IEM with Ambient Microphone Only

skidmarkbass

skidmarkbass

Jun 6, 2008
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#1
I sometimes rehearse with a very loud guitarist and keyboard player. No one goes thru the PA except the singer. I am thinking of using my Rolls PM351 with an Ambient microphone ONLY. I have tested it at home playing along with the stereo and it seems to work fine. I want to try it in a rehearsal situation to control volume to MY EARS. Has anyone tried this? I know that IEMs will sound best when everyone goes thru the PA, however that will probably NEVER happen with this project.
IEMAmientOnly.jpg
 
#6
It could be a great idea!

Here's what I predict will be tricky.....mic placement. It may be hard to find that sweet spot where everything will be fairly even in your ears. Too far over here and all you hear is that guitar amp. Too far over there and all you hear is drums. But once you get that all hammered out it should be an effective way to keep from blistering your eardrums.

Way to think outside the box!
 
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#9
So just your bass into the rolls and then an ambient mic for everything else?

Seems like it oughta work. +1 to finding the right spot for that mic.
 
#10
Funny you mention this...the latest iteration of my own wired IEM system takes a line off of the board for vocals (and whatever bleed comes through our microphones) and a little battery powered stereo condenser microphone for stage sound. I used to use this mic for field recording. It has a AA battery in it and connects via a 3.5mm mini plug. I have seen similar units around for $60-120. I feed the stereo mic signal into the stereo monitor channel and the mono board send into the microphone input of my Rolls PM55p. It works great for me. I sing and stand center stage so I just set it on the rolls unit, center stage. I think the stereo microphone adds a lot to the experience. Even though I have tried much better quality (mono) condenser mics for the stage sound I like this better. We too only run vocals through the mains. This allows me to hear the whole band in context and the Rolls 55p's limiter protects my ears a little.
 
#13
skidmarkbass said:
I must be a real odd ball...
Click to expand...

Not really. I have considered trying it myself

I have considered it but never tried it. I usually play with ER15s and IMHO they don't really sound much better than foam ear plugs. They really compress the sound, cut the highs and mids, and create a nasty resonance in the midbass.

Although using a single mic to get a good mix off the band is highly unlikely, it might actually produce better results than I get with ER15s. Please try it and report back! I suspect you will find it is very inconsistent from gig to gig.

IMHO a better approach would be to use a small mixer. Take a feed from the mixer and then use additional mics as required to capture whatever is not going through the board. You could take a feed from the mixer and use a single ambient mic, or you could use one mic for drums, one mic for keys, one mic for guitar, etc. If you go decide to mic the individual instruments, you can minimize the amount of mic stands needed by getting side address mics. Basically a side address mic allows you to hang the mic over the front of an amp using the mic cord. Take a look at Sennheiser E906 and E609 for examples.

Now that you have heard my crazy ideas, hope you feel better.
 
#20
I just did this last week at rehearsal. Problem was cymbals drowned out everything. We are still tweaking and will try different mic position. Ran out of time last week. Good luck.
 
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