The IEM (in ear monitors) Bible thread

[lemmywinks]

17 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

I have just received another version called the P1. It looks identical but also comes with a case.The battery design is much better than the Behringer. Will give it a run out later in the week.

 

Yeah I quite like the battery arrangement, more secure as the batteries can be knocked loose on the Behringer. The belt clip is a better design as well I think.

 

Can't grumble for £13 delivered, only took 9 days to arrive as well.

[JPJ]

So I finally did it. I played a whole gig on IEM’s. Yes it was at a bike rally with a massive PA system and professional engineers both at FOH and monitor desks, but I did it. And what a revelation it was too. Bloody loved it. I used a combination of the X-Vive wireless and Sennheiser IEM100’s. The X-Vive transmitter was stage left at the monitor desk and I was about 10 metres away stage right. Our singer guitarist uses the same setup and I would get an occasional crackling if his receiver was between mine and the transmitters or if I turned to face the transmitters (the receiver was hanging off my back pocket). Other than this, call me a convert. The X-Vive played nicely with my Shure wireless too. Now our second guitarist is talking about going in-ears too so that will be the whole band using them. 

[police squad]

21 hours ago, JPJ said:

So I finally did it. I played a whole gig on IEM’s. Yes it was at a bike rally with a massive PA system and professional engineers both at FOH and monitor desks, but I did it. And what a revelation it was too. Bloody loved it. I used a combination of the X-Vive wireless and Sennheiser IEM100’s. The X-Vive transmitter was stage left at the monitor desk and I was about 10 metres away stage right. Our singer guitarist uses the same setup and I would get an occasional crackling if his receiver was between mine and the transmitters or if I turned to face the transmitters (the receiver was hanging off my back pocket). Other than this, call me a convert. The X-Vive played nicely with my Shure wireless too. Now our second guitarist is talking about going in-ears too so that will be the whole band using them. 

for me it's life changing, best thing I ever did

[Greg Edwards69]

After Saturdays postage stamp sized stage, where I was stood right next to the drummer's snare side, I was reminded how glad I was that we went IEM. I went to bed without my ears ringing!

[EBS_freak]

33 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

After Saturdays postage stamp sized stage, where I was stood right next to the drummer's snare side, I was reminded how glad I was that we went IEM. I went to bed without my ears ringing!

You see, this is the biggest win isn't it? Lots of people think IEMs are for large stages... you've just highlight the exact reason why they are suitable for all.

[Muzz]

Both of the above, plus about 1000...my main musical habitat these days is wedged into small spaces in pubs right next to the drummer, and that's where IEMs are of the most benefit. I slipped one half-out during one song on Satdy night, just to see how loud it was...I put it staight back in fully...

[Greg Edwards69]

3 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

You see, this is the biggest win isn't it? Lots of people think IEMs are for large stages... you've just highlight the exact reason why they are suitable for all.

Not only that, but if we had been running backline and vocal only PA, I wouldn't have heard the backline very well as

a) it would have been pointing at my knees, and

b) I would have been wearing earplugs. to protect myself from the drummer.

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, Muzz said:

Both of the above, plus about 1000...my main musical habitat these days is wedged into small spaces in pubs right next to the drummer, and that's where IEMs are of the most benefit. I slipped one half-out during one song on Satdy night, just to see how loud it was...I put it staight back in fully...

I did the same on a theatre gig which was ‘silent stage’ apart from the drums. The sound in the auditorium when I popped one earpiece out was brutal compared to the nice controlled IEM volume.

[dave_bass5]

I love how my Apple watch keeps flashing that the volume is too loud at rehearsals, yet i have a lovely clear mix at a volume that is very ear friendly. 

The first few times I’d get home without ringing in my ears felt wrong lol. 

[JPJ]

On 01/09/2024 at 11:04, JPJ said:

So I finally did it. I played a whole gig on IEM’s. Yes it was at a bike rally with a massive PA system and professional engineers both at FOH and monitor desks, but I did it. And what a revelation it was too. Bloody loved it. I used a combination of the X-Vive wireless and Sennheiser IEM100’s. The X-Vive transmitter was stage left at the monitor desk and I was about 10 metres away stage right. Our singer guitarist uses the same setup and I would get an occasional crackling if his receiver was between mine and the transmitters or if I turned to face the transmitters (the receiver was hanging off my back pocket). Other than this, call me a convert. The X-Vive played nicely with my Shure wireless too. Now our second guitarist is talking about going in-ears too so that will be the whole band using them. 

We were discussing this gig last night and our singer mentioned something that occurred to me on stage but I’d forgotten about. We could actually hear the return sound from the front of house slightly delayed from the sound in the in-ears. You only noticed this during quiet sections or song endings but it was a little disconcerting at first having never really heard this before.

[Greg Edwards69]

On 01/09/2024 at 11:04, JPJ said:

The X-Vive transmitter was stage left at the monitor desk and I was about 10 metres away stage right. Our singer guitarist uses the same setup and I would get an occasional crackling if his receiver was between mine and the transmitters or if I turned to face the transmitters (the receiver was hanging off my back pocket). 

If this is a persistetn issue you could always attach your transmitter to a long cable out of the monitor desk to get it closer to you.

 

We run our from a passive xlr splitter box centrally near the drums. We're generally all happy with the same mix and a couple of band members use a wired connection instead of wireless.

[JPJ]

52 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

If this is a persistetn issue you could always attach your transmitter to a long cable out of the monitor desk to get it closer to you.

 

We run our from a passive xlr splitter box centrally near the drums. We're generally all happy with the same mix and a couple of band members use a wired connection instead of wireless.

I have used the system before for half a gig without issues so I think this was a peculiarity of a big stage and the transmitters being side-by-side and a good distance away. I will however run an XLR to have my transmitter directly behind me when we’re providing PA. 

[bassmansam]

Ultimate Ears UE6 vs Jerry Harvey JH11? 

 

Has anyone happened to have compared or owned both of these? I'm just wondering if the hefty price tag on the JH11s are worth the extra £££

[Chienmortbb]

21 minutes ago, bassmansam said:

Ultimate Ears UE6 vs Jerry Harvey JH11? 

 

Has anyone happened to have compared or owned both of these? I'm just wondering if the hefty price tag on the JH11s are worth the extra £££

I don’t have experience of either but in general the higher end of any market offers little extra. It really is the law of diminishing returns. 

[gazhowe]

1 hour ago, bassmansam said:

Ultimate Ears UE6 vs Jerry Harvey JH11? 

 

Has anyone happened to have compared or owned both of these? I'm just wondering if the hefty price tag on the JH11s are worth the extra £££

i haven't tried the JH11 but it may be worth considering the 64 Audio A4s.  I found them to have better definition/clarity than the UE6 and they are cheaper than the JH11 with a similar driver spec.

[bassmansam]

31 minutes ago, gazhowe said:

i haven't tried the JH11 but it may be worth considering the 64 Audio A4s.  I found them to have better definition/clarity than the UE6 and they are cheaper than the JH11 with a similar driver spec.

 

Thank you I'll check them out! 

[acidbass]

I had a particularly bad experience with JH Audio recently that I'd like to share.

 

I dropped one of my Roxannes onto a table and the shell cracked, the faceplate (logo) section detaching from the main earphone.

 

The drivers remained in place and unaffected, in fact it still sounds great even with half an earphone in your ear!

 

I contacted JH to get a repair (reshell) and was told by their Service department that this is not something they offer at all.  Apparently, the drivers are not serviceable and so cannot be removed from one shell and put into another.  Long story short - the only option is to buy a complete new Roxanne earphone at half the RRP of a complete new set (over 1100 dollars).  When I queried how this could be, given that the included 7 pin cable itself costs 250 dollars and the carbon fibre case another 200 dollars - therefore really reducing the total RRP for a complete set by 450 dollars in my eyes - my query was met with a cold 'take it or leave it' response.

 

Sadly the earphones were 1 month outside the 2 year warranty.  JH hold my digital ear impressions on file and I am now stuck with having to buy a complete new earphone if I want to continue using my Roxannes.

 

I should also add that this is my third negative experience of JH in the slightly-over 2 years I have been their customer.  The first one was that the carbon fibre case (200 dollars!) fell apart after only weeks of use.  When I contacted them, they advised I glue it back together.  Entirely unsatisfactory.  The second negative experience is that the 7 pin cable (250 dollars!) failed around 1 year into use.  I asked for a replacement as this  was quite simply not good enough for a premium product and again wasn't assisted at all by their warranty or service department, and had to purchase a new one at full cost.

 

Needless to say, my whole opinion of JH as a company has changed and I am currently pricing UE18s to use going forward.

 

I should add that in every one of my three problems with JH, I gave them ample opportunity to correct the issue, which they had no interest in doing.

 

Hugely disappointing but certainly not a novel tale, going by numerous other online forums.  Sort of makes sense that they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year when you realise just how poor their after-sales service is.

Edited September 12 by acidbass

[Jack]

That's a huge downer but thanks for posting your experiences.

[James_Peterson]

Returning to this thread after a few years with KZ10 IEMs with Comply foam tips. Last Saturday I put them in and felt there wasn't a good seal - even without anything going through the IEMs the background hubbub of the venue was distorting, and once we started playing everything was loud and uncomfortable, and I was struggling to hear the pitch of the guitar and vocalist. Time for two things: 1. replace the foam tips and 2. shell out for some customer IEMs that are going to give me a better seal. My budget is going to be around £600, which should be good for something like the ACS Evolve, Bellos X2, or Ultimate Ears UE6. Much as I'd love to trade up, I don't think I can justify 64 Audio A3s. Anyone got opinions to offer? Will I get a better seal with the silicone that ACS use rather than the hard acrylic of the other manufacturers? Should I be concerned about the lack of dynamic drivers? Have ACS still got a bit of a reputation for unreliability?

[JapanAxe]

Obviously we’re all bass players here but how many also use IEMs when playing electric guitar? I can set up my ampless rig (Strymon Iridium and a few pedals) to get great sounds through my home studio monitors; but despite splashing the cash on Shure SE425s I still find that overdriven tones sound harsh in them. I was talking to a guitarist friend who had spent over £700 on his earphones and he also finds the same thing. Although the FOH sound is likely to be fine, it hampers my confidence. (I’m aware of the importance of a good seal around the earpieces to preserve low end.)

 

Any other skinny-string guitarists here experienced the same? Have you overcome the problem, and if so how?

[JPJ]

13 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Obviously we’re all bass players here but how many also use IEMs when playing electric guitar? I can set up my ampless rig (Strymon Iridium and a few pedals) to get great sounds through my home studio monitors; but despite splashing the cash on Shure SE425s I still find that overdriven tones sound harsh in them. I was talking to a guitarist friend who had spent over £700 on his earphones and he also finds the same thing. Although the FOH sound is likely to be fine, it hampers my confidence. (I’m aware of the importance of a good seal around the earpieces to preserve low end.)

 

Any other skinny-string guitarists here experienced the same? Have you overcome the problem, and if so how?

Are you taking your in-ear feed from the desk? Is it digital? If so, play with the eq on your IEM feed (aux) channel. As I’ve learned, EQ’ing IEM’s is as important as EQ’ing channels or the overall FOH mix. 

[JapanAxe]

35 minutes ago, JPJ said:

Are you taking your in-ear feed from the desk? Is it digital? If so, play with the eq on your IEM feed (aux) channel. As I’ve learned, EQ’ing IEM’s is as important as EQ’ing channels or the overall FOH mix. 

Thanks, that's a good call, I'll look into what EQ is available on the aux sends. However...

 

On my tribute band theatre gigs I have a separate feed straight from my pedalboard to my IEM transmitter, and the rest of my monitor mix comes from the band's Mackie DL32S controlled by the Master Fader app on my phone. This means that I am never in danger of losing my own signal in my ears, and is why I was thinking of adding a simple EQ to my board.

 

In my other band project where I use IEMs, I have a Behringer XR18 and I can control all the mixes from the Mixing Station app on my iPad. I'm on bass in that band though so it's not so much of an issue.

[Muzz]

1 hour ago, James_Peterson said:

Returning to this thread after a few years with KZ10 IEMs with Comply foam tips. Last Saturday I put them in and felt there wasn't a good seal - even without anything going through the IEMs the background hubbub of the venue was distorting, and once we started playing everything was loud and uncomfortable, and I was struggling to hear the pitch of the guitar and vocalist. Time for two things: 1. replace the foam tips and 2. shell out for some customer IEMs that are going to give me a better seal. My budget is going to be around £600, which should be good for something like the ACS Evolve, Bellos X2, or Ultimate Ears UE6. Much as I'd love to trade up, I don't think I can justify 64 Audio A3s. Anyone got opinions to offer? Will I get a better seal with the silicone that ACS use rather than the hard acrylic of the other manufacturers? Should I be concerned about the lack of dynamic drivers? Have ACS still got a bit of a reputation for unreliability?

I've used ACS custom fits for years, they're very good indeed, and any custom fit is a big step up from foam tips. I have custom fit ACS attenuators, too, which I use on my motorbike and at other people's gigs.

[EBS_freak]

On 13/09/2024 at 15:02, James_Peterson said:

Returning to this thread after a few years with KZ10 IEMs with Comply foam tips. Last Saturday I put them in and felt there wasn't a good seal - even without anything going through the IEMs the background hubbub of the venue was distorting, and once we started playing everything was loud and uncomfortable, and I was struggling to hear the pitch of the guitar and vocalist. Time for two things: 1. replace the foam tips and 2. shell out for some customer IEMs that are going to give me a better seal. My budget is going to be around £600, which should be good for something like the ACS Evolve, Bellos X2, or Ultimate Ears UE6. Much as I'd love to trade up, I don't think I can justify 64 Audio A3s. Anyone got opinions to offer? Will I get a better seal with the silicone that ACS use rather than the hard acrylic of the other manufacturers? Should I be concerned about the lack of dynamic drivers? Have ACS still got a bit of a reputation for unreliability?

Aha! James - Russ here, didn’t spot you first time around but now you’ve added a pic.

Go UE6 - and regarding acrylic and silicon, if the fit is right (which they should be if the moulds have been taken properly) acrylic is just as comfortable.

[JapanAxe]

On 13/09/2024 at 15:36, JPJ said:

Are you taking your in-ear feed from the desk? Is it digital? If so, play with the eq on your IEM feed (aux) channel. As I’ve learned, EQ’ing IEM’s is as important as EQ’ing channels or the overall FOH mix. 

 

Can anyone save me some time and head-scratching and point me in the direction of how to apply EQ to an aux feed on Mackie Master Fader and/or Mixing Station (for Behringer XR18)? Does it involve assigning an FX block and calling up an EQ?