100% direct, silent stage) to mix as they wish and we all have our own stereo aux bus feeding our individual IEM units.

One place we played had a very limited PA and a very lazy and not very experienced sound guy.

We gave him L/R main outputs from the DL32R to his mixer and a spare iPad and he set everything from there :)
 
The KZ ZS10's are fantastic for me. The KZ ZS12's are even better and only cost $75.

I've been using IEM's for a little over a year. They require some time to acclimate to the sound. I still prefer wedges etc, but IEMs make things so much easier at a show.

My band is silent stage sans drums. We also have iPad access to set our individual mono mixes
 
Cooper Carter said:
The right IEM for you will sound better than just about anything you've ever heard.
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Even with Shure SE215s I find it sounds infinitely better than a monitor. And I don’t have to stand right in the beam. And my ears aren’t ringing at the end of the night.
 
skunc said:
I've used several makes of IEMs. For comfort and best isolation I love Sensaphonics. However NOTHING sounds as good as JH. I was completely blown away with the quality of sound and the clarity. Nothing comes close to JH, they're worth every penny!
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You know that's my experience with JH, as well---I remember us talking about my hearing things on Thriller I swore I'd never heard before with the JHs.
 
I struggled for years with my IEM's. Wasted a lot of money slowly upgrading my monitors. I finally bit the bullet and went with the JH Audio 16's with 8 drivers per ear. Also, switched over to running my IEM in stereo which helped to decrease a lot of the muddiness I noticed In the mono systems. I basically eq'd every instrument in my IEM mix the same way I would a studio recording. adding low and high cuts where necessary. Panning instruments so that they dont overlap etc.

It really sucks that there's no way to audition these IEM's before buying, especially when spending $1000+ on a set.
 
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