In-Ear Monitors

[TheBMC]

I'm looking into purchasing In-ear monitors for my band... What I'd like to be able to do is have one unit for 5 or 6 people all with a different mix... is that possible or am I better off getting individual units for each person?

Then the second part to this... what brand do you guys Like? What ones are more "economical" but do the trick? What are the top shelf brands? and why....


Thanks for your input!!

[Craven Sound]

If you want five different mixes, they'll need to be on separate frequencies and I'm not sure what's out there that does that in one unit. If you have players that can't/don't move (drums, keys) you can go wired in-ear to save some $$, and you can't go wrong with stuff from Shure.

[TheBMC]

Great point on the wired for non mobile folks. Maybe I can get wired for them. and a single unit with one mix for everyone else. It seems one mix is pretty good for everyone but our drummer likes more guitars in his mix. Maybe a happy medium.

I'll start digging into some shure products... i kind of figured that was the way to go.

[Craven Sound]

If everyone goes ears, and they're good, you'll probably need an ambient mic to pick up crowd noise. You'll keep it out of the FOH mix, but will be necessary to hear what's going on in the house.

[TheBMC]

Just had a conversation with somebody that said they didn't like the in-ears because of not being able to hear what else is going on.

That makes sense with the ambient Mic.... anyt type of mic in particular that is best?

[Craven Sound]

It depends, but I would think a shotgun type mic upstage would do best unless you have crazy stage volumes. On big concerts, they'll even put one on each side of the stage and pan them hard left/right so there's a sense of direction where the sound is originating.

[lonewolf]

The only "cheap" "multi channel" ones that I am aware of are the Galaxy hot spot stereo models where you can send separate audio mixes to the left & right channels and split 2 receivers to mono earbuds--1 receiver to left and 1 to right. There are probably a few other companies that do this by now.

I'm not sure if there are simultaneous multi-frequency transmitters, but I would expect such an item to cost big, big, big bucks.

[lonewolf]

There are basically 2 types of earbuds...1 kind seals the ear canal and you can only hear the monitor mix. With this type, you have to have a very good mix going on because that is all that you will hear. These give me (and many others with whom I spoke) what I call audio claustrophobia.

The other kind of earbud is the type that are popular with mp3 players & iphones. They fit into the V of your ear near the ear lobe. With these, you can still hear the stage sound naturally, but at a lower level. I found that you can get away with just a vocal mix using these earbuds, but can add a little instrument to it if they are a monitoring problem.

I was very comfortable with the 2nd type and didn't suffer from audio claustrophobia.

I tried many models of these and found that the Sennheiser MX400 is cheap & excellent. The MX500 is the same, but has an integral volume slider that might come in handy--especially if you use them hard wired to a stationary band member like the drummer.

Another style is the single bud earphone (can consist of both types, above) which allows one ear to hear the stage and the other to hear the monitor mix. This works OK, but its a little weird and its tough finding good mono buds. These people specialize in them, but the sound isn't that great...I used one for a few gigs and abandoned them.

http://www.scansound.com/index.php/earp ... hones.html

[TheBMC]

THANKS for all the great information!