# In ear monitoring thread - doing your own monitoring live



## kevinjames (May 29, 2013)

My band and I are sick of not being able to hear ourselves. No matter where we play it's the same sh*t. 

We played at Ralphs not too long ago and they had trash bags over the monitors. How you are supposed to hear sound when there is a trash bag over the monitors is beyond me. But it doesn't seem to bother any of the other bands I've spoken to. 

So I've decided to convert my mixer into an IEM station that will basically split signals so we can do our own monitoring on stage. Anybody else doing this? I haven't used this setup as of yet. Next show is in July. 

Bass player doesn't have his IEM installed as of yet.


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## guy in latvia (May 29, 2013)

haha damn, that reminds me of the old awesome days, I've played so many shows without any kind of monitoring. The best excuse I've ever heard is "the rats chewed through the cables..." I still remember the awesome experience of spending the entire show watching the drummers movements to figure out if I'm on time or not!


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## kevinjames (May 29, 2013)

yeah it sucks. We've done 5 shows or so as a band. My bass player has been in bands around Boston forever and tells me "you just got to get use to not hearing yourself."

My voice is not great to begin with. I rely on they music to keep on pitch and if I can't hear my guitar or voice, the performance suffers. Makes me want to quit music, seriously. 

I mean what do other bands do? Just get use to it? Does it ever sound good? I'm a noob with this shit and this is the best solution I could find to the problem. I have 2 amps. MKV for the heavy shit with JDX Reactor box and a Line 6 Pa/mixer speaker for the acoustic shit. So those go into the S8 in the front and 2 outs each for the back, one into the mixer and one to FOH. Same for vocals. Not enthused about lugging around another 100 lb ....ing box though. LOL.


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## GunpointMetal (May 29, 2013)

we're going in-ear with a cheap behringer rack mount mixer...one mix for the drummer, one for guitar & bass because no, you shouldn't have to get used not hearing yourself/bandmates. We don't even have a singer/vocalist, but playing in square cement rooms with no on-stage monitoring, or venues where the sound guy refuses to do a reasonable monitor mix just isn't working anymore. We played a show this weekend where we sound checked individually (sound guy wanted to do it that way) and everything was alright, but as soon as we started playing together it turned into a big wash of nothing with some snare drum on-stage. My experience is even if the FOH sound isn't awesome, if the band is tight (read: they can hear each other) it makes up for the lack of great sound quite a bit.


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## Ghost40 (May 29, 2013)

Been using in ears for a little over a year now. Huge difference. Not a really expensive receiver, just a personal one. Spent big bucks on the monitors though. I use a small one channel Behringer mixer in my rack case fro myself. Works out pretty good. Found a few local places that the sound man is nothing more than a friend of one of the bartenders who works for free beer. Got tired of those real fast.


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## kevinjames (May 29, 2013)

If a venue has a sound guy who isn't even into what he does, why not just relinquish controls to the band to do their own sound. This drives me insane, that is people working sound that have no passion.


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## GunpointMetal (May 29, 2013)

kevinjames said:


> If a venue has a sound guy who isn't even into what he does, why not just relinquish controls to the band to do their own sound. This drives me insane, that is people working sound that have no passion.


 There are a few venues around here like that...sound guy doesn't give a shit, makes sure you know it, and makes sure everyone else knows it too by having shitty onstage and FOH sound, but somehow they keep getting repeat work....


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## BenSolace (May 30, 2013)

This is my band's rig;





Not shown is another IEM box, the Apple laptop I'm now using, and my POD HD Pro (filling in for my Axe FX while it's away for repairs).

The MOTU 828Mk3 not only acts as a way of getting backing tracks/clicks/patch changes out of the computer, but also allows for up to 6 separate IEM mixes via the included CueMix FX software. The MOTU stores these as "presets," so no soundcheck required! It also provides reverb and compression to the monitored mic sound, which helps with the overall mix. I limit the individual mixes from within the unit, so it provides a nice, smooth, detailed sound for playing live. Bleed is still a bitch though, not through the mic as I use an Optogate, but through the earphones - and mine are custom molds!

Of course, our drummer uses the headphone out, and our keyboardist is wired also - wireless "space" is limited in the UK, so we only run 2 x wireless units. One stereo for me (lead guitarist/lead vocalist) and one in dual mono for the rhythm guitarist/bassist.

The Alesis DM5 in there acts as a way for our drummer to monitor his kick signal, as well as send a decent kick sound to FOH (most places are still mic'ing metal kick drums around here  ).

The patchbay at the bottom feeds all signals to FOH, and also accepts the mic signals that are then split into the mixer and returned to FOH. There is a splitter in the back for this, as well as a DI box for the keys/backing tracks.

All our gear is DI (other guitarist uses POD XT Pro, bassist uses Sansamp Bass Driver rack with DBX compressor), so we don't have to mess around with mic'ing cabs and getting the levels right every gig.

I'd go into more detail, but I'm at work!


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## kevinjames (May 30, 2013)

Jesus Christ, that looks like the space shuttle cockpit. So it's basically a more complex version of what I have it seems.


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## BenSolace (May 30, 2013)

kevinjames said:


> Jesus Christ, that looks like the space shuttle cockpit. So it's basically a more complex version of what I have it seems.



Essentially, and sits more in the digital realm than the analog one. The only downside to the MOTU being used as the IEM mixer is that adjustments on the fly are difficult - you have to either use the laptop to make the changes (not too bad) or flick through the half million screens on the unit itself, which would take forever in a gig situation!

We're often given 10-15 mins to set up, so this eliminates soundcheck from that time. If I have the stage space to get around the back easily, we can be ready to go from scratch in about 5-10 mins tops.


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## kevinjames (May 30, 2013)

That's what I love about the mixer we are using. I can put the ipad on a stand and the wireless router is contained inside the back of the unit. So far in the rehearsal space I've encountered no interference between the router and the wireless units. 

Our setup is pretty simple. Vocals , JDX from MKV amp, xlr from LIne 6 pa speaker (acoustic amp) and the bass players DI. He has an IPAD as well and actually now there is an iphone app for the Mackie mixer. 

Hopefully he (bass player) can set it up in 10 minutes as he says, because with my 5 guitars / stands/ picks and all the other shit I have to setup I'm up to about 10 minutes myself. Sucks always having to rush to set shit up. But I'm hoping this setup works because if I can't hear myself sing, I want to just walk off stage.


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## BenSolace (May 31, 2013)

kevinjames said:


> That's what I love about the mixer we are using. I can put the ipad on a stand and the wireless router is contained inside the back of the unit. So far in the rehearsal space I've encountered no interference between the router and the wireless units.
> 
> Our setup is pretty simple. Vocals , JDX from MKV amp, xlr from LIne 6 pa speaker (acoustic amp) and the bass players DI. He has an IPAD as well and actually now there is an iphone app for the Mackie mixer.
> 
> Hopefully he (bass player) can set it up in 10 minutes as he says, because with my 5 guitars / stands/ picks and all the other shit I have to setup I'm up to about 10 minutes myself. Sucks always having to rush to set shit up. But I'm hoping this setup works because if I can't hear myself sing, I want to just walk off stage.



Agreed about the singing thing. It still baffles me to this day that so many venues have sub-par monitoring and still expect the bands to play well and put on a good show. People are always saying "a band should be able to play well together without being able to hear themselves," and to some extend this is true, but at the level most small bands are at, gigging is more for fun than to make a living, and it aint fun when you're in front of a crowd of people, can hear nothing but drums, and dont even know if you are playing the right notes (more important when the lighting is bad).


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## ArrowHead (Jun 17, 2013)

Yikes guys. 

In ear is great.

HOWEVER:

The concept of "always assume you won't be able to hear yourself" is to PREPARE yourself, not to just deal with it.

Always assume you'll have to provide onstage volume/monitoring yourselves. This means having a stage setup that will provide the best coverage before even worrying about the PA or house system. Use cabs as side fills, get something back by the drummer, and for gods sake teach your singers to use a microphone. 90% of the time the "crappy monitoring" is in fact the soundman turning down yet another boob who can't sing without cupping the mic or otherwise causing feedback. 

This is quite true of Ralph's, actually. Never had trouble hearing myself there at all...


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## ArrowHead (Jun 17, 2013)

PS:

"Requires Like" to hear your music is the most dumb assed thing I've ever seen. As an aside. Was interested in checking you out, instead I simply wasted my time.


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## kevinjames (Jun 17, 2013)

Yep, I'm the only one that cant hear myself at Ralphs. Everyone else says "excellent sound system" Well my drummer and my bass player couldn't hear shit either. 

I sit when we play, although I did stand that night to see if it made any difference, it did not. The sound aspect of playing music live has a long long way to go. It's so discouraging not hearing yourself it makes me want to quit. 

Now we have to carry around this miserable thing when we play. I guess it's worth it if I can hear myself. I hate playing music sometimes.


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## kevinjames (Jun 17, 2013)

ArrowHead said:


> PS:
> 
> "Requires Like" to hear your music is the most dumb assed thing I've ever seen. As an aside. Was interested in checking you out, instead I simply wasted my time.




What do you mean? Are you talking about me? I don't think our shit requires a like to hear the music. If it does I'm an idiot and I need to figure out how to fix that.


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## The Reverend (Jun 17, 2013)

kevinjames said:


> Yep, I'm the only one that cant hear myself at Ralphs. Everyone else says "excellent sound system" Well my drummer and my bass player couldn't hear shit either.
> 
> I sit when we play, although I did stand that night to see if it made any difference, it did not. The sound aspect of playing music live has a long long way to go. It's so discouraging not hearing yourself it makes me want to quit.
> 
> Now we have to carry around this miserable thing when we play. I guess it's worth it if I can hear myself. I hate playing music sometimes.



I was all for you, OP, until you got a bit too emo about this. 

Welcome to the world of music, son! I have to say, you guys up in Mass have got it worse than Houston. I've never had a problem not hearing myself live as a vocalist, it's always been an issue of not hearing one or the other of the guitarists. Maybe our stages have more depth or something, I don't know. I've never just been totally lost live.

Band practices are something different, though. I've played keys, guitar, and done vocals in my admittedly amateur career, and I know just how frustrating it is playing in less than ideal situations. I agree with the sentiment that you should be prepared. Know your songs inside and out, so that you're aware of when you aren't where you need to be instead of needing to be told. It'll only help to a certain extent, but it's definitely something to learn early on.


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## xCaptainx (Jun 17, 2013)

I use Ultimate Ears UE18 Pros. Everything sounds AMAZING through them. 

I'm a guitarist and currently am the only guy in the band using in ears. I'll often hang near the mixing board and provide my transmitter system to the soundguy well in advance, then stick near him and mix my in ears according to the opening bands. We're a standard 5 piece metalcore band, so there's nothing out of the ordinary and provided he can send me a seperate mix from his board, it's always worked out really well. Sound guys are more than happy to do that, I'm generally the only person that approaches them about mixing before we play and because of it, I'm often the only person who doesn't complain about stage sound after the fact, haha. 

I tend to just ask for both guitars, kick, snare, HH and a tiny bit of overheads. No vocals. The UE18s have 6 drivers per side so I get some pretty impressive separation in my in ears, everything is nice and clear.


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## xCaptainx (Jun 17, 2013)

My previous metal band had it's own setup, independent to the sound guy. The drummer received two D.I signals from us (HD500 and axe fx) which went into his own interface. So he had kicks, clicks, samples and two D.I guitars in his cans. 

I put my unit into his signal but was never really happy with it. Mostly due to the fact that I was forced to listen to his mix, which had an insanely loud click and bugger all else (partly due to the fact that his in ears were absolute rubbish, and the click needed to be so loud to cut through)


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## kevinjames (Jun 18, 2013)

The Reverend said:


> I was all for you, OP, until you got a bit too emo about this.
> 
> Welcome to the world of music, son! I have to say, you guys up in Mass have got it worse than Houston. I've never had a problem not hearing myself live as a vocalist, it's always been an issue of not hearing one or the other of the guitarists. Maybe our stages have more depth or something, I don't know. I've never just been totally lost live.
> 
> Band practices are something different, though. I've played keys, guitar, and done vocals in my admittedly amateur career, and I know just how frustrating it is playing in less than ideal situations. I agree with the sentiment that you should be prepared. Know your songs inside and out, so that you're aware of when you aren't where you need to be instead of needing to be told. It'll only help to a certain extent, but it's definitely something to learn early on.



Well, as a vocalist, you have the option probably of moving around with the mic, to find a good spot where you can hear. I play and sing and usually sit. So, wherever I choose to sit, I'm stuck there. Haven't used this new rig yet, but will in July, hopefully it works out ok.


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## halomojo (Jun 18, 2013)

I'm a huge fan of in ears. I played in a band with 4 part vocal harmonies and it really helped everyone stay tight.


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## Blasphemer (Jun 18, 2013)

My band is trying to start doing in ears, just for our drummer and bassist. The problem is that our drummer doesn't really know how to deal with in-ears, because he isn't used to them. Any way to get him to "feel" them a little bit more?

He is also, by the way, using regular headphones, and not IEMs. I've tried to convince him otherwise, but he doesn't want to spend the money on a pair


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## metal_sam14 (Jun 18, 2013)

Blasphemer said:


> My band is trying to start doing in ears, just for our drummer and bassist. The problem is that our drummer doesn't really know how to deal with in-ears, because he isn't used to them. Any way to get him to "feel" them a little bit more?
> 
> He is also, by the way, using regular headphones, and not IEMs. I've tried to convince him otherwise, but he doesn't want to spend the money on a pair



Stick a regular monitor behind him so he can feel the air moving a bit, that way he gets some thump that you get from regular stage monitors


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## GunpointMetal (Jun 19, 2013)

butt kicker! its a compact sub that mounts right on your throne!


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## ArrowHead (Jun 20, 2013)

kevinjames said:


> What do you mean? Are you talking about me? I don't think our shit requires a like to hear the music. If it does I'm an idiot and I need to figure out how to fix that.



If "Federal Hog" is your band, then yes - I'm talking about you. I always check out anything local I come across. Your face-space wouldn't let me without an account of my own to "like" it.


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