stage headphones ?

okay, been looking through the post and i cant find what i'm looking for so here goes. i'm looking for a headphone i can use on stage,i play at chruch and it is a medium sized building it holds about 300 people,so volume levels are a issue, i use ac drums, the ploblem is i can never seem to get the volume in the monitors at the level i need without it getting to loud on stage. so im thinking headphones, is there a headphone for this application? im thinking that i could split it off the monitors but only if it had a volume control, any suggestions welcomed, thanks.

Hey there, I am in the exact same position as you although our church is slightly smaller still. I also have the challenge of playing behind a plexiglass screen which makes things unbearably loud behind the kit. Your soundboard should have at least a few different monitor mixes for each channel. In our church due to the size, we only use a left and a right to cut down on stage noise. We have set up a line off the third monitor mix that can send levels for each channel(instrument or mic) from the back soundboard up to my kit. (another monitor mix essentially) That line is routed through a small headphone amp to get the required volume and power and I have control of the overall third monitor mix VOLUME to my headphones. All the individual monitor levels are adjusted at the back on the main board by the sound engineer and sent to my amp. It would be great to send multiple group mixes or individual lines to allow me to mix my own levels but the above setup is the cheaper and less complicated option.

For headphones I chose a decent set of Sennheiser phones which completely seal around the outside of my ear to cut out most stage noise. I just kept an eye on what was on sale on Amazon and sites like Musician's Friend to get a good deal. You can easily spend upwards of $600 on good phones but I ended up payingsomewhere between 100-200 and they've been perfect for the job. Make sure you don't buy open back phones unless you want to hear everything on stage as opposed to solely what is being sent to you in the mix.

I think you can see the little headphone amp in my kit photos in the YOUR PLACE > YOUR GEAR section of this forum. The link is here:
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44577

thanks, i also play behind a plexi-glass. so i belive this may be one of the reason for not hearing well, thanks again. anyone else?

Hi there,

I also play in church. It's a small building - 250 people max - and I'm in a "drum cage" plexiglass construction. The volume inside the cage is VERY loud - I use ear protection when I practice.

I have struggled a long time to get the right headphones for playing.

Eventually I settled on the following combination, which works very well for my needs.

For headphones I use Etymotic ER-6i in-ear buds. You can buy them for around $80 or less (check on Amazon.Com). They work great ONLY IF you can achieve a good seal. The manufacturer claims 34 - 42dB noise reduction, I'm not convinced that it is quite that good, but the noise reduction is still pretty good in my opinion - better than what you would get with regular over-the-ear headphones in my experience.

Here's a link to the product on Etymotic's website, but don't be confused by the price listed as $149 - that price seems to be for a newer model, the ER-6i B:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx

and a picture:



Then: on top of that, I use a set of Pro-Ear ear muffs that's designed for shooting sports. I find that this helps to reduce the noise in the drum cage even further so I don't have to turn the volume way up and damage my hearing.

There are many brands and models out there, but here's a link to the ones I use:

http://store.altusbrands.com/product_p/pe-33-u shooting.htm

and a picture:



I put in the ear buds, then I wear the muffs on top of that.

I find that this combination works really well - I can hear the mix clearly coming through the headphones, and I can still hear what I'm playing, but at more comfortable hearing levels.

The drums are mic'ed so I can hear what I'm playing and what it sounds like in the mix.

Anyway, there's my 2c. Happy drumming!

V

Sounds like what you need is an inner ear monitor. Quality purpose built IEM’s have the necessary limiting built in to protect your hearing in the event of a feedback spike caused buy many factors like someone dropping a mic in front of a monitor for example. It also allows you to create your own mix provided an additional AUX out is available on the board.

This is only necessary because of the live music scenario. If your sound guy is running regular EQ’s to control feedback you will be def before he pulls it out. Even if he is running some sort of a feedback destroyer you still need it as these don’t respond till it hears feedback then notches the frequency out.
With prerecorded music feedback is unlikely!

Without this you could be in for trouble.

thanks again for all your replys.