My band is a fun dancy rock cover band. Bars, weddings, clubs, you know the drill. We have our own style but we play covers.
When people started recommending in-ears to me, I was stuck on the fact that I couldn't afford to get everything set up for it, the band not putting every instrument through the PA, no silent stage, hating my DI tone, etc. etc. etc.
I'm so glad I tried anyway.
I'm the only one in the band using IEMs. I keep a little mixer on my amp. I run my amp's DI out into one channel, and a send from our main mixer (which just amplifies vocals for most spaces) into another channel. I have custom sleeves now, the universal foam was fine though. The monitors themselves are Shure SE-215's and I use a MiPro wireless transmitter/body pack to send my personal mix to my monitors. So I just balance vocal mics and my bass.
I let guitars and drums bleed through. Inevitably one of the vocal mics picks up a little guitar and drums too.
It's a total game changer for me as someone who sings four part harmonies, and for playing bass it's brilliant because I can mix myself higher than anyone would ever want the bass to be and actually not worry about being able to hear myself.
Most of our gigs are pretty loud and I don't miss having ringing in my ears. And the ones that we have to lay back and play really quietly in, I can turn myself up without blasting the room.
Anyway. If I can do it you can too.
My whole setup:
Shure IEMs ($99)
MiPro wireless transmitter with bodypack ($350 used)
Yamaha personal mixer ($137.99)
Cable from amp to personal mixer ($10)
Cable from FOH mixer to personal mixer ($20)
TOTAL: $615
If you want to do custom molds, add $300 (that includes the audiologist appointment assuming your insurance won't cover it, if they do then just add $175 for the sleeves)
When people started recommending in-ears to me, I was stuck on the fact that I couldn't afford to get everything set up for it, the band not putting every instrument through the PA, no silent stage, hating my DI tone, etc. etc. etc.
I'm so glad I tried anyway.
I'm the only one in the band using IEMs. I keep a little mixer on my amp. I run my amp's DI out into one channel, and a send from our main mixer (which just amplifies vocals for most spaces) into another channel. I have custom sleeves now, the universal foam was fine though. The monitors themselves are Shure SE-215's and I use a MiPro wireless transmitter/body pack to send my personal mix to my monitors. So I just balance vocal mics and my bass.
I let guitars and drums bleed through. Inevitably one of the vocal mics picks up a little guitar and drums too.
It's a total game changer for me as someone who sings four part harmonies, and for playing bass it's brilliant because I can mix myself higher than anyone would ever want the bass to be and actually not worry about being able to hear myself.
Most of our gigs are pretty loud and I don't miss having ringing in my ears. And the ones that we have to lay back and play really quietly in, I can turn myself up without blasting the room.
Anyway. If I can do it you can too.
My whole setup:
Shure IEMs ($99)
MiPro wireless transmitter with bodypack ($350 used)
Yamaha personal mixer ($137.99)
Cable from amp to personal mixer ($10)
Cable from FOH mixer to personal mixer ($20)
TOTAL: $615
If you want to do custom molds, add $300 (that includes the audiologist appointment assuming your insurance won't cover it, if they do then just add $175 for the sleeves)
