In Ear Monitors vs. Booth Monitors
In Ear Monitors vs. Booth Monitors Posted on: 20.10.2012 by Catheryn Airola Hey everyone,So lately I've been playing out more than normal and I can't help but notice that every club I play in, or every rave I play at (minus a few), I can never clearly make out my mixing through the booth monitors that they have in the club, ever. I'm used to mixing on my Studio Monitors (Mackie MR8's) at home, and when I go to the club to mix, it's like I can barely make out the melodies of the two tracks I'm mixing. I've always been told to never use my headphones soley to mix through, even though it seems to make more sense when you can't really clearly make out what's happening on the booth monitors. My question to you all is: Have any of you switched over the in ear monitors (the little earbud headphones that Laidback Luke uses) as your primary source of monitoring? If so, what is it like? Do you ever find yourself believeing that your mix sounds fine in your monitors but on the club PA it sounds just fine? All the veteran DJ's I've asked have said that you should never use these as you can have instances where you believe you sound fine through your in ear monitors, but you actually sound terrible on the club PA, but then I see guys like Laidback Luke using them to mix with and having them in ear the entire time, while going to new venues daily and not knowing much about the acoustics of the room/setup of the sound system in the venue. What do you all believe? Can in ear monitors be used as a primary monitoring source as opposed to relying on what are often very shitty booth monitors? | |
| Emerson Crist 22.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by Tenova
Im assuming your talking about monitoring your mix. As said before, in ear monitors aren't necessarily superior, but they help with avoiding hearing loss from having to turn up the cue volume on the mixer. Some over the ear headphones offer good sound isolation but you can still have the cue volume up deafingly high with out knowing it. Its all a matter of preference. For instance, my friend dislikes IEM because he gets ear infections easily and he has a phobia of not being able to remove them. His hearing isnt bad after a gig, but he sometimes says that it was still too loud for him. After trying my first pair of IEMs I loved them, and it was a pleasure to be able to hear after my set. On top of that, my ears werent hurting from having OTE headphones clamping onto my ear for a couple hours. As said before, neither of these will be useful if you cant keep an eye on the levels. Bottom line, go with whats comfortable, and dont rely on a venue having adequate monitors in the booth. |
| Catheryn Airola 21.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by Janky
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| Catheryn Airola 20.10.2012 | Hey everyone, So lately I've been playing out more than normal and I can't help but notice that every club I play in, or every rave I play at (minus a few), I can never clearly make out my mixing through the booth monitors that they have in the club, ever. I'm used to mixing on my Studio Monitors (Mackie MR8's) at home, and when I go to the club to mix, it's like I can barely make out the melodies of the two tracks I'm mixing. I've always been told to never use my headphones soley to mix through, even though it seems to make more sense when you can't really clearly make out what's happening on the booth monitors. My question to you all is: Have any of you switched over the in ear monitors (the little earbud headphones that Laidback Luke uses) as your primary source of monitoring? If so, what is it like? Do you ever find yourself believeing that your mix sounds fine in your monitors but on the club PA it sounds just fine? All the veteran DJ's I've asked have said that you should never use these as you can have instances where you believe you sound fine through your in ear monitors, but you actually sound terrible on the club PA, but then I see guys like Laidback Luke using them to mix with and having them in ear the entire time, while going to new venues daily and not knowing much about the acoustics of the room/setup of the sound system in the venue. What do you all believe? Can in ear monitors be used as a primary monitoring source as opposed to relying on what are often very shitty booth monitors? |
| Judi Sissel 22.10.2012 | I can't say much for live/club use, but I extensively used both UM2's and XD2-53's. As stated before the IEM's give a great amount of isolation, compared to OTE headphones. The one thing I did find lacking in the UM2's was the lack of bass that you can 'feel'. If I adjusted the generic ear-fittings, I could get a decent amount thump, but nothing like what i've felt with a good set of Headphones. The UM2's were only a Dual driver IEM, so maybe something like a UM3 would be more comparable? Really depends on what you're looking for in a set of cans, but either set could do the job or be damaging to your hearing. If you do decide to go with IEM's check this thread out. Extensive reviews. UM2's look like the best bang for your buck |
| Dorie Scelzo 22.10.2012 | Better isolation, so you don't have to crank them as loud to drown out the house system. |
| Emerson Crist 22.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by Tenova
Im assuming your talking about monitoring your mix. As said before, in ear monitors aren't necessarily superior, but they help with avoiding hearing loss from having to turn up the cue volume on the mixer. Some over the ear headphones offer good sound isolation but you can still have the cue volume up deafingly high with out knowing it. Its all a matter of preference. For instance, my friend dislikes IEM because he gets ear infections easily and he has a phobia of not being able to remove them. His hearing isnt bad after a gig, but he sometimes says that it was still too loud for him. After trying my first pair of IEMs I loved them, and it was a pleasure to be able to hear after my set. On top of that, my ears werent hurting from having OTE headphones clamping onto my ear for a couple hours. As said before, neither of these will be useful if you cant keep an eye on the levels. Bottom line, go with whats comfortable, and dont rely on a venue having adequate monitors in the booth. |
| Catheryn Airola 22.10.2012 | Alright, so basically what you're all saying is that: There's basically no difference when it comes to monitoring in good headphones (HD25 II's) vs In-Ear Monitors, it's more a matter of preference when preserving your hearing. That there's nothing special about having In-Ear Monitors vs Headphones when monitoring the master mix as your primary source when the booth monitors are too loud to hear from? Or am I wrong and is there something superior about in-ear monitors as opposed to high end headphones when using them as a primary source for mastering your mix? |
| Kimberlee Giap 22.10.2012 | I never use booth monitors as in my experience they mix too much with the house system itself, unless I crank it to deafening levels. I have used in-ear monitors to mix in, but only in a pinch. At home, I mix with ATH-M50's (and also have a pair of KRK VXT-6's as well), but when I am out I use a pair of V-Moda Crossfade LP's that a friend bought me and pretty much leave them on. They're not great for reference cans, but for performing live they have excellent sound isolation around the ears which my AT's don't have, and emphasized bass which actually stands out and separates really well from the bass from the house system. It's funny but I didn't like them at all until I used them live - now I'm a big fan. |
| Tanisha Kaupe 22.10.2012 | I believe I can give you some insight on this, I've been using Ultimate Ears 11's since I started DJing. I can't really praise them enough, it's hard to relate to anyone that just uses cans since they're custom molds. You can't just hand them to a friend that can pop them in to hear the difference. It's basically like wearing two reference monitors on your ears, while getting rid of about 26 dB. One thing is you have to get used to hearing the mix and the monitors at the same time, from the same source. I've heard of some people using panning to separate, but I don't find it taxing. They don't sound like headphones, they sound like you're in a room, with a speaker in it. Also, as it's a good idea to pop an ear out for a couple seconds to make sure your levels are normal, you'll be fine as long as you watch your levels. Anyone who tells you you can't balance the room correctly sounds like they're never actually engineered a board, since you can't even hear the actual room PA mix unless you're standing in fro. Literally, the physics of wave propagation make it impossible. And that effect can be achieved by whatever headphones as long as you leave the decks and stand out there on the floor in front of the PA's. So as far as giving your ears a rest and the best possible monitor quality, and preventing tinnitus, I'll praise in-ears til I'm blue in the face. |
| Nikole Resende 22.10.2012 | That's why you shouldn't use studio monitors for mxing at home, it will just spoil you regarding the details you can hear in your mix BTT If possible, I use the monitors. But if the sound quality should be too bad I usually switch to using my headphones. The most important thing is that the mixer let's you monitor the master out through your headphones. I usually still use the monitors for beatmatching/cueing and only use the headphones to control the mix itself. Depending on how low your headphones in-ear can go (frequency wise) you might want to be a little more cautions with the low end and rather pre-emptively cut the bass a little more during transitions, as you might have clashing bass frequencies your headphones can't accurately show you. |
| Teresia Janusch 22.10.2012 | Theres no right or wrong approach to this, its all about what works for you. personally, i wouldnt go near the in ear route...i believe theres the chance of doing real damage to your ears imo...but ive never been a fan of in ear ear-goggles...i'll stick to my hd25's and monitors |
| Dorie Scelzo 22.10.2012 | You need to do a sound check so you know how things are going to work out and/or have a sound guy you trust. Then just don't over-drive your mixer, and it works. The biggest danger is that you might forget about EQ tweaks you've made if your headphone feed is pre-EQ. And it's only viable if you can monitor the master output. |
| Danae Dumler 21.10.2012 | In ears work fine; so do headphones. It's all about knowing what to listen for and watching the levels. I usually dont have booth monitors at all, so I've gotten used to mixing without them. Sometimes they can be deceptive; their timing is better since they're closer to your ears, but you'll get thrown off if the main sound comes in delayed. I've used both headphones and in-ears and prefer headphones since they can be taken off easily, but in ears will give you better isolation (and protect your ears more since you won't have to turn them up as loud). In a loud club a lot of sound will be hard to hear no matter what you do, and turning things up will just make it worse. Don't try to hear every nuance in your music; listen for specific percussion sounds since that's what is guiding your mixing anyway. I'm sure it's nice to mix from a booth with perfect monitors in a club that isn't so loud as to overwhelm it, but that's happened in fewer than 5% of my gigs if even that. |
| Catheryn Airola 21.10.2012 |
Originally Posted by Janky
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| Emerson Crist 20.10.2012 | Its all about keeping an eye on your levels. Dont ride the gain and watch the low end. |
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