In-ear Monitors - which? Mic technique

sian

Hi guys, I sing harmony in a band with a lead vocalist, cello, violin and sometimes double bass plus drums. I find it quite hard to hear my lower notes and if the sound is anyway bad i'm haven't a clue what I'm singing half the time. We though in-ear monitors might help. Any tips on decent ones to buy. Wouldn't want to spend over 300 yoyos. Also anyone know anyone that's good at helping with/ teaching mic technique.

Thanks lads

Eoin Madsen

sian wrote: »

Hi guys, I sing harmony in a band with a lead vocalist, cello, violin and sometimes double bass plus drums. I find it quite hard to hear my lower notes and if the sound is anyway bad i'm haven't a clue what I'm singing half the time. We though in-ear monitors might help. Any tips on decent ones to buy. Wouldn't want to spend over 300 yoyos.

I would forget about it. If you're working with engineers who can can't even get a decent enough stage monitor mix to allow you to hear yourself at the moment, then I would think twice before giving same engineer an audio path directly to my ears. They're not going to be able to give you a better mix for one. And the amount of abuse required to kill off your hearing is substantially lower for in-ear monitors. You really want to make sure you trust both the equipment and the person operating it. And tbh, 300 euros is rather light for this as well.

I would sooner try buying a small active floor wedge with a parallel mic input and use it to provide a second dedicated monitor. You might have to worry about mic impedence and such with the split (or not), but it would be a simpler, safer, and cheaper technical solution in any case.

sian wrote: »

Also anyone know anyone that's good at helping with/ teaching mic technique.

Thanks lads

I don't, and I wouldn't suggest spending a whole lot of money on it. Mic technique is not hugely complicated and for the most part it genuinely just comes with practice. The two factors you need to keep in mind are proximity effect and off-axis colouration.

Low frequencies fall off faster as you pull away from the mic. If you're sucking on the mic at loud/mid-range vocals, then there's nowhere to go when you need to get in close to boost your low notes. If you want to have the range to go from low/quiet to high/loud, then you need to be at least 20cm away from the diaphram when you're singing loud. But this varies a lot depending on the mic and the operating conditions (what the mic is plugged in to). If your singing is very dynamic and there's no compressor, the distance could be twice that.

Off-axis colouration occurs when you sing into the side of the mic or at the mic from an off-axis angle. The diaphram should be pointed directly at your mouth. The sound loses clarity rapidly as you move off-axis, and becomes unintelligible very quickly. It's amazing how many people will ask for more level when they're not even directing sound into the transducer properly. This varies depending on the mic as well - some mics are kinder to off-axis signals than others. But in all cases, the objective is to position the mic so that you are singing directly into it as often as possible.

There are no hard and fast rules re distances and angles etc. Every mic is a little different, so you have to learn to be adaptable. I know those things are easier said than done, but beyond an awareness of the two main factors affecting the mic response at your end, it's really down to just developing an instinct for where you need to be.