What do you put in IEM mix that FOH does not get and why?

Nothing. I want something similar to what is being sent to FOH. Not even my guitar volume is that much higher
 
The only difference I have is my boost is slightly lower volume as I don’t need it as loud and I have a little more low cut because my ear buds have a lot of bass response.
 
I talk to FOH first to ask what they need regarding EQ, explaining that I have built-in high and low cuts, but if they would rather have more control I can skip that block for their feed.

If I know the FOH Engineer is good, I’ll skip sending reverb and certain delays there because reverb in particular ideally is integrated across all sources to sound best, and I don’t want to make his/her job harder.
 
We don’t always use IEMs, but the one thing they get that doesn’t go to FOH or wedges is house/atmosphere mics… two shotgun mics pointed into the audience to get the sound of the room into your ears. It’s amazing how much more realistic the gig sounds when you can bring some house into your IEMs. It adds that third dimension.
 
I have an RC-5 looper in my IEM mix to use as a little more advanced metronome. For songs with long guitar only intros I kick it on so I have a beat to jam along with in my ears set to the correct song tempo (I just shut it off when the drums come in) :p. Great for just practicing also.
 
Click. And a cue track, which is usually just the song name and/or a verbal count-in on top of the click.

For songs that start with vocals, I also pipe in a reference note or chord to make sure we start on pitch.

Last, if we needed to make a last minute change - like deleting a verse or skipping a section, I'll add a verbal reminder for that too.

Not everyone adds room mics, but I consider them 'standard'. For two reasons...

1) We don't feel so isolated from the crowd.
2) My X32 mixer has the X-Live SD card installed, so I record multi-tracks of every show. And I like to hear the audience in those recordings.
 
Apart from click and room mics, which people have already mentioned, one thing I do often on mixes is create parallel IEM mixes for vocal lines to fight occlusion. So, vocalists each have a channel for their vocal mix, just for them to listen to, completely separate from the front-of-house send, and even separate from the vocal mix anyone else gets of their vocals. This allows me to EQ the vocal mix of their voice so that what they hear of themselves singing is clearer and not simply louder. Any time a singer can't hear themselves in their IEM mix, it's almost always not because they aren't loud enough, but because they are fighting occlusion.

This is a good video about it:
 
Down the same lines as the occlusion post above, I've started to send out 1 as my FOH mix and out 2 into seperate channels of our x32. Out 1 is mono, out 2 is stereo with an enhancer block at the end of the chain. Just creates a more immersive guitar space. Been enjoying it!
 
From Fractal I have 2 different EQs, IEM and FOH. I also tame the Solo Boost sometimes for IEM, no need to blast myself with my own Solo.
In regard to mix whatever you want to hear in the proportion you want to hear.
 
More me. I feed the monitor mix into my FM9 and send the OUT 1 to my monitor wedge or IEM. That way I can control my level via a pedal. Helps with the metronome as well.
 
frankencat said:
How do you separate the boost from your IEM mix only?
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My boost is managed with a control switch. I have a branch in the chain where I have two filter blocks (how I do my boost). One goes to output 1 (my stereo ears) and one goes to output 2 (FOH). The one that goes to FOH is at 3.5 dB. The one that goes to my ears is at 2 dB.
 
David Whittingham said:
Apart from click and room mics, which people have already mentioned, one thing I do often on mixes is create parallel IEM mixes for vocal lines to fight occlusion. So, vocalists each have a channel for their vocal mix, just for them to listen to, completely separate from the front-of-house send, and even separate from the vocal mix anyone else gets of their vocals. This allows me to EQ the vocal mix of their voice so that what they hear of themselves singing is clearer and not simply louder. Any time a singer can't hear themselves in their IEM mix, it's almost always not because they aren't loud enough, but because they are fighting occlusion.

This is a good video about it:
Click to expand...


I do this for my lead singer, and bass player, but for my own voice - I rely exclusively on occlusion in my own mix. I hate hearing my own voice come back in my in-ear mix. I get self-conscious and shy away from the mic. So keeping my own voice out of the mix, makes it easier for me to kiss the mic, and keep my pitch centered among the other voices. The obvious downside is that I would never know if my mic was broken or unplugged.

But for the bassist/vocalist mixes, I borrowed the setup from Drew Brashler;s video above. His channel is a constant for me. I'll add his name to my X32 questions on Google/YT before ever opening the manual.

Vhalen50 said:
my IEM mix has alot of room reverb added that would more than likely not be added to the mix out front.
Click to expand...

If we're also counting FX, they I also add a few for comfort. We use an XLR splitter to send dry signals to FOH, and they can do what they want. But in our ears, everyone has a fader to determine much of a reverb return they want on drums, vocals & guitars. And my singer likes to hear a little short delay on his voice. We probably sound better in our ears than we ever sound at FOH, so there's an argument to be made for keeping things dry and simple too.
 
Part of the attraction of IEMs for me is that I can create a mix to hear each member of the band clearly and so I can interact on a deeper level. Also I can feel like I'm the loudest guy in the room 😊
 
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