In Ear Monitors - Don't know much about them...

babahi · #1 04-02-2002, 01:08 PM

The monitor situation at my gigs is getting to me. Every place is different and has different monitors. Feedback problems galore through my mic and the drummer's mics. And I need to hear my voice clearly, I already had major problems taht required surgery for vocal cord cysts after years of bad singing on a nearly daily basis.

What I do when I play is set up the monitor so that I hear the house mix. Since I don't have a soundman who can sit and constantly tweak everything through out the gig, this makes the most sense to me; this way I can regulate myself whether something needs to be louder, or I need to back off the mic or turn down the guitar or whatever. I usually use the mono sum out from the board and plug that directly into my monitor wedge. And I like it fairly loud. Unfortunately, this creates a feedback problem.

Also, my voice is a problem, as I end up pushing too hard. It's gotten much better, but I'd like to get things loud enough so that I don't strain. I've read some interviews with singers who swear by it for that same reason. Bryan Adams claimed that he can now do 6 nights a week and his voice holds up. I was doing six nights a week (or more!) for all of October, November and December, all of it with my wedge monitor and it wore me out! My vocal therapist did what she could for me in that time, but told me that it was quite a lot for my voice. And in May I will be going on a somewhat larger tour of Japan, Europe and some possible other dates. This band will have a real soundman and setup.

So I want to know how these systems work. I can't see myself getting a a special mix just for myself and one for the drummer. Once again, I need to hear the house mix. Does that mean I can take the same mono out and feed it into the transmitter, then right into my head? That would be cool.

I looked at some different systems. Nady has a VHF EO3 system that seems like a hunk of junk. But neither do I want to blow a huge wad on the fancy Sennheiser system because I just don't need that. I want something to carry the mono out signal to my head. Also, if anyone knows about any Borg-like surgical cybernetic implants that can transmit the auditory impulses directly to my cochlea, let me know. That way I won't damage my ears from any volume...

Any info I need to know? Something I need to look out for?
Any suggestions for specific models?

Eric

JESTER700 · #2 04-02-2002, 02:15 PM

Look at Carvin's or the Shure units. *Whatever you do, get one with a built in limiter. *If you blow your hearing, that extra couple hundred you saved means nothing...

I think the ones I mentioned are in the $500 range; don't go lower (unless used, of course). *Some pros use systems costing a couple grand, and there's a reason for that...

babahi · #3 04-02-2002, 10:25 PM

I always appreciate your answers, Jester.

I know about the limiter, I assumed it's built in to every system. However, that's just an assumption, so I will be checking.

But what I'm curious about is what these "systems costing a couple grand" have that the middle or lower models don't. I just don't know what to look for, what I should not do without.

JESTER700 · #4 04-02-2002, 11:32 PM

Don't assume - The Nady and the OLD Carvin unit (something-100) do NOT have a limiter, as well as having FR of 100-10k or some such incredibly bad spec.

Personally, I'd go the $700-ish for the Sennheiser. *Good sound, good protection, good rep. *But the other options are there. *Please skip the Nady. ;-)