EBS_freak

When is a decibel not a decibel? 😛 Tolerance to loud volumes, well, that’s where the subjective element comes in.

Wrong. See my post above.

This is particular bug of mine... but I'm hoping that what I write here can scratch the surface to help people with their live mixing... First of all, lets look at the volume thing and a thing called the Fletcher Munson curve. In a nutshell, the FM curve does this - At low volumes, our ears are more sensitive to the mids... at higher volumes, our ears become more sensitive to the highs and the lows... so all the detail in the mids (e.g. where the vocals lie), tend to get lost. So in a gig situation, at sound check, things can sound great. As the evening progresses, and as the band volume goes up, there goes your vocals . Also, as the performers ears tire, their ability to hear details in the mids from their amps decreases... so what happens then? They turn up... further compounding the problem. So actually mixing at low volume and simply turning the volume as the punters begin to fill out the room, won't help your mix and how you sound as a band. So there's the first issue. Second issue... Cast your mind back to physics at schools... and wave theory. If you have say, a 150hz sine wave with an amplitude of say x, then if you add a second identical sine wave in phase with the original wave, you'll end up with a single wave, with amplitude of 2x. So what's important about this? In short, the addition of similar frequencies together can cause some very unwanted effects and volume boosts. For example, a lot of bands will start mixing with their kick drum and set that to the volume that they think will suit the band. If you consider say, the fundamental of that drum to be say 35hz and harmonics at 70 and 140... when you lay over a bass guitar that is combining with the frequencies of the kick, you are going to get an increase in volume in the lows due to like waves summing together. An increase in volume in the lows will obviously begin to raise the overall volume of the band and add to the low end mud. This fascination with low end reproduction in cabs has always bothered me - because unless you know what you are doing, all the bass player is going to do is spread a layer of muds in the lows. Now consider two guitarists... sound check 1 guitarist. Sounds great. Soundcheck the other. Sounds great. Now put the two together, and the wave forms of those two guitarist begin to sum - so you aren't just getting the sound of those two guitarists playing together - you are getting some frequencies that are multiplying together to form peaks in the overall mix. So the more instruments you add, the problem starts to compound itself. Then when get frequencies bouncing into open mics and causing feedback loops. Also consider something when micing drums with overheads... that top end air all sounds great in isolation... but when the cymbals are also spilling into other open mics, those high frequencies all start summing... to the point where everything starts to sound really harsh. And what happens when the volume gets turned up, well, the mics start picking up more spill, more summing, more treble... and the more obliterated the mix becomes. I'm amazed at home many people don't understand this - and of course, the average band will then finish with the vocal and then attempt to push the gain, volume, EQ in order for the vocal to cut through the rest of the noise that is coming from the stage. In reality, get the vocal sounding natural (after all, that's what people are MOST interested in) and EQ everything around it, even if the instruments would otherwise sound a bit weird in isolation. Of course, given that the average person doesn't know how to notch frequencies to account for the room, most pub bands end up falling into the above traps. But above all of that, the thing that I can't stand is players that play for themselves, not the band. You turning up after soundcheck screws the mix and makes everybody's sound worse. Cue people turning around and trying to fix what they hear on stage... and there starts the volume wars. You'd never find a sound engineer give a player access to a wedge mix... and this is why. You touching your backline is going to do nothing but screw the mix for the whole band. It makes you a selfish ****. If you cant hear, get yourself an IEM setup so what you chose to listen to doesn't screw with everybody else. IEMs aren't just for stadiums... they can work in pretty much any environment you care to play in. Let the PA do the work - it's more balanced, you have a better control of the frequencies each instrument is producing if it all goes through the desk and is amplified using the PA. Even better, cut the amps completely and the problem of bleed virtually vanishes (obviously things like venue slapback and acoustic drums can still be a problem - but the problem is vastly reduced). Anyway, I'm bored of writing now... but you get the idea.

Pretty much anywhere you want... in the same way that you attach it to an acoustic guitar... blutac!

I suppose if all depends whats in your mic inventory. I personally wouldn't stick a D6 on a cajon due to the inherent upper peak thats useful for picking up the click on a bass drum... not so much use on a cajon. I have a love/hate relationship with the D6 cos of that peak! If you are looking a cheap mics, you could do a lot worse than a bottle top piezo! A bit of EQ here and there - and you can get some quite usable sounds!

Jeez, how loud are you playing if you need 32dB attenuation!? I wouldn't recommend these based on the fact you'll hear no definition in anything, the roll off of the top end is not going to be helpful in terms of hearing whats going on... but hey, if they give somebody a good nights sleep, they got to be good for that! (And jackhammers I suppose!)

Here's a blue jazz that I built - routed the J shape from alder, sprayed by the Bow finishing, tort guard, EBS pre, Bart pickups, Hipshot hardware and finally a Status neck. Built it and had an offer I couldnt' refuse on it before I could even gig it... (it did play and sound pretty immense to be fair) - so I sold it. Don't know where it is now but funnily enough, did see some guy playing it on some random wedding gig in some photos on Facebook.

Mmmm Roxannes. You can join the guy at FedEx with your Roxs... Although I'd wager yours fit your ears! 😛 Enjoy! And we are all looking for the lowdown post gig!

Powersoft class D amps. I think it's safe to say, there's no problems with class D.

It's not class D... it's a certain class D 😜

I would always assess an amp for how it sounds, regardless of whether it's tube, hybrid or solid state. I have to say, on guitar at least, I used to be a tube purist. On bass, I have always been in the solid state camp... as I'm not a big fan of grind and sag on bass. Having said all of this, I sold my valve amps and replaced them with a Kemper... and haven't looked back. I'm a firm believer that modelling has now got to the point that the addition of valves or not is really not a bother to me.

Was gonna say, if you are UK based, come to the drum show and try out all the IEMs. I run a Kemper. Kempers are great.

More - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/KZ-BA10-Headset-Balanced-Armature-Driver-5BA-HIFI-Bass-Earbuds-In-Ear-Monitor-Earphone-Sport-Headset/32922455690.html?aff_platform=link-c-tool&cpt=1536661123329&sk=cZOyuNKY&aff_trace_key=7bcb3ebdac7c4b44a6a2589832253cdd-1536661123329-05524-cZOyuNKY&terminal_id=5eb947e1a4914e869d96a3dfd2ca71f2 Still bloomin' ugly casing though.

Hey Tony, if you are interested in switching, looping and midi controllers, I absolutely recommend that you do not look at the Looper/Switcher section of http://www.loopersparadise.de/ - because you will end up spending lots of money. Seriously, don't let anybody mention it to you because you will end up spending money. You can thank me later for this warning.

Hi @intime-nick - what are you using as the crossover on your subs? You may want to lower that to 100 or even 80 - so more low end is going through the tops. If you are crossing over at 120, theres a lot of bass energy and sonic detail that is being taken out of the foh that are at ear height and being fired at peoples feet with not a particularly powerful sub. (Not dissing the sub, it's just that it's not going to push out that much low end at high enough energy to push it a long way from the stage - especially if it's getting absorbed by peoples legs. I'm guessing the sound that you are hearing is fairly toppy from the back of the venue? Can you separate out the kick drum on the module? Being able to compress that, and put a nice peak at around 50hz (or maybe 65 given the size of the subs) should add some bass weight back into your mix. In fact, you may want to plug the L and R into the main L and R on the XR18, put a HPF at around 90hz, and run the sub completely off an aux to give you more control over that precious low end. Realistically, you probably only want the kick to go through the sub - putting bass guitar fundamentals through the sub is going to eat up it's bandwidth very quickly.... but physco acoustics will put the lows back in when you hear the 1st harmonics and above come out of the mains. itsmedunc's suggestion of RCF745s (or 735s) are sound. I've said many a time that those speakers are unique in what they are offering at their price point. The 3 (735) and 4 (745) inch compression drivers in those cabs, allow for the hf drivers to take on a lot of vocal duties which in other cabs, would be handled by the main driver. This allows for a lower crossover, so the larger speaker is more concentrated on producing the mids and lows as opposed to trying to get the tops sorted also. This frees up the speaker to a lot more work on the low end without muddying up the vocals. Those 3 and 4 inch VC drivers throw vocals like nothing else... and with the main speakers throwing out some serious volume as well... you have a very formidable setup. Add a sub or two to take care of the uber lows, and those 15inch drivers are only working on several hundred hz... which means your low mids and mids are going to have so much bandwidth, it starts to get ridiculous. Those boxes are light... and super efficient... and should not really exist with those drivers... or the price point! And they are potent enough to keep all but the most serious of bass nuts happy without carrying around subs. Without knowing too much about your band however... big sounds usually require moving a lot of air... so it does sound like that your cabs are getting towards their limit. If you are compressing, you are already gaining headroom... you need to add speakers... or saturation to give the output more harmonic content... but that comes at the risk of hurty ears if you start over doing it!

You'll get all sorts of recommendations I am sure... but for universals, I have used and been happy with the cheapo ACS Pacatos - https://acscustom.com/uk/products/hearing-protection/universal-fit/pacato, Doc's Proplugs (vented) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Pro-Medium-Vented-Plugs/dp/B009LKO19Q As you've discovered, decent fit is of upmost importance - if the fit is wrong, then you are going to have a pretty miserable time. And of course, it takes some time to get used to the difference in sound whilst wearing plugs. I'd always recommend wearing ear plugs for at least quarter of an hour before your performance so you become more accustomed to the somewhat dulled response when wearing plugs. For customs - ACS Pro17s seem to be order of the day in the UK. https://acscustom.com/uk/products/hearing-protection/pro-series - they are very good... however, I've just changed to 1964s with the Apex 15 filter... and thats the best I've used so far for a more flat response, in fact, they are pretty incredible... but they do come at a significant cost - http://www.custom-inearmonitors.co.uk/earplugs/64-audio-ep-custom-ear-plugs.html (But then again, can you really put a price on your ears?) Depending upon your setup, you may want to consider using a set of decent custom inears? (I know they may not always be practical for rehearsals - but you may want to consider it for live. They will be a revelation - and it will get you into a postition where you can have zero ringing ear issues)

I'm with mrtcat - when you see what is in your average top end/boutique bass cab and see what is in a fairly mediocre PA cab, it's criminal that bass companies are charging as much as they do for such low end components. @johnny1982 - where abouts in the world are you based?

If you are looking for a cheaper boundary mic, you could do worse than something like the Superlux E100. Should capture the lows and the detail of the surface nicely... without breaking the bank. Happy Jacks advice on the towel is good - folded tea towel, boundary mic on top, job done. With any mic, you'll be relying on a bit of EQ on the desk to get the most out of your setup.

To add to what mrtcat has already said... and going through each statement in turn - 1. "i can expect a non enjoyable bass sound in my in ear which could lead me to abandon using In ears in general" - Looking at IEMs in isolation at the moment, if you buy a set of IEMs that are not up to the job, you aren't going to get a good experience. As a comparison, if you went out and bought a 1x10 bass cab and then decided to roll with a heavy rock band, you are going to be thraping that box within an inch of it's life. It's likely going to be distorting, give you a very poor audio reproduction... and generally, not put a smile on your face. With IEMs, there's two crucial things... and as bass players, we are quite demanding of them. First up, headroom is of critical importance. If you want to hear a lot of bass, you need to get some IEMs that are capable of reproducing that, free from distortion, at a volume that is applicable for you. A lot won't - unless you start investing the money in the low end drivers. This is where things start to get expensive. As a rule of thumb, I tend to recommend a quad with two drivers in the lows - to give you the extra headroom that will make you happy. Obviously, if you can extended this to a quad, even better. You mentioned the UE6 - which is actually a piece that I am reallly enthusiastic about. It hasn't got dual drivers in the lows... but it has dynamic drivers instead of balanced armatures. Dynamic drivers are what you would find in most headphones that I am guessing you would be familiar with. They aren't as detailed as balanced armatures (that are usually found in custom IEMs) - but they do produce more lows and typically have more headroom when comparing 1 BA to 1 dynamic. So whats the difference? Well, you generally end up with a warmer timbre with dynamic drivers and naturally more bass, with more headroom. The UE6 has two dynamics with a single BA to cover off the highs... which is lovely. Having heard the piece, I'm really, really impressed. It hits hard down in the lows... which alot of IEMs won't do until you spend over 1k. So that's headroom and bass covered off, the next comment is about EQ. A lot of desks will lead to you pushing out a mix to an aux, or pair of linked auxes for stereo. A dry bass sound can sound not particularly great through IEMs because where you are tapping off the feed is pre the EQ that would be naturally added by your speaker cab. Even micing up your bass cab can sound not great in your ears because you won't necessary capture the lows that you are looking for unless you are using a combination of mics... plus, being an IEM convert, you want to be looking at taking your big rig out the equation anyway. If you think about it, if you are running your bass through a PA with subs, if you EQed for you inears, you'd be slaying the audience with the amount of lows coming out of the subs that are FOH. 2. "The guy told me, it would be almost a "must", to EQ my bass sound that is coming ONLY to In ear monitors." For some people, not having the bass EQed in their ears isn't a deal breaker - they'd still take a dry aux and not have all that feeling of deep bass in their ears - because they'd rather just hear their bass clean and at a volume that isn't going to deafen them. Obviously, if you can do better than this, why wouldn't you? For typical aux setups, you send your mix prefader to your aux, so you get what generally comes into that pre - and depending upon your desk, can send pre/post EQ (remember, in other words, this means, the EQ as it is, or sharing the EQ that you have with front of house) and/or pre/post DSP (for things like compression). As far as the output on that aux goes, you then have a compressor and a global EQ... but this can also be limiting. For example, if you start boosting the lows on the EQ, you are also going to be boosting the kick and keys players left hand... which isn't always ideal). Options? Well, you can split you signal into two channels on the desk, as suggested above... or digitally split it on the mixer. If you split the signal in an analogue style before the mixer, you can put an EQ in line to change your EQ to suit your inears. One would go to FOH, and the other goes to your monitor mix only. With a digital mixer, you can achieve the same in the box. With the X32, you also have the option of using Ultranet and using the now pretty cheap P16M... https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-Powerplay-P16-M-Personal-Mixer/IU1 - that you can assign 16 channels to for your personal mix. This enables you to mix (e.g. EQ, Pan) your own inears and put your own custom EQs on the 16 channels you decide to send to your ears. This may be your easiest option if you aren't able to get the control you want over the desk to achieve what you want. All this routing can get pretty complex if you decided to get into custom routing for inears mixes off one desk etc. That's why you tend to run two mixers - a foh and dedicated monitor mixer... that way you can run completely independent DSP and processing for FOH and Monitors. 3. "But i am searching for a way to manipulate the sound on "my side of a chain" - so that i just can send it to mix and eq the "in ear" side only for me." As suggested above, you can EQ the whole of the aux output - so no need to have any separate EQ on that front. Basically, you need to have the bass sounding like you want before it leaves the mixer - the only exception if you are using an outboard mixer like the Ultranet P16M or Aviom systems etc. Sorry if the above is a bit garbled - I just did a bit of a brain dump

I wouldn't be putting bass through that Laney cab...

Never tried it - but this kinda looks like ambient on a budget... https://www.olenstechnology.com/product/fuser-music-ambient-sound-mixer-2/

Looks like Sennheiser is now gunning after Shure in the IEM market. So single dynamic in a Shure like casing? That'd be the 215 competitor then. I'm guessing the 400 and 500 pro will be mapping nicely to the Shure range. Looking at the Bax prices - £115 for the 215 competitor... EDIT : https://en-uk.sennheiser.com/ie40pro Looks like street price could undercut the Shures...

Anybody here with a Strymon deco? More interested in the saturation element of it really... tell me about it...

Outrageous behaviour.