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Headphones instead of in ears.

M

Mike M.

Feb 14, 2010
2,208
174
#1
At church we recently went to an in ear monitor system. I can't wear them. I've tried every shaped bud in every size with every material for the in ears and cannot get a good seal going. As long as I continually press with the lightest of pressure on the in ears, all sounds great. Of course that makes playing bass a bit difficult, so as soon as I release the pressure it sounds like crap...especially the bass. Sounds like I'm playing thru a 15 watt open back combo that's cranked. Everybody else seems to have no problem with the in ears fitting good except me.

Our drummer happened to have his Bose AE2 headphones that he use to wear and offered to let me use them for todays service. OMG....night and day differance!! Everything sounded fabulous!! These headphones were a nice size too. Nothing to big or clunky and very light.

Offhand I'm going to get a pair next weekend to use at church. In the meantime I'm wondering if anybody else uses headphones instead of in ears and what are you using.
 
#5
Got2SadowskyNYC said:
Check this out first. I use an off the rack set of $100 Denon earbuds for monitors and have for years. One set of these was included and I've turned others onto them. It's not expensive so try them first.

http://www.complyfoam.com/premium-earphone-tips/

I hate molds cause they isolate and are expensive.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. No, I haven't tried any custom in ears yet....but that thought was in the back of my mind.

I just looked up Denon and it turns out the Denon brand is in quite a few local stores in my area. Apparently, the shape of my ear canals must be odd, otherwise I wouldn't be having so much trouble with the buds we have at church. And believe me when I say they have quite a selection to choose from as well. You name it and they've pretty much got it. But it seems like I can't get them deep enough to where they seal good.

Is there something differant about the Denon in ears to where they might fit my ear canals?
 
#6
Mike M. said:
Thanks guys. No, I haven't tried any custom in ears yet....but that thought was in the back of my mind.

I just looked up Denon and it turns out the Denon brand is in quite a few local stores in my area. Apparently, the shape of my ear canals must be odd, otherwise I wouldn't be having so much trouble with the buds we have at church. And believe me when I say they have quite a selection to choose from as well. You name it and they've pretty much got it. But it seems like I can't get them deep enough to where they seal good.

Is there something differant about the Denon in ears to where they might fit my ear canals?
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood what he was trying to say. He uses Denon's but with the Comply foam tips. The Comply foam tips are what he was recommending that you try with whatever in-ear monitors you are currently using.
 
#7
Mike M. said:
Thanks guys. No, I haven't tried any custom in ears yet....but that thought was in the back of my mind.

I just looked up Denon and it turns out the Denon brand is in quite a few local stores in my area. Apparently, the shape of my ear canals must be odd, otherwise I wouldn't be having so much trouble with the buds we have at church. And believe me when I say they have quite a selection to choose from as well. You name it and they've pretty much got it. But it seems like I can't get them deep enough to where they seal good.

Is there something differant about the Denon in ears to where they might fit my ear canals?
Click to expand...
Everyone's ear canal shape is unique. No mass produced IEM's are going to seal like custom molded ones will.

One thing, though - the custom ones seal so well that you won't hear much of anything that you aren't feeding them. Mixing for IEM's is a whole 'nother thing.
 
#9
Mike M. said:
At church we recently went to an in ear monitor system....
Click to expand...

Same here bro.

I'm still getting used to IEM's. I may go the custom route myself. But the $$ are causing me to pause for the moment.

Everyone who has custom inserts loves 'em.

However, even with custom inserts, the quality of the mix (or lack thereof) does take some time getting used to. I really enjoy those times when the sound blanks in-and-out! :bawl: That's when I find out how good I can keep the beat (along with everyone else!). :eyebrow: Since we have a cheaper wireless system, cell phones are interfering with the frequency spectrum (so I'm told). But I digress! :)

I'm still using my bass amp speaker so I can hear the bottom. Since bass is non-directional, you may want to see if your team will go for that (assuming you don't have any sound on stage).
 
#14
I've seen folks with headphones instead of IEM's and other than Keith, it looks dorky. It worked for Keith because he'd duct tape them to his head, which makes perfect sense. Anyone else...nah.
 
#17
JimmyM said:
So it's OK to look dorky at church? ;)
Click to expand...

Ha! Well, I guess in God's eyes it's okay! :) Personally, I didn't care what I looked like wearing the headphones because it worked! My bass sounded like a bass and the mix was great!

But I am going to try and find some of those Comply foam tips as a last resort. The foam tips they had at church weren't cutting it...as all the others tips they had weren't.
 
#19
I'll try and be brief with my history of shoving stuff down my ear canals. I used Etymotic Research ear plugs for years--probably more than a decade. So I was used to their design of 3 soft rubber flanges, each increasing in size. No problems with seal for me. When I first tried IEM's, I just used a pair of Etymotic Research ear buds that I used with my ipod. Same basic design, no seal issues. When I ordered my current wireless in-ear system, they came with a pair of Shure IEM's. No matter what tips I tried, I couldn't get a consistent seal. It would sound good for a bit, but then something would move and I'd be fiddling with them for another few songs.

So after years of being very happy with fit, I do understand the feeling of trying everything and nothing working!

So once I decided that IEM's were the way to go, I go custom molds and got a top of the line pair of JH Audio's. I'm thrilled with them. But the molds themselves were only $60 from the audiologist I went to. If you combine that with the cheapest pair of custom IEM's you can get, that's probably still less than a decent combo amp and will have better sound. Don't let the hassle and unknown factor with custom molds deter you. Plus, I think JH audio has a guarantee that if they make you custom molds and you're not happy with the fit within the first 30 days, you can send them back for adjustments.

My $0.02.
 

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