in ear monitors

[Dave Grothusen]

It appears that most road bands are now using the in ear monitors. I am interested to hear what you all think about them. Also do anyone have experiecne with the new Sennheiser units.
Dave

[Dean Brown]

I posted a thread a couple of weeks ago. I tried ear monitors on my last gig and will never play without them. I was playing in a large club, but to me it sounded like playing in a studio. All I heard was the mix, including me. I played better than I had in years because I heard every note I played.

[Gaylon Mathews]

I have a Garwood in-ear system that I use occasionally. It's great when the rest of the band plays so incredibly loud that it also serves as ear plugs! Actually, it's not bad if you have a sound tech assigned to run the monitor board or if you can set the monitor board to where you want it and leave the settings alone. The only problem with that is even if you convince everyone else in the band not to mess with your settings, the knobs will get turned while you are placing the monitor board in it's case and then you have got to go through it all again and believe me, when a knob gets turned accidentally or not and the lead guitar busts your eardrums, you'll stop using them! Another problem is ambience from the crowd. You can't hear any of the crowd's reaction or for that matter, what other musicians on stage are saying to you unless you remove one of the monitors first. When I do use in-ears, I just use one and leave the other one under my shirt where it can't be seen. It works pretty well.

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Gaylon's Homepage
www.geocities.com/nashville/1064
The Tyler Wails Band
www.geocities.com/tylerwails

[Scott Moon]

I have recently been playing with a band (my first steel gig BTW) who uses the ear monitors. After playing fiddle with bands for years and using the floor monitors,I have yet to get used to them. The guitar player uses a POD and his volume is different with each setting he uses. Some songs...he is just right...then all of a sudden....he is too LOUD! I can never hear my steel either...I don't know why, so I use one ear monitor and leave the other out....of course the one I leave in is on the drums side..boy that guys sure plays loud!!!


Scott

[Jim Smith]

The teenage band I play with uses them. I think out of 100+ gigs I've played with them, only once was the sound barely acceptable. The rest of the time it sounds like playing through a tin can.

[Jeff Peterson]

There is no real cheap way to go with 'in-ear' monitors. You've really got to spend decent money for a great sound. This should include a good amp, ears, transmitter, receiver, and very important.....limiter/compressor. Not for the sqeamish.

[mtulbert]

Hi All,

I wanted to pass along a word of advice to those who use the ear system. The most dangerous thing you can do to accelerate hearing loss is to use only one of those devices.

In the old days of studio recording,several pickers would use one ear of a set of head phones and keep the other ear piece behind the year. There are several guys who have suffered severe hearing loss and one that I know of who has lost 90% of his hearing.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS TECHNIQUE!!!!

I know it is important to monitor...Try to be the least abusive to your ears as you can and they will serve you for along time.

Mark T.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by mtulbert on 27 April 2001 at 05:58 AM.]</p></FONT>

[Roger Miller]

Mark T. is right. I use them for singing only, my voice in them so I can distinguish my pitch with the others in the reg. monitors. I know people really like the total isolation but remember there is pressure coming out of them and into your ears so leave some space for the pressure to escape. I use the $200. Nady and works great for me. Say what?????

[Dave Grothusen]

Thanks for the input. I think the biggest thing to get used to is not being able to converse on stage. Oh well.
Dave