Singing with IEM's

[ggunn]

Does having the IEMs in place damage your hearing like using ordinary headphones can, I imagine in a band scenario the IEMs would have to be turned up quite loud to be heard above amps/drums etc

That can happen, depending on what type of IEM's you get. Custom made ones that seal your ear canals effectively shield your ears from ambient sound, so it's easy to run them at a much lower SPL than you'd experience without them. The down side of them is the same thing; if you don't pipe it in, you don't hear it. If you don't mix in some sort of ambient mic, you might feel isolated from the rest of the band.

The other way some folks do it is with cheap earbuds that don't seal, so a lot of ambient sound gets in. With those you might experience what you are talking about.

 

[Silas Stingy]

I'm considering some in ear monitors but I am concerned about singing. If I get some, does your head ring just like when using ear plugs? If that is the case, the in ears won't work for me.

Yes you will hear your own vocals in your head but you will overcome it with patience. The lack of volume, detachment from the room and clarity will be very strange at first, you will want to rip them things out within the first song. Stick with it, rehearse with them in and you will never go back. No more ringing ears, no more bad tuning. If you do happen to pull them out during a gig you will be amazed how loud things are and how much damage you are doing.

 

[Runnerman]

Yes for vocalists! It will save your voice for sure. Learning to get your mix correct is very important and I also find that it takes longer to get the IEM's dialed in. With wedges, I pretty much know what I want and very seldom do I need to go back for further adjustments. With IEM's it's a lot more diddling around and you must do a complete band sound check so that you can see what it's like with the amp/drum stage volumes together. If you are guess wrong on the indivdual instruments/vocals and then jump right in, you are screwed or constantly adjusting through the set. In a timed situation like a festival, this can be a complete bummer and take away your time from your set.

This very thing happened to my band this last w/e. We played Sat and Sun at two different festival stages. Sat we wanted to use IEMs and the sound tech said we could do so. Turned out he did not have a clue and the monitor board was right beside the stage. The band before us took their sweet time getting off the stage which pissed me off to start. Then we were rushed getting everything set and did a very quick IEM setup....which turned out to be horribly wrong. All I had was the two backup vocalists and my bass...the rest was non-existent under that. I asked for adjustments about 3 times and finally gave up. Should have pulled my plugs at that point but I limped home by watching the drummer and couldn't wait until the set was done. A one hour planned set turned out to be about 40 minutes of complete misery.

Sunday, opposite. I told the band I would do wedges because of the day before. So everybody decided to do wedges. We got on stage, plugged in, set the monitors and rolled. Only one small adjustment for me after that. If it wasn't for the country cowboys ahead of us going OT, it would have been perfect.

 

[two fingers]

I didn't read every single post so if someone covered this, my bad. Spend your money on some good ear buds. If you get an IEM system with horrible buds, you will hate it. Good buds are not cheap. But, if you are going to go that route, they are worth it.

I do a lot of fill-in gigs. I don't have a rider per say, but I stop just short of insisting that I use my IEM's. If I have to go with wedges, I wear ear plugs.

Now, one thing I will do if the stage volume isn't insane is just run one ear. I will put in the IEM on the side with the rest of the band. And if possible put my rig (facing cross stage) on the other side. Then I get the best of both worlds. I can hear my rig clearly, as well as my vocals, but drown out a lot of screaming guitars and whatnot on the other side.

 

[Runnerman]

Now, one thing I will do if the stage volume isn't insane is just run one ear. I will put in the IEM on the side with the rest of the band. And if possible put my rig (facing cross stage) on the other side. Then I get the best of both worlds. I can hear my rig clearly, as well as my vocals, but drown out a lot of screaming guitars and whatnot on the other side.

Not recommended...you are asking for hearing damage. Because of your open ear you will have the volume too high in the in-ear bud to be able to hear it.

 

[HYBRID APERION]

Get to know your FOH soundman and monitor man,or learn how to run at least the monitor mix.Its extremely important that YOUR mix is how you want it.IEM'S for me has been heaven,BUT it can be challenging to say the least if a great mix WAS there at soundcheck,but then at performance time its different(and one small bump or change can ruin things quickly)and IF you are buddies with the soundman/monitor man he can fix it back quick for you.Also singing with IEM's works awesome when you turn your individual vocal mix up in your ears and learn to sing softer....whether singing harmonies or lead...its easier to hear pitch and tone of your own voice in ear buds when youre not screaming...and thats really A main purpose for the IEM's...is to cut down on volume!

 

[F-Clef-Jef]

hell no!

like arsonaut says, they block the stage racket (they are earplugs, after all) allowing you to pipe in whatever you need at a quiet, comfortable level.

when running a good IEM mix at the right level, pulling them out on stage is like getting blasted with a jet engine by comparison.

This.

I am always amazed at how loud the stage is if I need to pop out one of my in-ears (and we don't even use amps! But we do have acoustic drums). I think it's pretty loud in my in-ears, but it's nothing compared to "real life" stage volume! In reality, it is MUCH quieter using the in-ears. I haven't had my ears ringing on the way home from a gig in years.

I also find that using universal-fit (I use FutureSonic Atrios with Comply foamies) work really well for singing. Because as you sing and your jaw moves, the shape of your ear canal changes slightly. The foam can move a little bit, so they stay sealed. I'm not sure if this is an issue with custom molded plugs, and I'm not willing to spend $500 - 1200 to find out.

 

[two fingers]

Not recommended...you are asking for hearing damage. Because of your open ear you will have the volume too high in the in-ear bud to be able to hear it.

That's why I plainly said that I only do this if the stage volume isn't insane. I will only put vocals in my right ear (if the band is on that side) and my bass rig will be on my left (facing cross stage). If all I have in my IEM is vocals, I don't have to turn it up much at all just to isolate my pitch among everything else to be able to sing in key. Trust me, I am an ear snob. I will put in some -32db plugs in a second if I think my ears will get damaged playing with some idiots. 25 years of gigging and I can still hear fine.

 

[sadowskyguy]

I know what u mean by feeling isolated. Put some reverb in your in ear mix. Not too much, but just enough that your vocal doesnt sound completely dry. For me, this plays a vital part of the psychology of singing. If i think i sound great, i will sing with more confidence.

 

[TinIndian]

My guitar player and I are the last hold outs in our band for IEM's and we recently took the plunge on these, just waiting for them to get here. I have serious cooncerns about being disconnected from the crowd with these things and only being able to communicate with the rest of the band through the PA basically. You guys that have been using these things give me some ideas on how to resolve/deal with this please. We are considering using only one earbud and some here don't think thats a good idea. We are not a loud band to begin with and I never have ringing ears when we play. Frankly, I'm not too excited about this.

 

[sadowskyguy]

I personally think one earbud is the way to go. You get the best of both worlds! I feel way too isolated with both in, and let the wireless freq glitch one time with both ears and you'll feel like you are in another building

 

[Pacman]

One earbud is a recipe for permanent hearing damage. The reasons for which have been explained many times here.

As far as the disconnected feeling, use ambient microphones. We always use two condensers, placed just to the inside of the mains, aimed at the audience. Members can dial in as little or as much crowd as they want.

 

[F-Clef-Jef]

One earbud is a recipe for permanent hearing damage. The reasons for which have been explained many times here.

As far as the disconnected feeling, use ambient microphones. We always use two condensers, placed just to the inside of the mains, aimed at the audience. Members can dial in as little or as much crowd as they want.

^^^^^This^^^^^

In addition, we have a couple "stage only mics" that are only heard in our in-ears. It works brilliantly. We've even had our keyboardist talk us through a tune we'd never played before, calling our the changes as we go.

Watch a live Dave Matthews performance sometime. He wears a little lapel mic that he uses to communicated with his band/crew. That's where we got the idea...

 

[SoVeryTired]

^^^^^This^^^^^

In addition, we have a couple "stage only mics" that are only heard in our in-ears. It works brilliantly. We've even had our keyboardist talk us through a tune we'd never played before, calling our the changes as we go.

Watch a live Dave Matthews performance sometime. He wears a little lapel mic that he uses to communicated with his band/crew. That's where we got the idea...

We do this. I'm MD for our group overall and alternate with our keyboard player each week as to who is MD onstage. That means we have someone who is speaking into the whole band's ears, calling out changes in the song structure, interpreting where the lead singer wants to go, giving warning of upcoming solos, signalling the song end, counting in, and yelling at people who are out of time or getting the chords wrong! With a band of (mostly) amateurs of mixed ability, it's made us a lot tighter.

I don't often sing but find IEMs great for this - the only problem IME is cheaper earbuds struggle to cope with both bass and vocals. That's why I don't tend to sing and play bass - I can't afford good enough earbuds!

 

[f.c.geil]

The greatest thing about in-ears is singing with them in. You will LOVE them!

Absofreakinglutely!

you have to get the IEMs up loud enough to "get over" the internal bone conduction sound, but that's still not really all that loud.

if you wanna finally sing on-pitch and create good harmonies with the other guys in the band, all while not blowing out your voice or your ears, there's nothing better.

Exactly. It's not real loud, and pitch control is enormously improved.

I wonder how anyone can live without them once you get them dialed in; probably THE best investment I've ever made, punchy kick drum, SOOO much easier to hear your articulation on bass, and as others have said less fatigue on the voice. Makes a "non singer" like me so much stronger and the band instantly noticed how much better the vocals were on the first gig with them. Love them.

Me, too. Best monitoring investment I've ever made.

...they block the stage racket (they are earplugs, after all) allowing you to pipe in whatever you need at a quiet, comfortable level.

when running a good IEM mix at the right level, pulling them out on stage is like getting blasted with a jet engine by comparison.

Exactly.

As you can see, IEMs are a wonderful thing for any musician, and even more so for a singer. Frankly, I'll never go back to wedges.

 

[WalterBush]

This.


I also find that using universal-fit (I use FutureSonic Atrios with Comply foamies) work really well for singing. Because as you sing and your jaw moves, the shape of your ear canal changes slightly. The foam can move a little bit, so they stay sealed. I'm not sure if this is an issue with custom molded plugs, and I'm not willing to spend $500 - 1200 to find out.

I used UE triplefi 5.1's with Comply tips for a couple of years before I got custom molds. After the first two sets of the night, I'd have to start cramming them in as my jaw moving coupled with sweat from stage lights kept popping them out. I got custom molds, and those suckers STAY PUT no matter how much I sing, smile, talk, jump around, or sweat.

Get a box like the Rolls PM351, and you can mix a direct feed from vocals, instrument, and line out from the board straight into your ears. I did this based on MNAirhead's advice, and I have the shortest soundcheck of any member in my band, even with keys, bass, vocals, click, and sampler. I ask for the singer's vocals, click, and a lot of drum overhead for ambience, mix it with my own instruments and vocals, and BOOM! off to the races. It takes maybe five minutes, and I can adjust my bass and vocals from the stage without wiggling my fingers around my head at the soundguy.

Best part, they're about $60 bucks and double as a nice passive DI with two outputs.

 

[basswalker2004]

I use Ultimate ear custom in ears with the ambient sound option and it's the best $500 investment I've ever made. I only sing back up but I run my vocal and bass through them and it's like being in a recording studio. And the best thing, at a comfortable volume.. No ringing or ear fatigue, just great sound..
custom molds are the way to go..

 

[basswalker2004]

I used UE triplefi 5.1's with Comply tips for a couple of years before I got custom molds. After the first two sets of the night, I'd have to start cramming them in as my jaw moving coupled with sweat from stage lights kept popping them out. I got custom molds, and those suckers STAY PUT no matter how much I sing, smile, talk, jump around, or sweat.

Get a box like the Rolls PM351, and you can mix a direct feed from vocals, instrument, and line out from the board straight into your ears. I did this based on MNAirhead's advice, and I have the shortest soundcheck of any member in my band, even with keys, bass, vocals, click, and sampler. I ask for the singer's vocals, click, and a lot of drum overhead for ambience, mix it with my own instruments and vocals, and BOOM! off to the races. It takes maybe five minutes, and I can adjust my bass and vocals from the stage without wiggling my fingers around my head at the soundguy.

Best part, they're about $60 bucks and double as a nice passive DI with two outputs.

Thanks for the tip on the Rolls PM351. That looks perfect..
cheers

 

[DonaldR]

Stupid question but do you have your bass amp on stage when using IEM? If so why?

 

[f.c.geil]

Not a stupid question at all. The answer, though, is: "it depends."

If I'm the only one using IEMs, then I do have the amp on stage, so we don't blow up the wedges trying to get bass to the others. In this scenario, I run it facing across stage with the volume just enough to get to the lead guitarist. If we are all using IEMs, then I don't have it on stage, just going direct (Empress ParaEQ into Countryman Type 85).