In Ear headphones for drumming

[eddiehimself]

I would not recommend using Skull Candy ear buds or any other ears buds that are designed for MP3 players for drums.

These DO NOT protect you. While I understand that some do not have hundreds of bucks to put into musician In-Ears, let me just tell you that your hearing has no price and once it's gone, it's gone. Too many people underestimate this.

Proper In-Ears do cut out a lot, but that is their purpose. It just takes some getting used to.

Save up and get some proper In-Ears. You can find Shure E2Cs for 60€ on the Internet which is a good price, if you have the money get some custom molded ones which will be even more comfortable. Do your audition a favor!

Edit: On a more personal note, I don't like cans, especially over ear buds. The ear buds can sort of be pulled out inside the cans because of the the wire being held by the head muffs against your head and they tend to make sound coming from the outside a complete mess. If you play in a band, the low frequencies coming from the outside are all over the place and you can't hear anything (it's annoying when you need to lock in with the bass player). Even worse if you play rock or metal. You might want to take this into account.

+1. It's just not worth getting cheap earphones, yes good in ear noise reducing headphones are expensive but it's worth it to protect your hearing. Personally i just think skullcandy headphones are there to look nice for if you're a skater/emo or whatever looking for some nice looking headphones to play your torrented 128kbs mp3s on your ipod in one ear. They're not really for serious musicians.

 

[Drum-Head]

There are many ways to skin this proverbial cat. What works for you is fine, just remember that in ear monitors/earbuds can get 'loud' and also cause hearing damage. My preference is the JH Audio JH13 Pro as have tried quite a few solutions. You can choose fully 'sealed' or with ambient vent, with the choice possibly depending on your preference that may also depend on how 'hard hitting' you are (NONvented) or softer touch/technique (vented). Again, can not stress enough that what works for you is fine, just remember that in ear monitors/earbuds can get 'loud' and also cause hearing damage.

While you are correct about having the volume too loud in In-Ear monitors, the whole point of them is that they cut out enough ambient sound so you can have a low volume input in them. This is why they are better and safer if they are used correctly. For live use I highly recommend a limiter.

If one has the silly idea of cranking up the volume in their In-Ear mix well... Sadly that kind of shortly thought idea will eventually cost them their hearing. It all comes down to being a bit advised and having some common sense.

 

[Meat the beat]

I use UE 10's & 11's for work & play. They are expensive but well worth the investment. But whichever way you go with budget, get a decent sounding monitor... but most importantly, a custom mold, this will give you the protection you need. You'll get used to the isolation, & put yourself a pair of decent sounding ambience mics up and you'll be well away.

 

[MisterMixelpix]

Update: I spent about an hour and a half using my Shure SE115's and... okay. They feel better. I dunno how well they'll work with music going, but with a metronome they were pretty gravy.

 

[eddiehimself]

I use UE 10's & 11's for work & play. They are expensive but well worth the investment. But whichever way you go with budget, get a decent sounding monitor... but most importantly, a custom mold, this will give you the protection you need. You'll get used to the isolation, & put yourself a pair of decent sounding ambience mics up and you'll be well away.

I think that's just it, if you're that bothered about the loss of high frequencies then you can stick up a couple of mics to give you some of that sound you're not hearing but at a lower volume.

 

[thtst]

While you are correct about having the volume too loud in In-Ear monitors, the whole point of them is that they cut out enough ambient sound so you can have a low volume input in them. This is why they are better and safer if they are used correctly.

Exactly! IEMs limit the 'noise' level and thus allow the musician to have a lower SPL/volume level output and clearly hear what is going on.

Remember gigs in the old days where everyone starts out at lowish volume levels, then as the guitar players start to 'compete' with each other and the lead singer the volume goes up, human ears get accustom to higher levels, SPL levels increase more... and before you know it the acoustic SPL level is far too high for a safe environment. This also happened with FOH (front of house) during live concerts in the 'old days' at times. Fortunately the FOH guys use SPL meters nowadays and certain laws keep things in check.

 

[Drum-Head]

Exactly! IEMs limit the 'noise' level and thus allow the musician to have a lower SPL/volume level output and clearly hear what is going on.

Remember gigs in the old days where everyone starts out at lowish volume levels, then as the guitar players start to 'compete' with each other and the lead singer the volume goes up, human ears get accustom to higher levels, SPL levels increase more... and before you know it the acoustic SPL level is far too high for a safe environment. This also happened with FOH (front of house) during live concerts in the 'old days' at times. Fortunately the FOH guys use SPL meters nowadays and certain laws keep things in check.

That's what's cool with modern tech huh?

With a whole band on IEMs we can really lower down stage volume and you don't get a big mess of a sound with the frequencies going amok. The worst is with rock, metal groups with all the lows argh! Oh, and no more transporting enormous speaker cabinets if you have to have your own monitoring system. Thank heavens for IEMS!