Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Using In-ear monitors, what does it really sound like?

OK, so I've been using the Shure in-ear SE215 for playing my MOX with my church band. Another band member owns and Avoim unit that they are letting me borrow, and that's been working great.

So out of convenience, I've been using the in-ears at home with my MP11 as well. All is fine, but I recently got a great deal on some Sennheiser 598s. So I did a comparison on the MP11 with a classical piano arrangement that I'll be playing in a couple of weeks. With the Shures I had made huge adjustments to the sound on the MP11 because it really was sounding way too bright. So I plug in the Sennheisers and it's really dark and almost muffled. So I go back to the previous settings I had pre-Shure and voila, perfect!

So here's my dilemma: I want to use my MP11 because of the feel and I can practice on it, otherwise I'll be playing on a CP4 which will be unfamiliar and who knows what that will sound like to me. But I'll need to use my in-ears, which is almost intolerable to play without tweaking the MP11 sound. But then if I do that, the sound that will go to the mixing board will also be like that, and may be too dark as well.

The Avoim has minimal adjustments that I can do (Treble and Bass dials).

Any ideas on how I can make it sound good to me and to everyone else? I know the person doing the mixing is in charge of how it sounds to everyone, but, let's just say I'm not sure I trust their ears for a good classical piano sound. I certainly don't want to send out a signal that's been so highly modified to suit my tastes that it doesn't work or they need to tweak it a lot on their end.

As I understand it, you're happy (or at least, whoever is responsible for the PA system is happy) with the default piano sound, but it doesn't quite sound right in your IEM's.

If it's strictly an analog mixer (no computer), your best bet is to find a parametric equalizer, run the piano signal directly to the mixer, and then get the output from the mixer straight into said EQ, which will feed your IEM's.

However, if you're happy with just those simple treble/Bass controls, they should be able to restore the sound the way they want it at their mixer.

I've never used the MP11 at my church, so I have no idea how it will sound there.

It's a new mixer, so it's not analog. In fact, the worship leader can change things from the stage on his iPad, but we really do not have a lot of time to play around with this. So I'm trying to make this as simple as possible.

Can you set the MP-11 up so there are two preset, stored EQ curves:

. . . One sounds good on the SE215's;

. . . One sounds good on the HD598's.

One or the other should be fine for feeding the PA. It won't take long to figure it out.

I was kicking myself for not buying a pair of on-sale HD598's. Maybe ignorance is bliss, in this case!

I'd get better in-ear monitors. It sounds like the ones you are using are not full-range. I'm sure there are models out there that have a frequency response closer to your Sennheisers. You can go off frequency curves (graphs), or maybe you can find a place that allows you to try them with disposable rubbers or something. Not sure about that part of it.

Good idea, and maybe I can get the worship leader to work with me ahead of rehearsal time to test which one sounds better.

Perhaps Possum will sell you his 598s?

Maybe someday when I'm famous and making money at this. Paying $100 for the ones I have is sufficient though. Thing is, they work fine when I'm playing with the band, it's just this solo classical piano where it's overly bright.

Like anything, I'm sure I could get used to it. But this is another advantage to acoustic piano that I hadn't thought of before: that when performing, the sound you are making is accurate (but then, you have to get used to the piano you're performing on).

Make sure you have a good seal between the SE215's and your ear.

If there's leakage, the earbuds lose bass response. You compensate with EQ. Switch to HD598, the piano sounds muddy.

Ya, I definitely had a good seal...learned about that one after the first time I tried them! And also make sure they're completely plugged in..I think I played through a whole service thinking I lost stereo lol!

I have JHAudio JH5s and JH13s which are both custom made in ear monitors fitted to my ears.

They are both too loud to use on my digital. Even at the lowest volume, it's too loud. Also for some reasons it sounds slightly staticky when it's plugged in.

I suspect your SE215s are just a bright pair of IEMs. It's the same with headphones, when my Shure HD598, they are inherently dark and more muffled than certain IEMs like the JH13s. That's probably why your piano sounds a lot more mellow on those.

I don't have a solution for you though. I suppose you could find a pair of headphones that are in the middle of being bright and dark. Of course it also depends on how the speakers sound at the venue you are at.

I've been using Klipsch X10i for a few years now - they're the best earphones I've encountered, better than any headphones I owned (including two pairs of Sennheisers) until the Grado SR325 in terms of tonal accuracy (in the bass as well as mid-range & treble). In fact, they're so good that I bring them with me when I visit DP showrooms (as well as using them with my iPod during the journey on public transport), rather than my headphones.

Their ear-sealing is excellent, they come with 5 different sizes of earpieces (I use different sizes for each ear ), plus adaptors and carrying pouch. The 'i' version allows you to control your iPod remotely via buttons on the cord.

They've now been replaced by the X11, which means that you can get the original X10 for peanuts - an absolute bargain........(as Charlie Brown might say ).