Nord User Forum

Hola,


I keep getting frustrated when playing on stage without excellent monitoring (often the case in my barrio) since I don't simply HEAR myself loud enough to play comfortable.
I have a SRM350 250W Amp I carry nowadays to gigs, sit it next to mine and have only the Nord sound on it. Even though I have to put it up to almost maximum since the band makes noise. I talked to the guys etc, tried other sound man, but the monitors are just usually two and I don't get enough sound.

So I thought I would prefer than having the heavy and pretty useless speaker, an in ear solution. But it is too expensive for the whole band (and I play in two), and for myself I cannot isolate myself completely.

SO I come up with this idea:
1) Have the Nord directly to the mixer and monitors
2) Get a Bluetooth transmitter like this: (http://www.coyoteadapter.com/Stereo-Blu ... btt005.htm) 3) Get in ear small bluetooth headset like this: (http://wireless-earbuds-review.toptenre ... eview.html) Now I play with the headphones and if I cannot hear myself by monitors, I put up volume in the headset.
Would cost <100EUR and it would even fit in the Gigbag.

Anyone thinks I am crazy or does it make sense?
I tried to talk everyone to play softer (no success), tried small amp at ear height (30W, could not hear anything only 1m away) and now with the Mackie SRM350, which should be powerful, but it is heavy and don't like the sound, plus makes even more noise on stage.

Thanks for comments! (I know can sound crazy)

Using headphones (especially in-ear ones) to drown out noise so you can properly hear yourself play is fairly risky. If your headphones provide a decent amount of damping it can even help prevent hearing problems (because you can run then at normal/safe levels), but if they don't provide enough damping you'll likely run the headphone at levels that will put your hearing at risk (even more so than with just the noise at a gig).

As a gigging musician you need to be even more careful with your hearing, since a lot (most?) gigging musicians will sustain some degree of hearing loss.

My point is this: look for some in-ear monitors specifically meant for the job you intend to use them for (or at least check they provide a decent amount of damping, say at least 12-18 dB). Your hearing will thank you (if it could).

Note that in-ear headphones with good to very good damping aren't the most comfortable to wear, unless you have custom molds made for them. I have a set of Shure E2Cs (like them a lot) and I use them with silicon sleeves. If I haven't worn them for a while, they'll give me sore ear canals (and a bit of a head ache) but once I've worn them for a few hours over the course of a week or two that completely goes away. I'm not a gigging musician or anything like that, but I sometimes need to work/concentrate in noisy surroundings and the damping (and the ability to play mysic at fairly low levels) helps me.

Interesting discussion. I have also noticed the situation with not hearing myself, or perhaps even worse, play too loud myself at a gig.
But with a solution like this
http://www.thomann.de/se/the_tbone_iem_100_863_mhz.htm
you could easily swap earplugs if they are less comfortable or with inferior damping.
Feel tempted to try this setup myself ...

Indeed interesting, have been looking into the IEM road, but always dismissed it since I cannot convince all people I play with to use it alltogether ($$$ if you want to outfit the whole band(s), plus then compatibility issues if you play with different bands, etc.).
The tBone IEM 100 seems kind of reasonable, but I think if I were to invest into IEM seriously, I'd at least go e.g., with the Shure PSM 200 (http://www.proaudiosuperstore.com/shure-psm200.html). Plus get some adapted ear plugs.

But I am not sure this is a good idea if all other band members don't use them. Might feel a bit insulated on stage, having problems with band communication, maybe getting too loittle of the band monitoring level, e.g., drums if not miked etc....
The OP's suggestion while could be a way around this, still mjbrands has some very good points why it might not be the best idea ever.

Maybe a small stand-mounted Amp placed appropriately is still the best idea...such as the Galaxy Powered Hot Spot PA6S (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PA6S) or (if you are on a budget) the Behringer Eurolive B205D. Ultimately IEM is king, but IMHO does not make sense for too small venues where house volume "bleeds" to the stage...

My band (shameless plug: http://www.hidden-agenda.info) uses IEM (LD MEI100) - and it's wonderful. You can see it in use in some of our videos.

We use it to get rid of any foldback (and feedback) and to speed up our gig setup times.

However - we only use it for the vocals and sax player (left earpiece = loud vocals/Quiet sax; right earpiece = loud sax/quiet vocals). Each person only wears one earpiece so they can hear the rest of the mix naturally. This stops us from being "disconnected" on stage.

This isn't the scenario you're talking about though

Another alternative to the bluetooth mentioned above would be a small 4 channel mixer with headphone output and Aux Send.

Such as Behringer Xenyx 802 - You could then take the electro sound through the Stereo Inputs (and then on to the main PA mix on its own through the Aux Send).
Add a static microphone placed in front of your Electro to capture the rest of the sound on stage. You could then take a mix through your own headphones which had your Electro at the volume you want and the rest of the band (through the mic) at a suitable volume.

I expect this would cost less and also not be so reliant on replacing batteries/charging before every gig - it may also be something you could try easily (as you may have a small mixer and mic already!).

Hope this helps,
Rob.

Gringle: love your band, admire your website!

Thanks Marlowes