From breynold@usc.edu Fri Mar 07 08:18:18 2003
Subject:Re: In Ear Monitors

Tony:

I'm with you 100%. I have customed earplugs molded for my ears. I don't use a transmitter YET. Instead, we bring our own PA, so my Mackie 1604vlzpro is next to me, and I just send a separate mix to the headphone out, or I monitor the main LR mix going to the audience. There are a few issues, some real, some political...

Real

1. You have to mic instruments you might not mic in small places, e.g., electric guitar, especially if you are like me, and you love to get into groove counterpoints with him.

2. The lead singers have a hell of a time communicating with me without having to walk over and shout next to me or wait in frustration while I unplug one earphone momentarily. I think I have to put in a dedicated cheapo mic for this purpose.

3. You bring a real Leslie, and then get a recorded Leslie's monitor mix. While a major advantage of earphone monitoring is that you get beautiful record quality mixes minus all the horendous room echos of some venues, the one room sound you might miss slightly is the sound of a real Leslie bouncing around the room. IMHO, the benefits outweigh this advantage.

Political

The politics enter into it when I am bringing the entire PA, and we only have a couple of powered Mackie or JBL EONs as wedges.

1. Since you don't have a dedicated keyboard amp, KEYS have to be louder in the wedges for the instrumentalists to hear you. But the singers rightfully want less KEYS than that in the monitors. So that can be a sticky tradeoff.

2. Immense resistance from virtually every bandmate I've ever met, UNTIL THEY TRY THEM, at which time they become religious converts like you!

which gets us back to...

Real

4. It is the lead singers who will benefit even more. I hear every sharp note as they strain to hear themselves over wedges. If you get ear monitors for singers, you might need inexpensive audience mics, and the singers will have to adjust to relating emotionally with the audience while using earphones. Plenty of singers have done it, and it doesn't seem like many are returning to wedges after trying IEMs. But there might be an adjustment period.

I know; it has gotten off topic.

Barry

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]