Ambient sound mics for IEM's?

[tbirdsp]

I finally got IEM's - last person in our band to do so. Wondering what others have done for ambient sound mics (mic choice, how many, placement) - just want to be able to communicate with other band members, not too worried about crowd noise. Our singer used them in a previous band, but she doesn't remember any details other than it "worked great".

 

[fokof]

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[tbirdsp]

Interesting - but not really what I was looking for. 3 vocal mics on stage. While our lead singer would normally be calling out stuff, sometimes the guitarist and I might need to talk too. Would rather just have something live all the time.

 

[Biggbass]

we tried an ambient mic a few times when we first went to IEMs but it really didn't help all that much.
The vocal mics up front pick up enough of the room already. But this applies only to rooms of 75 to 100 people in our case.

 

[Dogbertday]

Yeah the ambient mice aren't that important IME. The vocal and drum mics do the same thing. I did once play with a guy who would sometimes set up a vocal Mic near the drums that went only to our ears so he could talk to the band. This is what late night talk show bands do as well.

 

[s0c9]

We have found that once you get used to IEM's, communicating with other band members on the average-size stage doesn't require ambient mics. You can hear each other well enough to comprehend. On large stages it might help some - but those have more room to move around on.

We tried them, but remembering to mute them during songs often didn't happen, so the "ambience" added another dimension to our IEM mixes.

When we started to run our own IEM mixes from our iPads, we were able to mute the ambient mics during a song. but we mostly forgot to unmute them at the end so they became ineffective and we dumped them. All 5 of us (all completely wireless, except drummer) prefer NOT to have them.
YMMV

 

[ggunn]

we tried an ambient mic a few times when we first went to IEMs but it really didn't help all that much.
The vocal mics up front pick up enough of the room already. But this applies only to rooms of 75 to 100 people in our case.

Until I added an ambient mic to my IEM setup, I felt disconnected from the rest of the band. I put a condenser mic up out of the line of fire from my guitar amp and it helped me immensely. I ran my own mixer with my vocal mic, my acoustic guitar DI, and my guitar amp mic passing through to the snake, and my ambient mic going only to my IEM's. I also pulled in a line level monitor mix that was what the front line of monitors (I had the only IEM's in that band) were getting. When I had it all mixed and panned correctly it was great. No matter where I went on the stage I heard the same mix.

DSFDF.

 

[Dogbertday]

I think it greatly depends on what the rest of the PA setup is like. Kinda like how all bass players don't need to Mic their cab to have a great tone.

 

[morgansterne]

I usually use a tiny wired clip on condenser with a little battery pack as an ambience mic. It's an audio technica, maybe model AT803. Not sure
1) I can clip it to something on the wall and it's pretty much invisible
2) it's got a high pass filter
but I've done gigs without one and it hasn't been a problem. Maybe that's because four of the five members have a live vocal mic onstage.
One time I used the main mix as my IEM feed so I used an sm57 clamped to the main PA speaker stand and pointed it towards the guitar amp and drums. I knew they'd be low in the main mix. That worked nicely too.
Only the lead singer tries to talk to me during the show, to call out the next song if he wants to go off the planned setlist, but he never remembers he needs to be louder with me.
I've been using them less than a year so maybe it will sink in eventually.
You're lucky to be doing this in a group where everybody else uses them. I'm the only one in that group who uses them and I've met a lot of resistance. Gotta save my hearing somehow.
This is for a group where I play keys and rhythm guitar -- the 2nd band I just joined I'll be doing bass again so I may have to change my set up for that gig.

 

[Big_Daws]

i found i have never needed an ambient mic for communicating with the band. i theoretically should know my material well enough, and know my band well enough to know where they are going with songs.

i found ambient mics for me are for when we get the off audience person want to request a song...saves me having to take out my IEM...

 

[Rocksolid]

I use a Rode M3 over the drums, just incase I need to add drums into my IEM feed, this mic picks up general chatter from Band mates around center stage. Very useful.