Wired IEM's

[mike7172]

Work for a 5 piece band,

very complex vocal harmonies, and recently did some big shows with a 29 piece brass band.

Was approached a few months back by management, and asked to quote for 4 channels of IEM, as the drummer wanted to remain on wedges.

The G3 approach broke the bank too much, and reluctant to use low end RF kit I did this:

 

I had the the guys get some pure tone, dual driver IEMS with extra long cables, and racked up a studiospares 4 channel headphone amp, which is surprisingly very good!

each channel has a LR in and an aux in, which is mono, and meters very accurately for a £40 unit!

made up a loom which drops in across the front of the stage, with female jack's dropped in at each member location.

 

All very happy customers, and done on an incredible budget!

thought id share this, hope it helps!

[Simon Lewis]

Thanks for this - it's always good to hear of workable solutions that have been tried out. Do the band manage to adjust the levels they want easily (i.e. are they close enough to the headphone amp?)

 

An inbetween solution I have offered in the past is to use the Shure IEM beltpacks on their own as a headphone amp. It can be paired up with a radio transmitter, but also has a line in facility. This gives the musician their own amp with limiter, volume etc., but also provides an upgrade path.

 

It's still quite a bit more expensive than your solution though!

[mike7172]

hey simon,

the headphone amp lives downstage left, and there is plenty of excess in the loom for them.

each channel is set at 0, so its basically down to myself, or the monitor guy where applicable. although I try to carry an LS9 with the guys and do it all myself for consistency!

Thats not the first time ive been recommended the shure belt packs, perhaps worth a look later down the line, a middle step - as you say!

do you have a link to the product?

 

thanks man

[laolu]

You got a very disciplined band there, if they don't get entangled in all those cables, or did I misunderstand something? Let's say you have a bass player who also sings harmony, you got the fellow tied down with 3 cables :o

[paulears]

Wires always seem so much more reliable - I've often wondered why guitarists using a guitar cable insist on a radio mic. I'll have a look at these studiospares units.

P

[GreatBigHippy]

You got a very disciplined band there, if they don't get entangled in all those cables, or did I misunderstand something? Let's say you have a bass player who also sings harmony, you got the fellow tied down with 3 cables :o

 

I think for the amount of money this saves, and the added benefits of IEMs, that the bass player will be fine restricting the amount of knee slides they do across the stage ;)

 

As for the OP, that is a nice system. For that price and ease of use I can see a lot of pub bands (and bigger) being really happy with it!

[Simon Lewis]

...do you have a link to the product?

 

The whole system is the PSM200, the beltpack on its own is the P2R. Linky...

[Shez]

Fischer make some interesting wired IEM systems - beltpack here for example. Also a neat cable that combines a guitar lead with a headphone cable so the guitarist only needs to drag a single cable around.

[dbuckley]

Wires always seem so much more reliable

 

Reflects that old truism: a $2,000 radio link works almost as well as a $5 cable.

 

Radio mics are one of the great advances in entertainment technology, have a hunt for video of old rock musicals like Hair, back when the art of choreography included not making the mic cales into a knot, but that doesn't mean that wireless is always the right solution.