bonzodog Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I know there are a few threads around discussing IEMs and some of them have already touched on this but I wanted to ask specifically about using IEMs for vocals. We are a 3 piece of drums bass and guitar and me and guitarist share vocals. We play small to medium pubs and use backline and vocal PA. Diary is pretty much full now with regular pubs so there is no prospect of ever moving to putting all band through PA as we are happy with our overall sound. We use a monitor and have used 2 in the past but we always have the struggle of hearing the vocals over the back line and feedback which i know is a common battle. Guitarist is dead against IEMs and happy to persevere with the monitor but I want to try out an IEM. After seeing some video footage of us on new year its clear some of my vocals are flat as im struggling to hear myself. My question is how usable are they for vocals only? Forgive my ignorance but would i still be able to hear the baçkline with my earbuds in if i turned the volume of the IEMs down? All i am after is a trickle of vocals so i can just hear if im in key? Or is it feasible to just have one ear bud in? I am just worried about feeling isolated from band. My intention would be to try a cheap wired system first before going wireless. I assume there are lots of bands on here who use vocal PAs only so would be interested in seeing if anyone does this. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassjim Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 We do this ( try to......see other thread). It can work, in fact it does work. Just a lil bit o politics in the way over at mine but for you should all be good. Ask EBS Freak. He knows all about this stuff and regularly uses the tech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=3][color=#000000]OK - so you probably have figured that the best way of using IEMs is putting the whole mix through your ears but it reads like you don’t particularly want to go this route. (Be aware that you can have your backline going through your desk for monitor purposes, without going out to front of house so if you want to use your backline for front of house without using the PA speakers, you still can).[/color] [color=#000000]Guitarists are always against IEMs and can never give you a proper reason why they shouldn’t use IEM. Let them learn - I’ve managed to get even the most stubborn guitarist onto IEMs. (I put a talk back system in place and he felt out of it when the jokes were being cracked and he couldn’t hear them).[/color] [color=#000000]In theory - and to some extent in practice, you can use an IEM system for vocals only - but your results will vary and be unpredictable. The reason I say this, is that if you aren’t micing up your backline, putting a vocal feed into your ears and you are still wanting to hear the backline, the success depends on how much of the backline you are picking up through your vocal mic… and how leaky your inears are. The second point is the key one. If there is too much isolation on your inears, you aren’t going to be hearing your backline. At which point, you’ll be tempted to take one of your inears out. From a protecting your ears point of view, this is one of the worst things you can do because you will then start pumping up the volume of the inear that is in your ear and you run the risk of permanent damage to your ear. Isolation is not necessarily a bad thing - I would rather have isolation than a swampy sounding stage. Conversely, with careful placement of ambient mics, there is no reason why you can’t have a natural sounding environment in your inears. Basically, the best IEM solution is that which occludes everything from the outside world and the only thing that you can hear, is what is piped into your ears through the mix. If you want ambient sound, use ambient mics.[/color] [color=#000000]A common thing is read on here about inears not giving people what they want is because they can’t really do it on the cheap. You need a good source - what you put into your desk is what is important. Crap in, crap out. You need a good desk with an appropriate number of auxes with ideally an EQ on those outputs. You need good transmission of that output to your ears, whether that is wireless or wired. Go wired because cheap wireless doesn’t cut it. Finally, what is in your ears is crucial. Apple buds are not quality inears. They will not give you the seal and bass response that you crave in a live situation. You only have to look through the latest entries in the monster IEM thread in the Accessories section of the forum to see peoples views on that who have been there and subsequently upgraded. Basically, if you can't meet the requirements of any of those steps, you are destined for a sub standard, even miserable, IEM experience.[/color] [color=#000000]The good news is though, if you are looking at wired for a starting point, it will cost you very little to experiment to see if a minimal setup can work for you.[/color][/size][/font] Edited January 9, 2017 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Is it possible to use a single mic front centre of stage to feed a very rough overall backline stage mix of the band into the IEMs? Seems it would be less hassle than micing/DIing and subsequent mixing of the whole band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1483961140' post='3211366'] Is it possible to use a single mic front centre of stage to feed a very rough overall backline stage mix of the band into the IEMs? Seems it would be less hassle than micing/DIing and subsequent mixing of the whole band. [/quote] Yes - AKA as ambient mic. Ambient mics (preferably condenser mic due to their pickup pattern) can be placed wherever you need them to be - facing the backline, facing the audience... they are typically panned left and right when running stereo IEMs to give back the 3D image which performers often complain about being lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzodog Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 I like the idea of an ambient mic which would solve some of the issue maybe, thanks. As i stand next to and opertate our mixer for the vocals i wonder if just using the mixers headphone socket would suffice initially to see what it sounds like before investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 The mixer would give you the front of house mix, not an aux mix but if only vocals are in question, that may be enough... but what you certainly don't want is an ambient mic going through front of house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiMarco Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I tried IEM and hated it. The snaredrum comes in louder then my voice @ the SM58 I sing into. IEM only works on really big stages with a drummer like ours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xzodar Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I've had good success with a wired setup utilising an Art MyMonitor box or Rolls PM50. Either give your a 'more me' volume control for your mic along with a volume control for whatever mix you have coming from the board. As a starter for 10 it works well. I used Shure SE215's so no where near the quality that you can get. The 6 piece horn line in my function band have all just moved over to Rolls PM50's with a shared mix and that's working well for them as well. Just three more band members to convince now... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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