Hearing.

Many&massive thanks to all for the advice/assistance&help,
I had a hearing test last week &i've NOT expereinced ANY loss of hearing at all! :).Prior my doctor cleaned my ears after using ear drops solidly for a week in both ears,
The audiologist advised&recomended in ear monitor plugs which she proceeeded to make&take a mold of ears &i'll have them in 2 weeks with 25DB filters!,
Hopefully etc i'll now be able to hear&listen to music clearly without risking hearing loss! :).

I'm not only proud of you but also super happy about it!! I understand you will have new IEM? That's awesome!
 
I found with the SE215 that because it's designed to sit flush with the interior of the ear, that you can only make an 'insert' the length of the stem.

So what I did was cut the bulk of the insert from one of the non-isolating tips, and then use custom earplug silicone to fit it into my ear. I used a tiny amount (about 1/4 the size of a fingernail) 2 or 3 times right on the very end of the stripped insert, and shoved it deep into my ear. This created the basic shape of the ear canal.

Then finally I mixed some more of the earplug silicone and thickened the whole shape around the end so that it created a better seal. The photo shows the end result (please click the link, it's too massive to post inline!).

This has been good enough to use on the motorbike, and is much better in the interim than the foam tips while I wait for my custom IEMs to be returned (they needed adjusting).

https://i.imgur.com/P1vwJpp.jpg
 
Are you sure is not about HOW you are listening to the music?
Do you really feel the music that you want to play?

We (drummers) are pretty used to play without hearing much. (Especially at jam sessions in crappy bars) .. but we can steel "feel" where the music is going, even when playing to songs that we don't know.

I am saying this as i had a pupil with same question and same problem.
We spent time learning how to feel the music in the right way.

Now he is playing without those huge speakers next to his ears and in-ear monitors.
 
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What's the general consensus amongst drummers as to the 100% absolute, definite, postively BEST available over the ears headphones?,
As i STILL can't hear the music over the drums with my SHURE SE 215,
Now maybe it's my smartphone? (Oukitel K10000),
Just extremely annoyed, dissapointed&frustrated,
Causing me anxiety &depression! :(,
Especially after my hearing test confirmed NO loss of hearing! :(,
Next point will be to try Remo Silent stroke heads&Zildjian L80 cymbals?.
 
Now maybe it's my smartphone? (Oukitel K10000),

There's nothing wrong with your headphones. The SE215's will do the job you need. You might just need upgrade the set up a little. The amp in your phone isn't gonna get you the best results. Get a headphone amp and/or power amp and run it all through that set up.
 
IMHO, your problem has several variables

1) What kind of music are you playing? if its on steroids and you are hitting everything with all your might, then you might not hear much except your drums even when wearing earphones.

2) What kind of room are your drums in? Small rooms will magnify the loudness of your drums to the point that, again, you might not hear much except for your drums.

3) What kind of playback unit are you using? Many smartphones can't usually put out that much loudness. I don't know of your particular units, but the only way to increase the loudness is to get a headphone amplifier. There are lots of them available for reasonable prices. Just be careful of getting TOO loud as you could permanently damage your ears.

4) What kind of earphones/headphones are you using? a) IMHO, IEMs seal differently from closed headphones. I prefer the latter at home because having something stuck inside my ear without a limiter or compressor scares me.

5) How good at you at LISTENING? Hearing and listening are two different things. In a nutshell, hearing means you can detect a sound. But listening means you can focus on just one or more particular sounds within a sound environment. For example, listening to ones own voice and something coming from outside the body takes more practice than many think. IN the same way, many of us here have had to teach ourselves how to focus on both the sound our drums while playing, and click tracks or guide tracks in the studio.

So your problem may be a combination of these variables.
 
Sorry, but I disagree that the SE215's can't get loud enough without a headphone amplifier. I have never used any sort of amplifier with any of my sets of IEMs because it's completely unnecessary - if anything you can get away with less volume because of the sound isolation compared to normal headphones.

For one, use the foam tips (not the flexible silicone ones - they're non-sound isolating).

Any modern smartphone or music player, computer, whatever - they should all be loud enough to deafen you through any set of IEMs or earphones.

If you are cranking the volume through your SE215 and you still can't hear them over them drums then a) you are either using the silicone tips and not the foam ones, or b) your SE215's are faulty.
 
I wear a 25$ pair of sony over the ear head phones with the volume reasonable and do fine. The headphones kill the louder drum sounds and protect my ears and I can hear both music and drums just fine. You don't need to spend a lot. You can also use in ear buds with shooting or equipment over the ear protectors over the ear buds. But I dont try and play stadium volume in my drum cave.
 
Here's a couple of ideas to check to see what's up with your SE215s. First, can you hear okay with other headphones plugged into your phone? That should clue you in to whether your 215s are broken. Do they work well with something else, like your computer? Then it's something to do with phone settings.

Another possibility (and this is really gross, but true) - because the 215s are open-canal, they do get jammed with earwax easily. That will prevent sound from coming through. There's a little tool in the case that's meant to help clean out the canal safely.

After my 215s quit working I ended up ordering a pair of MEE Audio M6 Pro monitors. They have a closed canal, a wider diaphragm, a replacement cable, and work really well with Comply foam tips. They are also half the price of SE215s.
 
Here is my advice.

If I want to put my bands tunes in the PA system in the basement for drumming to I need to CRANK it super super loud. and still it's tough to hear... So A stereo by you being hard to play with is normal.

second, IEM's should make a good seal. With a proper seal you can usually turn down. You say they are quiet even at full blast? that is not a good sign.

Keep in mind Iphones, Android phones, and the like tend to have some built in safety features that don't always allow you to crank em. Usually it stops 3/4 of the way up and asks you if you want to continue.

With IEMS I can crank the music to the point I can't hear my drums usually. It's still hard to play like that but you shouldn't be able to hear your drums and not the music.

This is where an overhead, or a few mics to mix in work perfectly.


Have you tried the over ear cans, or gun range type ear muffs to go over top of the IEMS? that should block out the drums.

Something seems weird here, I play extreme death metal and with the MEE M6 and comply tips I have had zero issues hearing myself. I now use Ultimate ears and they are 100 times better but still, sound quality aside the shures are loud enough. I guarantee.

Don't worry about the "best" over ears, get a set of cheap vic firths to see if they block out the noise for you before spending a ton of cash.

I'd try using a different source such as an Amp, TV, computer, soundcard, etc. Have other people try them also. Something isn't right. Not only are the Shures loud enough, they should sound great too. Try to get someone else to listen to see if they are loud.

Also, your earplugs won't worth with the Shures, but I have a pair of those and they work amazing for gigs and attending shows.


Also, Try some mp3s, youtube vids, and different sources, make sure your tracks are stereo, something is defiantly wrong, or not being used correctly.
 
Another thing..

do they sound like they are missing low end when you listen to tunes?

They should be quite snug in your ears. if the seal isn't there the volume drops down, low end disapears and sound will leak in. My singer uses the Same IEMS you have and says they are uncomfortable after about 2 hours but they work the best being very snug.
 
Both MANY&MASSIVE thanks for all of the advice/assistance&help.I had my ears cleaned of wax before i picked up my ear plugs which i DON'T wear with my IEM Shure SE 215's. I'm NOT used to wearing /using them as never had prior as previously typed the ONLY type of headphones i've ever used have been over the ear (Senheisers forgotten the model!).I SHOULD LISTEN to the songs BEFORE i attempt to play them&memorise them.The music i'm both liste ning to &attempting/trying to play is:heavy metal i.e early Iron Maiden, Motley Crue&Twisted Sister.Maybe etc i should attempt&try to play with my drums muffled?, i.e towels over the snare&toms?,
IF THAT STILL doesn't work then either headphone amp or Remo Silent Stroke&Zildjian L80 or over the ear "cans" ?!.
 
I'm still not 100% what you're doing?

You say you don't wear your earplugs with the Shure IEMs - are you talking about using the foam tips? If you're still using the silicone tips (the non-isolating ones) then you'll need to use ear muffs as well, which completely defeats the purpose in using IEMs.

There is one issue I've had in the past in using IEMs is that if you have a small ear canal (which I do) and you use the wrong foam tip, the tip itself will compress and block the sound tube from the IEM, which will prevent you hearing the IEM. Use the smallest foam tips that you have available which still seal in your ear correctly.

You shouldn't need to muffle your drums, use a headphone amp, or do anything else. You need to work out exactly the reason why your IEMs aren't doing the job they're designed to do. Whether that's due to a fault with the IEMs or something that's being done incorrectly.
 
I SHOULD LISTEN to the songs BEFORE i attempt to play them&memorise them.

Yes. Its really difficult to play along to a recording if you don't know the songs. Unlike a live band, recordings will not respond or adjust to you. No amount of fiddling with earphones, speakers, or muffling will help you if you don't know the music.
 
I use a pair of cheap IEMs that I off Amazon (MEE audio M6 PRO) with Comply large foam tips to play along to music/metronome off my phone and I have no issues with hearing the music over my drums.

The first thing you want to do is ensure that you're getting a proper seal from the IEMs in your ears. You should be able to put them in and with nothing playing through them they should act as pretty decent earplugs and kill a good amount of the drum volume, If they're not doing that then you need to make sure you're wearing them properly, if you are then you need to look into different tips, I tried the standard size foam tips from Comply and they didn't seal in my ears so I went with the large size and haven't had an issue since.

Once you have a proper seal with them try playing along to music and you should be able to play along with the music without the drums being overpowering with your phone volume at like 80-90%, if that's not happening then look at the music settings on your phone, I know with iPhones you can change the EQ and some of the EQ settings will lower the output volume so make sure that hasn't happened.

If after all of those steps you still can't hear music over the drums then you need to get a headphone amp, you will be able to bump the volume to your ears MUCH louder than you can with just the phone. Just be sure you get a headphone amp that is stereo, if you get mono you'll only get sound out of one ear.

Hopefully you don't need a headphone amp because the last thing you want to be doing is blasting music into your ears!

You've probably already looked into most of these steps if not all of them, just wanted to offer some guidance in case you overlooked something.
 
Hi BonerPizza,

Just wanted to check that you meant this "play along with the music without the drums being overpowering with your phone volume at like 80-90%"

If I did that with my iphone I would be deaf over I few years I am sure. Did you mean 40-50% ?

Also the iPhone has a volume limit, which I usually set to about half. I know that you note "Hopefully you don't need a headphone amp because the last thing you want to be doing is blasting music into your ears!", but I would say 80-90% is blasting it no?

Cheers

Andy
 
When I was a kid, I used to take the old style walkman headphones and put them inside a pair of over the ear, hearing protectors. That would offer great isolation so I could keep the volume of the music I was playing along to down to a reasonable level. You could do the same thing with ear buds.
 
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More than likely i DIDN'T have the tips sitting in my ears as they have to &must go OVER&then IN the ear canal itself?,
Also WHERE in AUSTRALIA (Melbourne preferably) can i buy the foam tips from?,
I'll ask my brother to test the IEM &ascertain if it's the volume of my phone compared to his Or as above i didn't have them inserted properley.
 
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