In-Ear Monitor Question for Live and Practice

It isn't likely to be the perfect solution, but it might be a workable solution. For rehearsals, I'd maybe consider this path with fairly inexpensive wired gear and off-the-shelf IEM earphones. I wouldn't spend for a wireless IEM rig and custom molded IEMs without much more control over the IEM mix.

Worth considering...

• What will you use as the headphone amp? A wireless IEM transmitter/rcvr? A wired more-me mixer like a Rolls PM351? A simple headphone amp?

• If the guitarist's volume covers everything else only from where you stand, you might consider a more-me mixer with a mic input in addition to the instrument or line level input for your bass signal. That mic input would let you place a cross-stage mic to mix more of the rest of the band into your earphones. (But if he's too loud, the guitar bleed will just leave you chasing your tail by trying capture any quieter parts of the stage with a mic.)

• Will the earphones offer enough isolation to lower your overall listening level to a safe range?

• Even if you're only monitoring your bass, a properly adjusted limiter can protect against *some* mishaps and operator error.

 

To clarify- Where are you getting the rest of the band mix? I would never advocate using only one in ear. All you will do is make you bass LOUDER to compete with them, pretty much going against the whole original purpose.

 

No in a word, there is way more to it than that.

 

no good.

in-ear buds that seal well enough to give you good low end will also do a great job of blocking out everything else. you'll have a hard time hearing the other guys well enough to even follow the song.

one cheat is something like a rolls PM351; if you're not singing, you can stick a mic into the other input and turn it up just enough to hear the room a little.

 

I agree with the rolls or if you have a small mixer kicking around. The point being you need away to hear the band too. For these to work you need both buds tight in your ears otherwise you hear crap.

 

Especially if this is just for the rehearsal room, don't used a wireless IEM rig for what you want to try. Run signal from bass or a line-level signal from your amp to a Rolls-style box, and use non-custom fit earphones. The IEMs will need to seal well enough to give you bass, but not block so much ambient sound that you entirely lose your too-loud bandmates.

• Non-custom earphones (I'd suggest CCA C10, KZ AS-10, or KZ-ZS5 or ZS6—should be in the $40-50 range).

• A Rolls PM55 (includes limiter, mic channel, and instrument channel. Can be run from batteries—should be ~ $80). Could also consider a Rolls PM50s or PM351.

If that experiment works reasonably well, you could tweak it by adding foam eartips instead of the stock silicone eartips shipped with most of the inexpensive earphones. I'd also add a cable from the Rolls (on my amp or pedalboard) to a small unpowered beltpack attenuator. And if you can't hear your singer in rehearsal, run their mic cable to your Rolls box first, then pass it through to whatever y'all use for rehearsal PA.

 

It would be a lot simpler and cheaper to put your ears closer to your amp. Lift it up and stand in front of it.

 

ROFL - folks tend to forget that bass waves are long and standing in front of your amp in a small practice room means you are hearing room reflections, not the source. Couple that with drums/guitar bouncing around and it can be real hard to hear yourself clearly.. and the volume wars start.
One approach is to stand on the opposite side of the room from your amp. Guitars players are blown away with how LOUD they are when they do that, but everyone hears themselves better.

 

yes: communication! it wouldn't cost you anything but several minutes and a couple of beers* to talk it out with the guitar player! if you reach any type of compromise = you might even be able to play without earplugs! good luck hearing yourself!



* i'd suggest a mexican lager.

 

This is a VERY common issue. @walterw got the situation exactly correct.

The IEM vs acoustic soundstage is pretty much like tennis, where you need to be either at the net or on the baseline, but not in the middle where you get whacked.

More experienced musicians tend to learn to rehearse at levels where everyone can hear everything. That mix level is simply more efficient; so, you get more done at the rehearsal. Which is usually not paid.

You can use an IEM soundstage as a crutch if your band members aren’t yet at that stage of understanding; because the IEM soundstage allows everyone to dial in their own mix. Whether or not that’s a good thing depends on how you look at it; because it can equally be abused to interfere with ensemble awareness. An interesting topic.

But, no, using a single IEM when the rest of the ensemble is acoustic is playing tennis at half court. IME.

 

And very dangerous to your hearing health