Custom Molded Earbuds

[Jazz+]

I went ahead and ordered LiveWires for $249. I hope to receive them in 2-3 weeks time. LiveWires use 2 speakers per side.

Live Wires Custom Fit In-Ear Monitors / Headphones

[misterlong]

I've been using futuresonics custom moulds for a while now, and I really like them. They are pretty honest and have very good noise rejection. So much so that you can't hear the crowd at all unless the monitor guys mic them up for us!
I only have experience of generic ones apart from this (sennheiser IE4 and a pair of westone UM1's) Both did the job better than nothing.

As for the transmitter, I have been using a Sennheiser EW 300 G2 system for a few years now. Previously I was using its predecessor (think it was the G1). There are more expensive systems but the sennheiser does its job perfectly well! It has all the functions you need on it and some you don't and is pretty rugged. Mine has been chucked around a lot and seems to just keep going! Most large stages I have ever played have had sennheiser units like mine or the older version of the same.
The main thing is to find a good monitor engineer! And get used to turning them down!!
long

[silentdrew]

I joined this forum to make a post here - I've enjoyed searching the comments regarding in-ears. This seems like the right place to make my first post.

I am trying to decide between Futuresonics In-ear custom molded single driver earphone or Ultimate Ears 10's or 11's. I've let both companies pitch me and I think I'm leaning towards a pair of Futuresonics. I am testing their universal Atrio headphones now to audition the 'single driver' concept.

I am planning on using these in-ears for audiophile monitoring with my iPhone and also onstage when the gig (and monitor board) allows. I was concerned about futuresonics' sensitivity and need for a lot of headphone amplification, but from what I've read it's just that the Ultimate Ears product is hyper-sensitive.

Does anyone out there have both pairs, or any strong opinions.

Thanks everyone, drew

[Neruk]

Thinking about ordering a pair of the Livewires (Now called Fidelity). Does anyone have any reviews of these? Gracias

[JPeters86]

It's a great way of monitoring but please be warned and don't crank the volume!! It can easily hurt your hearing just as bad (or worse) as using conventional monitoring and no ear protection. It's very tempting to put the monitoring volume too loud with these things. Good luck!

[Nick_Mags]

Definitely need to check out Alien Ears... they are custom molds that are pretty BA... i bought a pair for my girlfriend as she is a singer... and she says they sound incredible... theyre triple drivers and they are way cheaper then the rest of the market and better than live wires.. google them... the guy is awesome too

[Neruk]

Anyone else know anything about either livewires of alien ears? The alien ears website seems pretty amateur.

[bari_floydian]

hey guys if u are in the uk check as out for custom or generic in ear options.

Radio Microphones and In-Ear Monitors and Earphones

we offer options from ultimate ears future sonics sensafonics acs and the rest.

our clients range from top musicians and engineers to pub bands and gig goers.

give us a call to discuss your needs

cheers bari

[audiohub]

Something that I've discovered from using IEM's for quite a while now is:

Having a quality limiter inline before the IEM link is absolutely paramount. When I first got my UE2's I was worried about possibly damaging them with too much signal. I quickly found that they will produce unbelieveable SPL's without breaking a sweat. Many IEM's are built using hearing aid technology and can really pump out the volume. These things basically screw into your ears, so getting them out in a hurry if something goes wrong is just about impossible (before they could damage your hearing).
You really need a good quality limiter (above and beyond those built into some wireless packs) if you're serious about protecting your hearing. You want to make sure that any accidents or problems are effectively squashed before they reach you, but not have the normal program material affected too much.

It helps to have a stage mic dedicated to providing ambience to just your IEM mix. With these in, you're isolated from everything around you by 20-30 db. Having a mic that you can control the mix of adds back a lot to help you feel more comfortable using them, and still maintain that added focus that they provide.

A good wireless link makes a big difference. I started out hardwired, but got the Sennheiser G2 system several years ago, and absolutely love it.

Be prepared to spend some money on a proper system. It's worth it.

[georgechatburn]

first of all i think i best say hi to all those in this thread, im new to this whole posting online thing but thought i would take advantage of your knowledge.

Im 17 and looking to go to uni in the next few years to train as a sound techi for live events. i currently own a pair of bose triport headphones however these are one there way out, therefore i need something else. I thought with using headphones frequently it would be worth investing in a molded set. Despite reading your posts im still really not sure which would be best for me. But my main question and perhaps a dim one is, do these headphones give out as good a quality for the money as the bose headphones? and what size drivers etc would you guys suggest for me?

thanks in advance

[Carmine's]

I just picked up Shure SCL5's for $249.99 at Abe's of Maine:

Abes of Maine Search - Search Results for scl5

That's $150 cheaper than nearly anywhere else.

Shure recommends Sensaphonics Ear Sleeves for them, so I went to an audiologist and got the molds done. The molds were sent to Sensaphonics and I should get the sleeves back soon. I'll let you know how they turn out.

[drmz4life]

I play 4-5 nites every week here in Florida. I am using these custom fitted in ear monitors I found that are designed by a drummer for drummers. They are called drmearz. I saw online that drmearz just sponsored Nick Rich (Buddy Rich's grandson). That gave them enough street credit for me to try them. I'm extremely satisfied. I put my whole drum mix + vocals + sequence & click as well as bass & guitar all @ a comfortable level while isolating out all the stage loudness. They are only single drivers, but the price is right & the customer service was awesome. I Hope this helps with your decision.........

[robotskill]

tuttThis guy has posted the same post on every audio blog on the web!
He obviously wants everyone to believe he just happened on to a site and bought a pair of SINGLE driver monitors that sound awesome.

Saying that the monitors go down to 30hz is a joke and a lie...(show us the frequencie chart)
first of all...you cant reproduce 30hz with a "single" balanced armature transducer and even if they did this guy obviously has no idea about frequency curves and how separating drivers and adding a crossover gives the sound clarity and depth.

This guys just trying to push his crappy SINGLE DRIVERS he selling....
stick to playing drums man...
you cant fool people here...single drivers sound horrible for musicians....all the frequencies might be "present"....but with no low end and no clarity compared to dual,triple and quad drivers.

Buddy riches grandson...thats your lone endorsee! lol

Originally Posted by drmz4life

I play 4-5 nites every week here in Florida. I am using these custom fitted in ear monitors I found that are designed by a drummer for drummers. They are called drmearz. I saw online that drmearz just sponsored Nick Rich (Buddy Rich's grandson). That gave them enough street credit for me to try them. I'm extremely satisfied. I put my whole drum mix + vocals + sequence & click as well as bass & guitar all @ a comfortable level while isolating out all the stage loudness. They are only single drivers, but the price is right & the customer service was awesome. I Hope this helps with your decision.........

[drmz4life]

You're right robotskill, I have posted close to same thing on other posts. I'm not exactly sure how you can be called a "fraud" when you purchase a product that you are totally satisfied with & you want to tell others about your experience. Anyway, its a very easy & inexpensive process to get the mix you want with single driver monitors. Here's my set up. A pair of drm earz drm-1 iem's ($190), a small behringer eurorack mixer for sub mixing ($50 used on ebay), cables and adapters from guitar center & radio shack (approx $40). I get one send from the main console with only snare and toms (I also add in bass or guitar depending on the size of the venue). Next I split my kick and vocals separately at my sub mixer. This allows me to eq the kick, snare/toms and vocals separately. I just add in some lows to the kick at my discretion and pull out some mids. This gives me more than enough low end fat kick drum sound. I also eq my vocals and snare/tom send on separate channels as well. Having my own sub mixer also lets me control the volume on each individual channel as well as the master volume. Oh yeah, I didn't stumble onto the drmearz site either. I did lots of research first and pretty much every iem company sell the same thing. The biggest difference is the price. I won't lie, out of the box single driver iem's don't show there true frequency because there is no crossover, but with a little eq help they give a nice full spectrum. For less than the price of duals or triples I am able to have all the components that are needed to get a killer sound with single drivers and save my hearing at the same time. Remember, this is only my opinion. Everyone perceives things differently so it might not work this way for you, but don't let others tell you single driver iem's can't do the job for us drummers. I don't need to know much about frequency curves. That's the sound man's issue, not mine.

[Gilli C]

I got mine from Ear Monitors Australia, who were showing at a trade show in Sydney, they took the mold there and then. They were a birthday present from my husband. Saved me getting molds done in NZ and then sending them overseas.

Just got single driver ones, as I'm using them for listening to my ipod when traveling and mooching about, rather than on stage. It took a little while to get used to the rigidity of them - my molded earplugs are softer. And I got them in black after seeing how disgusting my work mates flesh coloured ones looked.... gross!

Gilli

[robertshaw]

Originally Posted by frambooz

I'm looking into getting custom molded earbuds. You know, the ones where they squirt your ear full of foam, let it harden, then mold a silicone earbud that fits your ear perfectly. I'm talking earbuds with a little speaker inside (not earplugs).

Two reasons:

1) Save my hearing while I still can during band practice and gigs
2) Listen to click/backingtracks/use it as an in-ear monitor for live gigs

The problem is, I don't know where to start looking. What brands are used? What prices should I expect? What extra equipment do I need (to get the sound from the board to my ear) etc?

Tips welcome!

you can go to an audiologist.
You can buy them on your own but believe it or not there
is not much difference in price buying on your own or through the audiologist. plus they do the molds for you

[drmz4life]

Here's my iem buying experience. I am a drummer so this might not apply to everyone. I purchased a pair of the drm-1 iem's after reading some posts on this and other forums. I'll be honest I don't know squat about frequency curves and how they are reproduced, but I can tell you I eq in more than enough low end bass drum and bass guitar in my mix with the drm earz and they are only single drivers. They never have any problems handling it. Its an extremely simple and inexpensive process. I use a small behringer eurorack mixer to sub mix my send from the main front of the house mixer or monitor desk depending on the venue. I always split my bass drum and vocals on separate channels of their own which enables me to eq each of them separately and separate from the monitor desk send. I have no problem whatsoever dialing the bass drum in nice and tight yet low and fat. Equally I can dial in the vocals or snare/toms (send) as needed. The small mixer also enables me to control both individual volumes and master volume from right next to my drums. Including the drm-1 iem's ($190), the behringer mixer (used on ebay for $50), cables and adapters I purchased at guitar center and radio shack (approx $40) I am still under $300. Depending on what iem company you use (they all seem the same to me except price) you can easily spend more money, but this was in my small budget range. Oh yeah, it took approximately 14 days to get my drmearz after they got my impressions which wasn't very long to wait at all compared to some of the posts I have read on iem companies.

[jchyun501]

Originally Posted by drmz4life

Here's my iem buying experience. I am a drummer so this might not apply to everyone. I purchased a pair of the drm-1 iem's after reading some posts on this and other forums. I'll be honest I don't know squat about frequency curves and how they are reproduced, but I can tell you I eq in more than enough low end bass drum and bass guitar in my mix with the drm earz and they are only single drivers. They never have any problems handling it. Its an extremely simple and inexpensive process. I use a small behringer eurorack mixer to sub mix my send from the main front of the house mixer or monitor desk depending on the venue. I always split my bass drum and vocals on separate channels of their own which enables me to eq each of them separately and separate from the monitor desk send. I have no problem whatsoever dialing the bass drum in nice and tight yet low and fat. Equally I can dial in the vocals or snare/toms (send) as needed. The small mixer also enables me to control both individual volumes and master volume from right next to my drums. Including the drm-1 iem's ($190), the behringer mixer (used on ebay for $50), cables and adapters I purchased at guitar center and radio shack (approx $40) I am still under $300. Depending on what iem company you use (they all seem the same to me except price) you can easily spend more money, but this was in my small budget range. Oh yeah, it took approximately 14 days to get my drmearz after they got my impressions which wasn't very long to wait at all compared to some of the posts I have read on iem companies.

I'm a drummer..and i was looking to get in-ear monitor..and I didn't wanted to be fooled by reputation or brand name because marketing is mostly focused on the cover not the fact...for me...anyway...i used to go with M-Audio I-10 and i switched to I-30 later because i thought that dual-driver will deliver better sound than single-driver..but i was WRONG...
when i was buying I-30 guy @ guitarcenter told me that single-driver might work better for you since you need mid-lows...and he was right...
from I-30 i did get more bass,,, but that bass was not what i was looking for..it was muddy,,boomy,,,i tried all different ways to get the bass that i used to get from I-10. I failed....later... i happen to find this guy drmz4life on line and what he had written on web made sense to me and i decided to go with DRM EARZ...i got it this monday and i tried at church band practice..man....custom fit single driver in ear-monitor was what i needed...trust me...i don't have any personal relation with this guy..i'm just telling you the truth..evenmore i didn't had to spend $300~$600..
i'm not saying that dual or triple driver in ear monitors are not better than single driver but if you do some math and compare the sound and the money that you have to spend will give you an answer...
Remember it's your thinking that gives you a satisfaction("i've got dual or triple driver in ear monitor that's really expensive") not the actual sound that you are hearing...

[Old Goat]

Originally Posted by numrologst

I know too many old guys that can't hear worth a shit today... all due to constant abuse from age 20-40

That would be me...

[TRINITYx]

What !? can you speak up plaese I cant hear u ovr this RINGING!! lol

[YTCrazyTieGuy]

As a guy who got into sound through headphone/IEM audiophilia I thought I'd post some links:

Head-fi portable section. If you look around here you'll find everything.

Joker's Multi-IEM comparisson. He hasn't tried JHA or UE, but Its a good reference starting point.

JH audio. some believe them to be the best.

Headroom. Beware that their rating is based on versatility and target audience, not necessarily only sound. but they have tons of great measurements and reviews.

Headphone impedance article. This is a very important topic that many people in pro audio don't pay attention to. often times the output impedance on pro audio headphone amps can get to 32 ohms (just look at the specs of any of them), with many good IEMs rated at 32 ohms or less as well.

P.S. earbuds are like those you get with ipods, while earphones are IEMs.
P.S.S bose headphones suck: QC15 Frequency Response and distortion
P.S.S.S Headphone Info.com's measurments aren't that great so don't rely on them.