Onstage Wired Earbuds

B

Beaverbee

New member
Has anyone ever used a pair of "wired" earbuds onstage? I am just realizing that being able to hear yourself is a very good thing :) I sing alongside four very loud instruments and I am trying to perfect my onstage vocals through singing techniques and equipment. I have been researching in ear monitors but they seem to be a little exaggeratedly pricey.... I am considering using ear buds with a wire coming down behind my back, or wrapped around a mic stand or some way. Does anyone have any feedback on this?

Thanks!

my band
whenechosfail.com
 
saads said:
You have a lot of these feedback threads, curious fellow aren't you? ;)
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Ah yeah, but when they've gone viral you can name drop to your heart's content about how you helped them in their younger days when they didn't know much, kind of how Peter Tosh used to say that Bob Marley was his disciple when the Wailers were unknown !
 
One of your biggest issues with wired earbuds is that they fall out. Even practicing in the basement I found they were always falling out when I turned my head. IEM are expensive but they are more effective. Try headphones with the headphone jack tucked in your belt somehow. YOu'll probably still have issues tripping over the damn wires like I did....
 
Most consumer earbuds don't isolate much, so you have to turn up the volume to drown out the competing noise. That leads to fatigue and hearing loss. Most professional IEMs isolate a lot, so you can actually monitor at much lower volumes than with stage monitors or cheap buds. That lets you hear better and preserves your hearing.
 
An audiologist can fit you for some custom-fit ear buds- not cheap, but it addresses the biggest problem with in-ears, giving you a good, tight fit.

And we all know how important that is. :D

(Thought I'd just go ahead and make the dumb joke- you knew it was coming...)
 
Ah.... yes. I just found out first hand much of what you were all telling me about I did have a problem with getting them to stay in... even with their form fitting cushions. They also were nowhere near noise cancelling, but my biggest problem is hearing my own voice over the ROAR of my band, so turning up my vocals to where I could hear them was actually a relief from the usual.

I did like the help it offered me, but the wire makes it almost completely impossible to use in a live setting. I am going to try and find the cash to get some real/wireless IEM's but for practice at least I will be able to use these. I wish they didnt go from $50 wired earbuds to $300 for wireless... middle ground would be ideal lol Thank you all
 
You have a lot of these feedback threads, curious fellow aren't you?


haha curious indeed. I was actually trying to come up with a few posts to get past my 5 post limit before adding a link to posts. i am new to the forum and wanted to post a link to a song I recorded and mixed. :) The replies I got were very helpful nonetheless.
 
IEMs that are wireless will not stay in any better than wired ones? There will still be a cable going down your back to the transmitter on your belt.

You can do this cheaply with a device like the samson s-monitor and any pair of headphones. I use the Shure SE 215s, the over the ear design helps then stay put. Im a guitarist so i tape the headphone extension to my guitar cable.
 
Everyone in my band has been using wired ear buds for about 5 years. I play guitar, so I have taped the headphone cable to my guitar cable. I tuck the excess from the buds into my back pocket. The buds of choice for me is Koss "The Plug" They cost around $20.00 but I have found them for as little as $10.00. They isolate well and cover a pretty good freq. range. Plugging in has helped our vocals ten fold. I can't stand wedges anymore. I'm sure wireless with pro buds are better, but we just don't have the coin for that investment. This is a good alternative.
 
My band toured with wired earbuds for years, we used Koss plugs, never fell out never blow up, sounded good and were cheap. Each person had their own little mixer to drive the buds, we had a multicore system to feed each mixer with our click track, and a mix of our loops and drum machine (dance music), plus each person had a splitter on their own vocal mic to their mixer so they could balance their own vocal. when we were touring light (no amps) we had guitar (from an amp simulator) and bass also. Sounded great and we always got a good front of house mix as there was no loud fold-back on stage. We could set this up in minutes.

Alan.
 
let's rock said:
Everyone in my band has been using wired ear buds for about 5 years. I play guitar, so I have taped the headphone cable to my guitar cable. I tuck the excess from the buds into my back pocket. The buds of choice for me is Koss "The Plug" They cost around $20.00 but I have found them for as little as $10.00. They isolate well and cover a pretty good freq. range. Plugging in has helped our vocals ten fold. I can't stand wedges anymore. I'm sure wireless with pro buds are better, but we just don't have the coin for that investment. This is a good alternative.
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Yea I hear ya man.... thats exactly why I am not anxious to spend hundreds on an in ear monitor. Can i ask what your singer does with his wired ear buds? Does he play guitar also? I unfortunately do not play the guitar in my band... mic only so theres no shot of wrapping the wire up with a guitar cable.
 
The drummer and myself do most of the singing. The bass player and the other guitar player tape cables to their cables also. When we had a lead singer, he would run the extension cable though a belt loop. Don't forget to unhook when you leave the stage.
 
Check out the etymotic research Hf5's ($90 on B&H). Best purchase you can make for live/ studio monitoring, hi-fi listening, and even mixing applications. They come with an assortment of buds and there is one to fit every ear. Best purchase I've made in a long time and have no problem suggesting them to others.
 
Here comes a really nooby question, but i get the idea of live monitoring with headphones but how would you go about this starting with nothing. I sing and play guitar for my band and i'm liking the idea of having my own mix to mess with instead of putting it in the hands of the sound guy. Other than ear buds what else would i need to buy and how would i get it from the mixer to my headphones?
 
AvertYourEyes said:
Here comes a really nooby question, but i get the idea of live monitoring with headphones but how would you go about this starting with nothing. I sing and play guitar for my band and i'm liking the idea of having my own mix to mess with instead of putting it in the hands of the sound guy. Other than ear buds what else would i need to buy and how would i get it from the mixer to my headphones?
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To do it the right way ~ you would interrupt the snakes send of of the on stage miced or Di instruments and vocals that goes to the FOH with your own monitor set up. A small console, medium console all depends what exactly you want sent to your in-ears. Dial in what you want to hear via an Aux send say #1 aux for yourself, aux #2 to the drummer (with his personal settings) the the next aux to the next guy etc.
 
Etymotic Research, Inc. - hf5? earphones
So these things will block 30+ db?! There's no way my SRH440's do that.
I might invest in a pair of those for monitoring while recording.
That way I won't have tinnitus paranoia :p

I've got a pair of $2 remington earplugs with the 3 tip design...
Still have to get used to the feeling of my ears being raped :eek:
 
You can get a decent set of dual driver IEM's for around 100 bucks (sometimes less on ebay). The Shure SE115's and 215's are very resonably priced and give you clarity in all frequency ranges. They have a new foam rubber ear bud that makes them very comfortable to wear (much more than the silicon that they used to use), and they stay in your ear.

Behringer is also coming up with a budget solution to an Aviom. I don't know how well they work, but I think it's good that companies are trying to get this technology to the working man.

In all honesty I've worked with Avioms for about 6 or 7 years now, and the personal mixer units have a ton of problems with the digital pots going bad, and for the price they sell them at, you should not have this issue.

Other than that, your monitor mix is going to come from the main desk, or if you have an offstage mixer for your monitors.
 
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