I borrowed a Shure PSM200 / SE215 for tonight's rehearsal with the rock covers band. I started with just a low amount of guitar from my CaptorX and hearing the band (minus the other guitarist who couldn't attend the first hour) from whatever leaked through the IEMs. Was good to hear my guitar clearly, but needed more of the band.
I got a feed of the mix of the drums / bass / vocals / BVs into the second input on the PSM200. Only bass drum and toms were mic'd on the drums. Not too bad but certainly didn't sound natural. Of course, at a gig, I don't know what kind of mix I'd get through the IEMs.
Second guitarist joined. Similar but was pleased to use my IEMs to up my guitar in my ears.
I didn't really feel like I could hear the band clearly though...I felt insulated from the band....on one song, I just didn't feel my timing was perfect - due to the IEMs.....and on another song, I came in early for my solo....I was oblivious, and I've never done that.....ever....
That's probably why people talk about mini mixing desks and ambient mics etc...but that's really not practical for this band and its infrequent, low level gigs that have something in between a line check and a sound check....
I tried without the IEMs, couldn't hear myself at all, so they went back in.
I also felt with the IEMs that I lost the subtely between my lower and higher gain sounds.....things sounded more similar.
Now frankly, IEMs are mainly for this one, roudy band. And we don't gig that often. And tbh, I think I managed to get the sound I needed through the on stage wedge.....it's mainly in the rehearsal room where I can't hear a thing....
So, I'm really not sure if I go the IEM route or not. I also wondered if there are other wireless systems where you can control the mix of the audio feeding into the transmitter at the receiver?
I could change the mix on the transmitter but only the volume on the receiver.
Oh, I also tried a wired IEM amp thing. Plugged in the same XLR inputs (my guitar, general mix). I couldn't get on with being wired in that way.....and mixing of the different audio sources could only be done by having one in one ear, one in the other and panning left to right.....so dumped that.
Sorry for the disorganised verbage....but interested in what people think...and particular that bit about systems that allow you to control the mix of separate audio source at the receiver? To be clear, for my example, I want to hear the Bandmix in both ears and my guitar in both ears, but I want to be able to tweak the relative volume with a knob on the receiver.
Thanks!
Andy
Comments
What mixer are you using? Comprehensive personal IEM adjustment on the fly is one reason why we use a Soundcraft Ui24r.
Direct to desk and wireless digital mixers go hand in hand IMO. It eliminates the faff of adjusting levels for everyone before soundchecks and it records and stores the settings for all the different venues we play or ekits vs live drums. The ‘more me’ control works both ways to adjust the relative level between you and the rest of the mix. This sounds like what you want, were asking for.
Of course if you only play big venues with sound guys and big PAs, they should sort you anyway you want.
An IEM mix in mono where you can't control the levels of the instruments or the panning is going to be pretty bad. Unusable really. A Good IEM stereo mix will sound great and be very revealing in terms of who's playing what ...sometimes too revealing as you really will hear every tiny mistake.
For ambience I use 2 boundary mics set on the front of the stage. These don't even look like mics and don't require any stands. Again you need 2 because you need the ambience in stereo and correctly panned so sounds to the right of you are louder in your right ear and sounds to your left are louder in your left ear.
For big gigs we use a splitter rack. We mic everything ourselves into our splitter rack which feeds our digital desk which runs all our ears. Then we just give FOH 2 looms from the splits and a track sheet. This means there's no monitors to set at soundcheck and our IEM feed is consistently high quality. The venues prefer this as it's less hassle for them. If we are doing festivals with other bands then we just use whatever wedges are there but I will still split my vocal and have a feed from my amp into a special pedal I designed on my pedalboard.
Getting used to IEM's takes time and also some technical thought. It's helpful if you have someone who's experienced with signal flow routing who knows hot to achieve a good IEM mix. When I was running 2020 studios bands who were about to go on tour would block book a live room for a few days just to get the IEM systems set up and saved in the show file.
So don't dismiss it entirely but it may be for one band who don't gig a lot IEM's are too much hassle for the level of equipment you have and may create more problems than they solve.
Now we use a digital mixer, an RCF M18, which has 6 separate monitor mixes. I put a mic in front of my cab and send that just to my crappy old carlsboro monitor with my own vocals. The rest of my band and FOH just hear the guitar from the cab.
The biggest improvement, though was getting some proper ACS Pro earplugs.
The last couple of gigs with this setup have been so much less stressful and more enjoyable, being able to hear myself and the band clearly without damaging my hearing.
I know this isn't an IEM solution, but works for me.
Stick with it, the benefits are well worth it!
I'm on the verge of switching to IEMs with the main driver being to protect my hearing. However, it seems like a lot of faff for a band only gigging every couple of months, and also clearly comes with its own challenges
They come with a handy rubber case for the keyring but lose the connecting string so they don’t get ripped out.
They’re easy to put in/out without specialist tools.
https://vicfirth.com/products/vic-ear-plugs
However, as a regular dep guitarist jumping in and out of bands at a moments notice, the biggest difference comes when the band are used to using them. If whoever runs the desk is used to running IEMS then it's like the fog clears, and getting a good mix becomes so much easier.
It's immediately obvious when somebody just sends their usual wedge EQ/mix to IEMs, everything feels simultaneously too loud but you can't hear it. The isolation never really bothered me, but a helpful tip if you're struggling there is to bring the drum overheads up in your mix. It's not as ideal as an ambient mic, but it helps.
So, how does this help you?
Truth is, you've got to learn how to use IEMS. Almost all of the issues I hear people complaining about can be solved with patience and perseverance, there's absolutely no reason why an in ear mix can't sound just as good as a wedge. A lot of people buy them, try them a couple of times, then go back to a wedge because it wasn't the magic monitoring solution they were hoping for.
It's worth noting that one thing people hardly ever say about IEMs is that they couldn't hear themselves. Sometimes they can't hear everything else as well as they'd like, sometimes the mix is off, the isolation issue crops up a lot...but its very rare to get "I couldn't hear myself". Which is one of the most common issues with traditional setups, causing guitarists to sneak back and nudge their amp volume up another notch or two.
Stick with it!
If issues crop up then make a note and try to address them next time. Repeat the process until no more issues, and job done.
FWIW, I've been using ACS's ambient IEMs which are vented to allow some (filtered) ambient noise in. I find they let just enough of this noise in so you don't have that isolated feeling, but still filter that enough so I can stand next to the drums and still be fine.
I’m sure it all worked seamlessly in the rehearsal space.
For festivals we're looking at a 16ch splitter so we can plug into the front of that, one side of the splitter will go into our RCF mixer for our IEMs, the other side will have a snake with labelled up tails which we can pass to FOH. Hopefully should make life easier for everyone.