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Ok Folks, lets have it. IEM's or Backline

Do you want IEM's or Backline

  • YEA, I want IEM's... they match my earrings.

    Votes: 97 42.4%

  • NAY, Bass amp.. Gooood, Me make noise with amp, get $$$$.

    Votes: 132 57.6%
  • Total voters
    229
#81
Rabidhamster said:
This is something interesting to me. I haven't tried in ear monitors because I imagine them being a nightmare. Like listening to a live mixed album with earbuds in while trying to hear over a loud PA. But if you're saying you can hear the bass clearly in these little buds, and its actually quieter and your eardrums aren't at the whim of a drunken sound monkey - maybe I'd consider trying them. I want something with a limiter I'm in charge of.



I always like shows better when its live amps and live everything. In Ear monitors as an audience member, often makes me feel like I'm watching a hard-of-hearing dance contest in a high school. But for all I know, I've seen tons of shows where I didn't even know they had in ears.
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I venture to say that all digital mixers will have full dynamics, including a limiter, on every aux send.
 
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#82
Rabidhamster said:
This is something interesting to me. I haven't tried in ear monitors because I imagine them being a nightmare. Like listening to a live mixed album with earbuds in while trying to hear over a loud PA. But if you're saying you can hear the bass clearly in these little buds, and its actually quieter and your eardrums aren't at the whim of a drunken sound monkey - maybe I'd consider trying them. I want something with a limiter I'm in charge of.



I always like shows better when its live amps and live everything. In Ear monitors as an audience member, often makes me feel like I'm watching a hard-of-hearing dance contest in a high school. But for all I know, I've seen tons of shows where I didn't even know they had in ears.
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It took me forever to convert because I imagined them being a nightmare as well. But my stage mix has never sounded better and it's all stored so it's the same every time. I practiced with them at home all week before the first gig. Blew my mind and never going back.
 
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#84
dbase said:
I admit I'm a Dinosaur, but I want to feel the power, not only in my ears but all over my body.. I'm not totally against IEM's, but I prefer a nice big bass amp on stage with me. Who's with me. Yea or Nay. ;)
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The guys in my band, seem to think you can have both, that allows you to turn down, quite a lot, and still have your rig on stage, possible as a “monitor” which seems to defeat the purpose of IEM, but we seem to be divided in the band, on who wants them, the singer, doesn’t. I tried them last week at a rehearsal, they are definitely a good possibility, but I scaled down my rig, have a 3 space rack ( 22lbs) holds a MB Fusion, rackmout Wireless, rack tuner, and a footpedal compressor, always on, permanently installed in the back of the rack, all this has 1 AC cord utilized to plug in, have a neo 410, my set up thumps, and takes just seconds, to go live. I like to feel the bass too.
 
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#87
There is a limiter on the Behringer mixer that I use. The IEMs don’t require tons of volume; I generally go home with less noise fatigue than I even did with earplugs.

One thing though - in an all-IEM situation I’m relying on someone other than me to provide a good bass tone to the audience, since it all comes out of FOH. No different than working with a house PA guy except that in our situation all of us are on stage. Our bandleader runs the mix up there with us.

Sometimes I wonder if it sounds as good out front as I want it to. One night, one of the horn players left the stage to take a leak, came back and told us there was no bass in the mix at all. I hope that doesn’t happen often.
 
#89
dbase said:
I admit I'm a Dinosaur, but I want to feel the power, not only in my ears but all over my body.. I'm not totally against IEM's, but I prefer a nice big bass amp on stage with me. Who's with me. Yea or Nay. ;)
Click to expand...

IEMs with a Buttkicker platform can give you so much low end your eyeballs will rattle in your head. I have one at church. Best thing since a wall of SVTs.

IEMs and no Buttkicker... meh....
 
#90
The Porter & Davies KT Platform Tactile Monitor does it for me.
 

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#92
All of this Star Trek gadgetry is so futuristic and cutting edge. There's a lot to digest. When I think rock n' roll, I don't picture a sonic game of laser tag- I hear a drum kit, a few mics, a couple amps, sufficient PA and a lot of pure talent. Mixed by someone who cares. Having said that, worship is a different story- there are times and places to go ampless.
 
#94
Rabidhamster said:
This is something interesting to me. I haven't tried in ear monitors because I imagine them being a nightmare. Like listening to a live mixed album with earbuds in while trying to hear over a loud PA. But if you're saying you can hear the bass clearly in these little buds, and its actually quieter and your eardrums aren't at the whim of a drunken sound monkey - maybe I'd consider trying them. I want something with a limiter I'm in charge of.
Click to expand...
I agree about being in charge of IEM mix - this is actually one of the best things about it for me. Having a personal mixer next to me on stage for my IEM mix means no more waving and sign language at sound techs, I can tweak to my heart's content and pan instruments from side to side so that I can differentiate much more easily. I can move around without losing my monitor mix. It's great. I do gigs both ways but if I could do them all IEM, I would happily do so.
 
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#97
Amp, but for opposite reasons than some.

We play acoustic instruments at conversation volumes, no monitors, in fairly big rooms. Maybe two mics on the whole stage. If it wasn’t for the amp, I wouldn’t have anything to be heard at all. IEMs would deter from the vibe and make everything more complicated than it needs to be.
 
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#98
Ekulati said:
Yeah this is a complicated topic. After reading enough posts here on TB that I'm convinced that all "the REAL pros" are all on IEMs, then I see pics of bands at those levels with big ole amps onstage. Recent was last week, apparently Billy Joel's old band, touring under some guise (don't know the name, never was big into him) but bottom line, their stage setup at a smallish theater that I had played and bass player has two stacked Hartke 4x10s. Utter overkill for that room. And everyone else had amps. Biguns...

Why? Why, despite what we hear, dont all the pros use IEMs?
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A lot of the time they still are using IEMs. Remember, they get paid to have those amps on stage. How many pictures of the back sides of Marshall stacks have we seen where the cabs were empty shells?

Like I said before, you can have amps, and still use them. I much prefer them over wedge or sidefill monitors.
 

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