I finally hear what I've been missing.

Very nice! Glad you've "seen the light" (or is it "hear the music")?

yes, going IEMs can be a pain in the ass or downright negative (for some sonic purists - *cough* guitarists *cough*) but the net benefits are huge once all the bugs are resolved.

The second my old band switched to IEMs, suddenly we could hear each other, sing in tune with each other, manage stage volume, produce a GREAT FOH mix and keep venue operators happy with our SPLs. Also avoided the volume war syndrome (which is why you are partially deaf, I would guess; so am I, with a nasty case of tinnitus to boot). Like you, I reduced my bass rig to a 1U SansAmp unit. I ran the PA, so I could configure to my liking. I used a pair of powered E-V 15" mains, so was able to reproduce the low freqs no problem. Digital mixer and a six channel headphone amp rounded out the kit.

In my current band (trio), I am the only one on IEMs. The drummer has just decided to go IEM and has purchased wisely. It's only a matter of time before our frontman/guitarist follows suit. He's a bit of tech nerd, so I'm not sure why he's not already on them....it'll be a while before we rehearse or gig together again, so there's no urgency.

 

9 kids?! Holy cow! I thought my life was busy raising 2 kids...

Sorry to hear about your hearing loss.

I am recent convert to IEM too. In order to enjoy playing with in ears, I bought tactile transducers (BackBeat and Eich BassBoard. It feels like playing with big rig without damaging your hearing. I recommend these...

EICH Amplification :

getbackbeat.com

 

Curious - do you use the Backbeat and the Bassboard at the same time, or just one or the other? If the latter, which do you prefer and why?

 

Sometimes I use both, sometimes I use just one of them.

BassBoard is more efficient (gives stronger sensation). I use it when I am standing at one spot on the stage.

BackBeat is invaluable for gigs for which I use wireless. It allows me to feel the thump even when I move accross the stage...

I am currenty considering getting Eich drumchair for gigs where I sit (not often) or for playing at home/rehearsal/studio...

EICH Amplification :

 

Thanks - sounds like great options. I use a Backbeat which I find invaluable - I’m sometimes wireless but more often wired and singing as well so reasonably static location. I’ve looked into the Eich previously but it’s kinda pricey to get to where I live and I’d also need an amp to run it so not an insignificant investment. What amp are you using? And what size Bassboard?

 

I am using small BassBoard (size "S"). I am feeding it with either Markbass Little Mark III or Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 amps...

I hear you on the price issue. My thinking was that it's still much cheaper than a good large cab...which it substitutes for.

I have always owned at least one amp so I didn't have to buy it just for the bassboard. But if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the quality of the amp. If you don't own an amp currently, you can buy the cheapest class D amp which you can find.

 

@rooster - glad you’re hearing better with the IEMs - I much prefer them too. Sorry for taking your thread off on a slight tangent!

Good points - thanks!

 

I've been playing with IEM's exclusively for several years now. I no longer even bring an amp to gigs if I know I can use IEMs. The thing you have to be careful of is playing the IEM's too loud in your ears--it'll do just as much damage to your hearing. I use earbuds that completely seal out the outside world so I can keep a lid on my volume. Also I mount two condenser mics pointed at the audience that I feed only into the IEM mixes to bring the room sound into the IEMs. If you have enough busses to run stereo IEM mixes and pan the audience mics hard L and R, it's amazing.

Incidentally, a stereo IEM mix is really helpful. I can pan Guitarist #1 to one side and Guitarist #2 to the other, which really helps me hear them. Also I pan the vocal mixes slightly, and I pan the drum overheads hard L and R. I keep my bass, kick drum, and snare panned to the center. It really helps my performance.

 

My party band has been using in-ear monitors for about a decade now. Greatest thing since sliced bread in a bag. I don't take an amplifier on stage anymore, and haven't for years; I just use a direct box to the board and let the sound man do the rest.

 

Nah. Big old amp.
Dynamic drummer. Sensitive guitarist. SM58s through monitors that sound great.
Mix to taste. Hey lads: let's watch our stage volume. The vocals sound so much better, and crescendos actually mean something! I've lost most of my right ear hearing. It's a drag. I'm glad you found what works for you.

Band request:
Can you turn the bass up?

Wait. What?

 

Nice welcome the new way of getting it done
took me a while, but I play now with IEM most of the time, I say most of the time because had some really nice ones that went the way of crushed under a PA cabinet But if using regular head phones for some gigs I talk the wife into spend the money on new ones. Which I have had the chance to gig yet . but hopefully in the near future Oh I got the 3 driver UM Pro 30 from Westone I like thought of the filter, so you can hear some of the stage sounds you feel a lot less isolated which being old school is a nice feature imho

 

So, with the new monitoring rig, if you close your eyes, can you tell what your fingerboard is made of now?

Just wondering...

 

9 kids.. God Bless You and your wife. I’m one of nine and my mom was also one of nine. It was very common in my Brooklyn neighborhood to see very large families with 9 children or more.

Great story about the IEM.

 

Sorry to read about your hearing loss. IEM is great and there are a few points mentioned here that are worth repeating.

Get a good seal of the buds for best performance.
Keep the level low to protect your hearing.
Enjoy being able to hear the whole band and getting better sound out front.

We switched about 18 years ago using small mixers and any instrument feed we could get, that was a lot of cables. These days with digital it’s so much easier.

 

Ummm... IEMs in a rock band context can be even more damaging. Be careful.

 

Congratulations on raising 9 kids. God bless y'all!

 

Since you stop having a life after 2 kids, having 4 or 6 or 9 kids doesn't matter anymore: you cannot have less than no life anyway

 

What I can see in most of the IEM thread is the secret sauce: going direct to FOH.
Me and my band members are all going direct but we don't use IEM, just some PA powered speakers for monitoring. The subs are doing the heavy lifting. So we are not playing any louder than listening to recorded music at home (yeah just a bit louder, can we have some fun please?). But we are not playing bars, so no sub-standard PA for us.
Drummer switched to Roland eDrums 2 years ago, but even then the acoustic drums dictated the loudness. I would say we are having more fun now, modelers/eDrums are very good when everybody's going direct, it's a more homogeneous sound.