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Advice on what type of in-ear monitors to buy and how to use them in a bar, club setting?

So I had band practice today and ran my vocals through my PA while feeding the out mix through headphones in my ears. The end result is even though I was doing some really difficult songs like Helter Skelter and House of the Rising Sun my voice felt noticeably less fatigued and didn't blow out at all. My voice was clear and only slightly husky at the end of our 4 hour practice, compared to me feeling a bit hoarse when I don't use my earphones to hear myself.
Now I have come to the realization that in-ear monitors are even more effective at helping you hear yourself and avoiding straining and shouting, so I want to know if anyone has experience with which ones to use and how you would use them in conjunction with an outside sound engineer (such as a bar's house sound engineer)>

Comments

  • highmtnhighmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,354
    Most sound engineers are used to accommodating in-ear monitor mixes for the bands that come through. I still use speaker-system monitors, but I have my own system that works well for me.

    You want to get good quality in-ears. My brother has been using them for years, and gives me a bad time because I haven't crossed-over yet. But I run the mixer for my bands and need to hear the sound going out to the house, so I don't wear phones or in-ears, and I don't know the model numbers or names for the better ones...

    I also run the digital sound board at my church. All of the musicians there use in-ears. They each have their own control console and can set their own mix for their in-ears, independent of anything the sound engineer does on the main system or the monitors that the vocalists use. Those are nice to have, because you can adjust the levels so that you can hear well, without being so loud that they blow out your ears.

    The in-ears that have two bass drivers and one high-frequency driver in each ear are said to be the best for getting a good balance of lows to highs.

    A set of good in-ear monitors can easily run over $300. Wireless probably cost even more.

    Bob
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