Run direct/ In ear monitoring

[Stinsok]

Lately, I have wondered about IEMs and how they would work in a fairly loud 3 piece band. With the exception of an Avion system (I was drumming) I have never used them. Would I be able to get by without cabinets on stage?

[WalterBush]

The short answer is yeah, you can do it.

It works much better if you shell out the dough for a custom-fitted set, but no matter what, don't cheap out on the earpieces themselves. Go with a two or three transducer model, at least, if you want to feel bass in your skull.

[musicman7722]

Plenty and I mean plenty of threads on this in the live sound section.

[rovito]

I use the SCL3 from Shure. Not the best but not the worst. I still use one four ten cab for the other guys to hear but I have found the amp onstage acts as a butt kicker for me. Fills in the live lowend aspect that would be missing. I went from four cabs to one.

[Ryan L.]

I did it for quite some time in the last band I was in. The guitar player and I used no amps on stage---I used a Sansamp Paradriver and he used a Line6 Pod XT Live to go direct to the board. The drummer played regular acoustic drums, but we had a sneeze guard around him to keep the stage volume at a minimum.

We used Shure IEM systems, and I used a pair of Westone UM2 earbuds. It worked great--we had a very nice PA system that we let do all the work, and load-in/setup was a breeze.

But, I always felt like something was "missing" onstage, not having any amps moving air there.

[Stinsok]

I am going to experiment with it at practice. I don't have an IE system. I am going try using my Tascam Bass Trainer fed from a monitor send.

[Sufenta]

I played for a while in a band with electronic drums and the whole band IEMed. The initial $ investment was pretty up there and the learning curve trying to get everyone's individual monitor mixed to their liking was really high. We spent (re: wasted) hours and hours of practice time tweeking it. Once it was all dialed in it worked fairly well but I never got 100% used to the idea and the sound. I also used my wireless for my bass and one thing that was nice was the lack of delay of the mix whenever I'd head off stage and cruise the room. Whenever I do this with a normal cab set-up the further away I got from the stage the worse the delay. Bottom line: Interesting experience using IEMs, but I greatly prefer the regular backline option.

PS: +1 there are plenty of threads/info/opinions on this topic that can be found with a search.

[Gohloum]

Our band also went the route of no back line. We are running the new JBL VRX for FOH and the SR112M floor monitors. Drummer has the Roland D-20.

I mix the band from stage and am wireless so I can go out front. I would have to say (without actually trying them) that an IE system will give you somewhat similar results. What I mean is that I dont sit in my sound - you know, how the rumble of 8 10's or a couple of 15's pushed by a tube amp leaves you swimming in loads of sub-sonics from everywhere. With the IE, it's going to be more like my mix coming back through a top of the line floor monitor / power amp combo in that you are going to get a more 'listening experience' that you participate in rather than that gut rumbling live experience.

For me, as an engineer, this is just fine. It also makes mixing FOH a snap because I am not fighting acoustic drums or guitar / bass amps.

Also, I am tired of humping gear! The freaking amp rack / board rack combo is the only thing over 100lbs. Other than that, I can setup an entire 10,000 watt PA by my self if need be in under 1 hour.

However, on the flip side, if you are like me, there is something inspirational about feeling your skin tickle from volumes of sound waves vibrating your clothing... Some guys miss this and go back to the amp /cab route. However, I recommend giving it a fair chance for a few months with the IE's.

[RAM]

Our band has a silent stage. In fact, I'm the only one who's not 100% digital, coming from my Avalon VT-737sp as my DI. The drummer uses an electric kit with mesh heads, the guitarists both run through digital modelers, and the keyboardist runs a virtual system through his laptop.

Personally, while I hate not moving air and the digitized sound of every instrument, I enjoy the lower volume and the ability to have my own headphone mix. I use a Shure PS-200 and run the bass through channel 1, while the rest of the band is pre-mixed before coming out of channel 2. If I need to boost an individual instrument, I make tweaks on the master board, but that's usually sufficiently done during sound check. If I need to balance the bass vs. the rest of the band, I can do that on the Shure by boosting or cutting channel 1 or 2, depending on what I need.

Quite frankly, I'm the only one with Shure SE530 earbuds (with custom molds). The lead guitarist uses the Shure E3s with custom molds, and the rest of the band uses the E2s. I don't know how they get adequate low end, because even the E4s, which I used to use have inadequate low end. Makes for "interesting" live sound...I have to trust that our sound guy knows what he's doing...

[MNAirHead]

Active Bass => Passive DI => XLR to Board = sound source

Passive DI => Rolls PM351 => Headphones = monitor source

My setup cost about $200.. next spend is for custom in ear buds.. then custom fit by audiologist.