Ive been looking at using IEM for a while now. I found a YT clip that was called “The real truth about IEMs”. The presenter plays in a rock band and mentioned that he had tried all sorts of IEMs and did not like any of them. Then he tried the JVC mentioned in the title and they suited him. My issue is having the ambient sound completely blocked out. I looked at Westone ambient IEMs that let some outside noise in. I’ve also looked at the ASI 3d units that have built in mics in the earbuds that can be adjusted in volume and apparently work very well. The Westone ambient and the ASI units are expensive. As a solo musician, I use a full mix including bass and drums. The JVC items do not block out all sound and I was wondering if anyone on the forum has tried them out as IEMs. I’d like some feedback if possible please. Cheers.
I can’t tell you anything about those earbuds, but maybe a simple “ambience microphone”, could be the way to go and let you choose the earbuds that suit you most - independent from their acoustic isolation effect. You could also control how loud the ambience is sounding in your IEM.
Just a thought…
Indeed, an ambient microphone solves the musician’s isolation problem rather well. Personally, when I don’t have one, I take an earphone out of one ear and put it back in when necessary. But it’s true that IEM are a bit special. You either adapt to them or you don’t, but I’ve adapted pretty well.
In my experience, this is dangerous because you could make the level too loud for your ear.
I always set the sound level with the IEMs firmly in place in my ears and never change it. I have IEMs molded to my ears, and taking one out, just a little bit, from one ear, is enough for me to hear the crowd’s responses.
And when I need precision listening and I no longer need to listen to the audience, I put it back. But it’s all fiddling for when we don’t have an ambient mic.
I use only 1 earphone and it works great in my case w no amps or speakers on stage and electronic drums. Other than an occasional acoustic guitar or sax- there is almost no sound on stage. With one ear open I get a sense of the main mix and I can talk to people on stage. One picky band member using both earphones connected an ambient mic and after 2 shows- never bothered again.
Has anyone actually looked up these units? Expensive yes, but amazing in operation. The mics in each ear piece use a phone app that controls ambient volume independently as well as over all volume of the ambient sound. There are many other functions as well. Look ‘em up - the reviews are worth a read.
I use the ASI system with custom Sensaphonic ear molds. They are worth every penny IMHO
Im pleased to hear from someone using this system. I’m just waiting for new stock to arrive in NZ in October.
I use this system as well, so far with standard Shure eartips.
I agree, they are worth eyery penny. I was lucky to get a used but mint/as new unit via Reverb from someone in Belgium for 600,- EUR. I am located in Germany.
The settings via the app are very useful, because you can set the level, EQ, limiter independently for each ear. Brilliant, if your hearing is affected in one way or the other. You can further decide wether the eq should affect only the built-in mics or the incoming monitor feed as well.
When set to unity, the earphones sound exactly the same as without them inside the ears at all. As with all iems, a proper fit and complete seal of the ear canal is mandatory. The app even offers test tones to varify this. You can save different settings as well. Also, the volume rocker switch can be set to two fixed level settings, that means with one press of a button you can switch between e.g. unity and completely off. Very handy. I usually use this to have the built-in mics off during a song, but switch them to unity between songs to communicate with the other band members or to hear the audience.
I play keyboards and primarily drums, so usually have a wired iem connection with the small box not bothering me at all. If you already use a wireless iem pack you have to connect its phone output to the input of the 3dme and basically have two belt packs.
My next step is to have custom silicon sleeves made for the earphones to have an even more comfortable fit.
There is one alternative product I know of made by the german company “InEar”. They offer the “Hearmix Pro” wich does the same thing as the ASI 3dme. They don’t offer the flexibility of a settings app, though. There are only switches for high pass and low pass filters and a volume knob on the unit itself. Also, you have to provide your own earphones, they offer just the cable with built-in mics. There are several connection types for different brands of earphones available. I actually tested this system with my Shure SE535s and custom sleeves side by side with the ASI system. Soundwise both systems are quite similar (that obviously depends on the kind of earphones you use), but the ASI system is way more advanced because of the app.
Using such a system provides you actually with the best of both worlds: a clean and fullrange monitor sound at healthy volume levels without feeling isolated. Highly recommended!
Can you tell me exactly what the Shure ones look like please. Cheers.
The ones I mainly use are the yellow foam ones.
I push them onto the nozzles of the ASI earpieces, squeeze and roll them a bit between my fingers and hold them for a couple of seconds after inserting them in my ears. They expand and give me a perfect seal and most comfortable feel.
Sometimes I use those silicon ones.
Both types are cleanable with a bit of mild soap and warm water, but the foam ones obviously are a bit more fragile.
You can also get custom sleeves, either by Sensaphonics or some third-party manufacturers.
Thank you.
When getting in to IEM’s I was quite worried about hearing ambient, and brought a couple of cheap mics to do the job. On one gig I forgot to take them so had to rely on the other mics on stage.
I was surprised at just how much the vocal mic’s were picking up. Now I dont bother as we have 5 live mics scattered around the stage.
I don’t want extra work when setting up ie mics around the stage. And it’s just me as a solo performer. So I am going for the ASI 3D setup as mentioned with mics built into the ear pieces and smart phone control settings. Cheers.
Great, whatever works for one. Definetly less hassle and cost.
Nowadays there are so many possibilities for adding ambient sound to your IEM mix, for example most of the small monitor mixers from Midas, Behringer, Roland, Aviom, etc… have built-in ambient mics. If one of those devices ist positionend strategically well on stage it is posible to feed these ambient channels back to the console and into everybody’s In-Ear mix.
Another benefit of the ASI system for me is that when rehearsing I can dial in the volume of my acoustic drums without micing them and add whatever signal I need/want in my ears, eg. a click or backing tracks.
No matter what the situation is, the positioning of the binaural mics right at the ears provides the most natural listening experience.