Would this be stupid or genius?

PorkPieGuy

PorkPieGuy

Platinum Member
When I play out, I use a wired IEM system. Depending on which kit I'm using, I'm either using a Mackie 1204 or a Yamaha MG10XU. Both of these have four XLR/1/4" inputs. Channel one is for my metronome, and channel two is an XLR-in for my monitor. I get no ambient sound, but I will occasionally slightly pull out an IEM so I can hear the room a little better.

I'd thought about carrying along an extra SM57 or something, but I don't really want to deal with yet another stand for a microphone, running a cable, etc. I was thinking, what if I bought an actual podium microphone and plugged right into the board? I could use the gooseneck to point it to wherever I wanted depending on what I wanted to hear. Anyone ever do this? Is this stupid or genius? Other alternatives?
 
PorkPieGuy said:
When I play out, I use a wired IEM system. Depending on which kit I'm using, I'm either using a Mackie 1204 or a Yamaha MG10XU. Both of these have four XLR/1/4" inputs. Channel one is for my metronome, and channel two is an XLR-in for my monitor. I get no ambient sound, but I will occasionally slightly pull out an IEM so I can hear the room a little better.

I'd thought about carrying along an extra SM57 or something, but I don't really want to deal with yet another stand for a microphone, running a cable, etc. I was thinking, what if I bought an actual podium microphone and plugged right into the board? I could use the gooseneck to point it to wherever I wanted depending on what I wanted to hear. Anyone ever do this? Is this stupid or genius? Other alternatives?
Click to expand...
I've not done it, but I have seen other bands have mics expressly to capture ambient sound. Give it a whirl!
 
Interesting thought. I guess that would depend on how far away the board is, and how the mic sounds. I could see a podium mic being noisy and thin, but I have not tried it.

You could try laying a condenser mic on the board to test it out, or maybe a 57 on the front of your rug facing out.
 
Ambient/room mics feeding iems is nothing new - perfectly do-able, but it is more gear to carry and set up and the positioning would have a big bearing on what you get.
Played a gig once where the sound guy had a condenser mic over the top of the main speaker each side pointed out into the crowd and put a stereo feed into one channel on the desk.
It's not a sound I need or miss in my mix but to each their own.
 
One negative I imagine is your IEM suddenly full of the nights sound engineer's girlfriend explaining her latest fashion decision because she is standing between the mic and the stage.

(sorry PPG, I think i mis read where you were proposing to place the MIC...not at the main board but at your own board at your position on stage)
 
Last edited:
I only use inears with one band and we generally mic everything even if we don't need to. The reason for that is if it's not needed the sound man can turn it down however he can always turn it up if he needs to if it's miced, so we mic everything. Having said all that to say this, I generally use my overheads in my ears to here what's going on, on stage so I don't need a separate mic for that.
 
Definitely worth a try. Just be sure to buy it so that your next gig is within the return window, in case it sounds like crap.
 
I think it’s genius. The only issue would be it would pick up mostly drums if it’s in your personal board, but if that’s what you need, then it’s a great idea. I may try that in the future.
 
We use in-ears and room mics at the front of the stage going into our mixer to provide a little crowd noise through our ears. It works well and individual band members can raise/lower these two channels as they want.
 
I used to have to play with one IEM and one earplug sometimes. I got a pair of Ultimate Ears with the ambient port and that solved my problem.
 
I heard Prince used to skate around the aisles just before shows listening to the mix in different spots in the room, and telling the sound guy what adjustments to make as he moved around the room.
 
LarryJ said:
I used to have to play with one IEM and one earplug sometimes. I got a pair of Ultimate Ears with the ambient port and that solved my problem.
Click to expand...
This interests me a whole lot, as I play with just one in-ear currently... the OP's idea also peaked my interest, for the same reason

Do they have Ultimate Ears in a wired version, I wonder...? I have no need for wireless, sitting at the kit, and then the necessity for charging them
 
The Ultimate Ears are earbuds only. I use mine, wired, with a Fischer In Ear Stick belt pack amp. It takes line level signal from a board or speaker level from an amp, 1/4" or XLR.

The Behringer P2 is a much cheaper copy of the Fischer and works well, but the one I had quit after 30 hours. P2s run around $50, the Fischer $120 from Thomann.
 
How is the dynamic range of anybody's IEM. Does it sound full or thinner?
Never used a real 1.
My setup is thin sounding. It's a Rolls $50 deal I found for $10 with some wired AKG common ear buds. Last night I used some ear muffs over that and it was interesting. In quiet times I could hear people in the bar clearly. I pulled one free at times and completely off when singing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top