I'm considering buying some in-ear monitors then getting moulds done for them while I have the money.

I would probably tend towards a pair of Shure or Sennheiser monitors since I know they're good (having used Sennheiser earphones and Shure mics).

As far as monitors go, I'm willing to spend a decent amount (300-400) for some good ones that'll last me since I've got the money to afford some then get moulds done later on.

Any recommendations from other performers (I'm a drummer btw)?

I use these ones with my ipod, they are noise cancelling.

Etymotic also do a few other versions, the ER6-i are specially designed for ipods. Check out these or these, they also do musician earplugs.

Headphones.com.au has a wide range of stuff too

Thanks. Yeah, I'm not looking for MP3 headphones, I mean on-stage in-ear monitors.

Expensive fukers they are. Prepared to spend the money though.

OK ignore me then :)


Doesn't Apple do them, you know being an Apple fanboi and all :P

I'm rocking a set of the Vsonic R02Pro (not the proII, which apprently are better again), can't say enough good things about them.

http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=321

not after headphones you tards

What boba said.

This is what I'm talking about. I need monitors for performing on stage and not going deaf and having real good sound quality and robustness. Headphones != Monitors.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/289/iemca7.jpg

Man, Dom looks like 18 there...

that'll teach me not to refresh.

Haha those are the things that make singers look like deaf kids. Sif you need that if you've practiced it well enough. Dancers don't need a f***ing HUD in their eye to see if they're moving correctly.

^ Do you have any idea?

How are you meant to even see the monitor if it's in your ear?!

whats the difference between monitors and headphones?

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7799/1195biammonitoringthist.jpg

Sif you need that if you've practiced it well enough. Dancers don't need a f***ing HUD in their eye to see if they're moving correctly.

First of all. I'm a drummer. That's bad enough. Second, I am then mic'd up to a PA which broadcasts about twice the volume again (at our level, it'll get a lot louder down the track). Not to mention, I get a much better mix of the band to perform to.

whats the difference between monitors and headphones?

Monitors are designed to seal very well, are more solidly built and have much better sound quality. The main thing is that they protect your hearing on stage and provide a high quality mix to the performer instead of an open and messy foldback mix (which often sucks).

Red has the lulz :D

Oh and they make you look "professional" and stuff too :P

Yeah that line about pretending to be professional is convincing. The rest of what you said is not. You should know your s*** so well if someone cuts off your ears you can still play. Like those karate people who train for when dust is thrown in their eye and they can't see.

The rest of what you said is not. You should know your s*** so well if someone cuts off your ears you can still play.

Do you even play/perform at all? Are you kidding?

Playing drums has nothing to do with performing on stage in a band at your best and actually having hearing after.

Being deaf is not a good thing at all. As well, being able to hear the band is incredibly important (and much better when you do get to hear the band).

Maybe try going and playing on stage with bright lights, lots of noise, not being able to hear half the band properly and wanting to perform your songs the best you can and then throw your claims out...

If anyone could vouch for this it would be singers...

Oh and there's also the thing about playing in time wityh the band. yeha you sorta need to hear a band to be able to play in time with them...

Waa waaa waaa you don't hear Beethoven whinging about not having a hearing aid

Enough with the trolling...

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5617/44266966unsuccessfultro.jpg

Have read good things about the Weststone UM1 and UM2s.

Yeah that line about pretending to be professional is convincing. The rest of what you said is not. You should know your s*** so well if someone cuts off your ears you can still play. Like those karate people who train for when dust is thrown in their eye and they can't see.

Thats either a troll or you realy are a moron. I assume you have never played in a live venue, or dont play at all, being able to hear the band, expecially as the drummer is f***en critical.

You could be playing the song perfectly but you are just behind the beat cause you can hear whats going on and the band will sound like s***.

Does the price of these look normal? Shure SCL5.

In Australia they're like $1100 RRP, but they're less than half that in the US. Doesn't seem... right.

There seems to be good things said about the SCL5 and SE530s though.

Yeah that price is probably right. All headphone related stuff is way expensive here, much cheaper to import.

Westone have custom in-ears but there's no dealer in or near Brissy it seems :(

This seems a bit ... specialised for a QGL info-trawl dude? The crew here are experts at hanging s*** on people at random, arguing about LCD vs Plasma on a treadmill, laughing at the religious and kicking FaceMan in the nuts.

Aren't there forums for people who are in bands and s***?

I don't know anything about these monitors, but I've used these guys http://www.priceusa.com.au/ to order some bits and bobs from the US and they've been quite good (as opposed to registering a mail forwarder for a once off or only occasional purchases).

If you are looking for anything to do with hearing go to

Hi-Tech Hearing Specialists

Address
139 Normanhurst Rd
Boondall
QLD, 4034
Australia

Ph: (07) 3216 5555

this bloke runs his business out of his house so it will be heaps cheeper. Just rink to book an appointment to see him. Get him to do a proper hearing test so he can match up a set of monitors for your hearing profile.

Have you tried Musicians pro shop !?


59 Barry Parade
Fortitude Valley, Queensland
PH: (07) 3831 5898

specialised for a QGL info-trawl dude?

Is there not enough Apple content in my post? Jk.

Seems like some people know about this stuff. Besides, QGL is so totally rad anyway.

Have you tried Musicians pro shop !?

Indeed I haven't, but I will. Cheers.

last edited by 3dee at 13:44:59 28/Sep/09

lol @ thermite

check out here: http://www.earphonesolutions.com/best-earphones-musicians.html

The Westone UMX3 look enticing...

http://www.earphonesolutions.com/westone-um3x.html

the shures dont sound that great till you get into the E5's and they are expensive f***ers for sure. The higher end Ultimate Ears are much better compared to the Shure range, I havent had much experience with the sennheiser ears but they get an alrite wrap, just nobody seems to use them.

personally i'd be looking at Future Sonics offerings if you are going to go to the length of getting moulds. Be warned they arent cheap but as soon as you loose the seal the bottom end dissappears from regular IEM's which is f***ing annoying on stage, moulds really are worth every cent.

Had one band I was doing monitors for supply me with some Future Sonics for their set and they sounded great, as good if not better than the high end UE's. At work i have Shure E3's and some random Sennehisers and they all suffer from a bit too much 3-5k but the low mids suck on the shures, not so bad on the sennheisers. Personally I drum with Ultimate Ears MetroFi's at home and reckon they are great.

Oh and dont bother with Pro Shop, great guys but they dont sell IEM's.

Bay Audio can probably do the moulds for you, depending on the manufacturer you will either have to mail the moulds to them or have a local shop (like Bay Audio) fit the drivers to the moulds.

Are you running them hardwired or off a wireless pack?

Also wtf is with the trolling in here, random.

Thanks squarky. Bit early to say bout wireless or not. My gut instinct is to save some money and go wired (since I very rarely get out of my seat while performing, though I thrash around a bit).

What sorta price are we talking for these Future Sonics IEMs? The Australian RRP of IEMs is f***ed it seems. 400 US but 1100-1200 over... << WTF!

the aussie rrp of any music gear is f***ed.

Allans wanted to sting me $450 for pro tools le micro (basically just pro tools le and the dongle) - I bought pro tools le mini delivered from the states for AU $400 (with a rebate for a free mic and stand yay)

http://digidesign.com/index.cfm?langid=100&navid=114&itemid=4962

That's not so bad though. Australian RRP of Shure SCL5 is $1139 but they go for about $400 USD... O_o?!?

Probably based on RRP being ~600 USD, an exchange rate of 0.6-0.7 USD = 1 AUD plus 30% premium for Australia retail being s***.

I'll break it down for you all

US Supply Chain:
Shure wholesale - Store

Aus Supply Chain:
Shure wholesale - Australian Distro - Store

Thats where the extra 30% comes from, I have wholesale access and still buy things like mic's from overseas for personal use.

IIRC Futre Sonics are about US$800 and you send them your ear impressions (from memmory only about $80 to get one done). Wired is probably more suited to you being a drummer, dont bother with the shure wired beltpacks, just get a small module or something you can mount on/near you kit or a small mixer with a headphone amp in it.

if you go wireless Sennheiser G2's are your only option, this is coming from someone with 50+ Shure PSM's in inventory :(

In-ear monitors sure are handy. Forgive my ignorance, but shouldn't the other musicians in the band be following the beat & rhythm of the drummer? I always just kinda assumed that's how it worked. I guess when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.

Being able to hear whats happening around you on stage is imparitiave. You need to hear what the other musicians are doing to keep things tight, and vocally you need to hear yourself & other vocalists to be able to pitch correctly and harmonize with others etc. I do alot of monitor mixing, did the mainstage of sounds of spring on the weekend, for that i had 12 different mixes on stage depending who was on at the time, each band member has different things in their mix depending on what they want to hear.

On any mid sized gig there will be a sound engineer mixing the onstage mixes and one mixing the FOH mix that he audience hears, some more complex shows can have 3 or 4 engineers working on them at once.

In-ear monitors sure are handy. Forgive my ignorance, but shouldn't the other musicians in the band be following the beat & rhythm of the drummer? I always just kinda assumed that's how it worked. I guess when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.

The drumming is often the lowest common denominator in keeping the song in time etc, but there's so much going on on-stage that you can't just rely on everyone following you because there's often times when you're not leading the song at all.

The main thing is that to pull off a song well, everyone needs to hear everyone. I need to hear vocals to know where I am in a song or part, I need to hear guitar because there's a lot of cues I get from the guitar (again with regard to playing the song arrangement more than merely the parts themselves), bass is a biggie because often we both lock in to a rhythm (such as the bass drum rhythm) and I need to hear my own drum kit to be able to play naturally and not have to guess about the sound. Even if I know exactly what I'm playing in a technical sense, there's nothing worse when you can't hear or feel what you're actually play (especially from the bass drum and snare).

Essentially when you're playing live, you can't be in a situation where you have to guess what's going on with the band and having either good foldback or good in-ear monitoring makes it so much easier to deliver the performance you want and can enjoy too (which is the whole idea!).

last edited by 3dee at 22:39:41 28/Sep/09

In ear monitors are good if you cannot hear the foldback or if it sounds like a mish mash, and yes, it does sound like a mishmash sometimes. Believe it or not, last gig, I couldn't make heads or tails of what the guitars were doing haha, I know the songs so I got by but I may as well of been deaf cause it made no sense up there and that's a f***ed situation just quietly.

Yeah there always problems somewhere but I know our music so its not difficult to overcome. There's always areas where you do actually need to hear [this] instrument or [those] vocals.

I think it generally just gives you a sense of comfort about the sound out front too.