In-Ears, Headset mics How-to?

[n2xlr8n]

In-Ear Monitors and Headset Mics

I'd like some of our more experienced musicians to comment on these products. Items of personal interest are:

1) What type of connector/methods of interface (to/from the P.A.) does one use with these products? Is a LEMO connector easier to interface?

2) What would a regularly gigging band need to stay away from, in terms of reliabilty?


Thanks for the input!

SRJ

[BertTheDrummer]

1) Most wireless mics will prob be XLR (standard mic cable) from the board to the wireless transmitter, some however are 1/4" it depends on the model, I've seen a couple of cheap ones (e.g. RadioShack) that were minijack. Most in ear monitors are 1/4" stereo/mono and XLR though I've seen some that have had RCA jacks as well.

2) You might want to shy away from VHF frequency boxes because there's a lot of things that operate in the VHF frequency band and you might pick some other signal up (e.g. TV or Radio signals). Usually you tend to get what you pay for when it comes to wireless deals. As for reliability, it depends on how you treat your stuff. If you can tend to be pretty rough with your gear I'd prob stick with Shure, they've built a reputation for building things that are like rocks. Otherwise I'd prob just stay away from no name companies or deals like radioshack.

[n2xlr8n]

Thanks, Bert.

I had a drummer tell me over the weekend that he took an AUX SEND from the PA, ran it to a headphone amp, then to a set of decent-quality earbud style headphones with good results.

Is that doable?

The place we play on a regular basis has no room for error (pun intended) with the monitor mix, so I'm going to go in-ear.

Thanks for the help!

SRJ

[BertTheDrummer]

I've played a lot of churches where that's basically what they've done for the drummer, usually with huge ear sucker headphones though but same idea. I've seen some that have personal monitor mixers for everyone that actually allows each person to adjust their own monitor mix on the fly, they are really expensive though.

[n2xlr8n]

New Q in regards to In-Ear monitors:

Let's say I buy a Presonus HP-4 headphone amp. This device has 1/4" TRS inputs/outputs only. I'd connect the TRS that normally goes to the drum monitor to my HP-4, and voila! In-ear monitors on the cheap.

Correct?

Thanks for the help; though I'm surprised more folks aren't into this topic.

SRJ

[BertTheDrummer]

New Q in regards to In-Ear monitors:

Let's say I buy a Presonus HP-4 headphone amp. This device has 1/4" TRS inputs/outputs only. I'd connect the TRS that normally goes to the drum monitor to my HP-4, and voila! In-ear monitors on the cheap.

Correct?

Thanks for the help; though I'm surprised more folks aren't into this topic.

SRJ

Pretty much, doing in ear or headphone monitoring isn't expensive or hard unless you start talking about wireless jobs. A lot of people just would rather have a drum monitor than have a set of headphones around their ears.

[xush]

My whole band uses Shure IEMs, except the singer. We generally use a submix channel off our PA to send signals to individual headphone amps. Occasionally, when using a ROland module on my hybrid kit, I'll input the signal into my 'mix-in' jack on the module, and plug my IEMs into the module's headphone jack. Saves on rackspace, not having to carry a splitter/amp.

At the winter NAMM show, I had the chance to perform at the Westone booth, and used their IEM system, fed thru an Aviom A16II Personal Mixer. This thing was AWESOME!
Let's you tweak every aspect of your mix, independently from anyone else's. Very cool unit, but I would guess it gets pricey as you need the Input Module to run these off of.
Uses Cat 5 cables- and you can link an infinite number of components, apparently.
I liked it a lot! It's a bit advanced compared to the IEM/HP-amp/mixer route, but it's very flexible. I want it~

Aviom A16II Personal Mixer (http://www.aviom.com/adspProducta16ii.cfm?sec=products&cat=pro16&ln=a16II)

Aviom input module (http://www.aviom.com/adspProductan16i.cfm?sec=products&cat=pro16&ln=an16i)

[n2xlr8n]

For the record, I decided on a Mackie HMX-56

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HMX56/

Sweetwater is $90 cheaper than Musician's Friend. Wow.

I think this unit will more than suit my needs, and just in case the sound guy is not actually a sound guy (or gal), I can make my own mix.

I'll let you folks know how it works out.

Thanks for the help!

SRJ

[BertTheDrummer]

At the winter NAMM show, I had the chance to perform at the Westone booth, and used their IEM system, fed thru an Aviom A16II Personal Mixer. This thing was AWESOME!

A church I used to play at had the Aviom A16 Personal Mixer (precursor to the A16II) it was cool because you could adjust your own mix on the fly... but those things are expensive and they are a bit complicated at first.

[O Baterista]

My church uses the Aviom personal mixers and I have mixed feelings about them. It's probably just our setup but they do not have all of the different instruments running into it so if our orchestra is playing I cannot hear them.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the drum kit is in a sound cage so I can't just pull one earbud out and listen that way either.

The individual level controls are pretty sweet though. The owner of the drumkit and I swap out playing days and the aviom allows us to save our personal mixes to different presets and pull them up instantly without having to reconfigure all 16 channels.