Wired IEMs for Drummer

bennyg85

Hi

The drummer in my band is having trouble hearing the guitar and vocals from our current monitor setup. 

As the person owning and running (and hauling!) the PA, I'm not keen to get another wedge monitor and have suggested getting some IEMs. 

Can anyone recommend some cheap in ear phones for him to try before spending good money on them? Recommendations for a headphone amplifier would be good too.

I saw a suggestion of Skullcandy Ink'd phones on a drumming forum as they sound OK and are cheap.

Cheers

Ben

octatonic

If you just want to try it then get any cheap in ear headphones you have lying around- like the ones you get with a phone.

If you want something decent but not too expensive then check out Flare Audio.
I use Read Audio moulded IEM's- they are a different order of magnitude of clarity and I couldn't go back to the cheap ones unless I absolutely had to.

One word of advice- make sure you get a hardware brickwall limiter to sit between the mixing desk and the drummers IEM's.
More than once I've been blasted by some numpty engineer who presses the wrong button on the desk.
It can seriously and irreparably damage your hearing.
I use this: http://preservear.com
They are about £100.

bennyg85

Thank you for the reply! I'll give them a go.

Danny1969

Generally you want to first get some isolation from the kit by using some well fitting earbuds like supplied with Shure SE215's or similar ... the better the isolation from the acoustic noise from the kit and band the less volume you need in the IEM's

Headphone amp wise something with more than one stereo input is handy, a lot of drummers use a micro mixing desk for this reason rather than just a headphone amp

kennedydream1980

I use one of these in my 5 piece band, it's been great so far, sounds really good and has a limiter built in.

http://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/en/product/1461037/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=sea_shoppingWT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=google_search_UK&scamp=shopping&saddg=hobby&gclid=CMyAuaeOmNQCFUKNGwod0PEKYg

bennyg85

That Powerplay sounds like an even better idea than a headphone amp. I was considering a Behringer MA400. 

The main thing I want (after being cost effective) is to be able to run in dual mono as our monitor mix is always mono. 

Any other input? I'm very grateful of the suggestions and help so far. 

kennedydream1980

I've also turned our Bass player onto the Behringer Powerplay and he's loving it. He runs a direct DI from his bass amp into one of the mono inputs and has a mix of the rest of the band into the other mono input.

ash96

We just use a little mini mixer for our drummers in ears in our functions band. He get a send from the desk into that and there's ways to give him more of a boost in volume from there too.

What also helps, is some tracks we use backing tracks so he can have his mix in one channel, and click in the other, this gives him the opportunity to adjust his Click / Monitor mix easily on the fly. They're cheap 2nd hand too. We just use one of the behringer xenyx ones.

Bod

kennedydream1980 said:

I've also turned our Bass player onto the Behringer Powerplay and he's loving it. He runs a direct DI from his bass amp into one of the mono inputs and has a mix of the rest of the band into the other mono input.

We all use Powerplays in our band and they're great.  Battery life is not very good, so I've constructed a loom that has a single XLR and 9V extension cable that runs from the mixer.  We're just using a mono feed.

For the headphones, I can thoroughly recommend these - https://www.amazon.co.uk/MEE-Earphone-Replaceable-Universal-Microphone/dp/B00SLVB71Q/

delorean

I'd totally recommend a mini mixer next to the kit and a pair of Shure SE215's. Our drummer switched from a floor monitor to this a couple of years ago and swears by it (and he's f**king loud!)

bennyg85

Great people on a great forum. Cheers!