Using IEM with the AX8

MikeBrooklyn

MikeBrooklyn

Inspired
Hey everyone. So the cover band I just joined are all on IEM so I went ahead and got a set. Rehearsed last night with them and they sounded like crap; very fizzy and lifeless. FRFR/FOH the patches sound great.

I've been doing research and a few people mention using reverb and dialing in the patches a little darker. Does anyone have any other tips that would help? I really Don't wanna be the only one in the band not on IEM

Thanks!
 
High cut on cabs, stereo mix is a big one for me. I pan my guitar hard left and right, and the band up the middle. In a perfect world i'd pan all the instruments around as they appear on the stage. A lot depends on the IEMS and if you are getting a good seal too. If the seal is bad you will chop the low end considerably.
 
Lots of factors could influence the sound of iems. First what kind of iems? Brand? Custom? Etc.

Did the iems sound different at home vs sending the fractal through the pa board?

I hated the generic shures I tried a decade ago but a few years back got some customs and they are awesome. If you can’t do customs try some kz’s off of Amazon. They are only around $40-$70 but have multiple drivers it was shocking how good they sound compared to my jh audios and 1964ears.
 
I have been using iIEM for years. Here is my philosophy. The audience is listening to the FOH, you are the only one listening to the IEM’s. You need to be far more concerned with dialing in a great tone in the FOH than you do in the IEM. To sacrifice the FOH sound so that you can have a good listening experience with the IEM makes no sense to me. I only use the IEM so that I know what the rest of the musicians are playing. I have no expectation of great guitar tone in my IEM.

I use the top-of-the-line audio technica IEM. Not cheap stuff. And still, they do not sound anything like the FOH.
 
The key is your own mix, EQed to your taste. I use IEMs with a digital mixer. We are able to wifi with our tablets and create our own individual mix. I've never had better monitoring.
 
I am using out 1 to foh and out 2 to a small mixing console - also my monitor signal goes to my "private" 4ch mixing console that is next to my ax8. The global eq is only for my guitar tone in my iem - and I can adjust the mix myself. Works great for me.
 
Are you going wireless? If so, unfortunately it seems with this kind of gear you get what you pay for, I can recommend Sennheiser wireless IEMs, they're very good but expensive. The other half of the equation, but just as important and in many cases also just as expensive, is the IEM ear pieces. I've tried CCA C10s which have a disgusting emphasis at 5kHz that makes guitar sound fizzy as hell, now using a pair of MEE S6 Pros while I wait for my Etymotics ER4SRs. The MEEs are like 50 bucks and pretty decent with the memory foam tips, the Etymotics are probably a tad better, YMMV.
 
Definitely use something that will allow you to each tweak your own personal mix. We use an X32 that gives us the ability to eq all of the channels in our ears. You also don;t need to put absolutely everything on stage through it either - for example just a snare and kick for the drums is plenty.

if you are in a rehearsal situation you will get a MUCH cleaner ear mix if you don't use cabs as well as ears, although I'd stress that live things will always sound better if you have cabs and amps on stage, especially bass.

Also recommend rolling off the super high and low frequencies on your cab blocks, making sure you are sending 2 lines to your IEM mixer in stereo and panned hard L/R, and placing an enhancer block right at the end of your chain on all your patches. It won't impact the mono house send but will give you a great image for your ears.

The way i have set up my AX8 rig is that i can go stereo to our IEM console, separately from a mono line to the FOH and another mono line (FX loop block with no cab block) to a power amp/cab for added stage sound, or if the house wants to take a mic signal.
 
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