IEM + Kemper + stage volume

    So, my band are looking at taking the plunge with a Sennheiser ew 300 IEM, at the moment we're playing mainly small-mid size venues (100-500 capacity) and curious how folk have found running IEM with the Kemper? One thing that's concerning me is stage volume, fair enough if you're playing large venues that have the PA blasting everyone including those at the front but for venues that have smaller PA do you still use powered monitors or cabs?

    In the size venues you're playing i would NOT recommended playing without cabs, half to a quarter of the audience towards to the front will really suffer in their absence.


    IEMS are fantastic for monitoring. If my band wasn't stuck playing small venues i'd be using them every gig.


    Bare in mind they do take longer to get set up. If you're saying you're headlining and filling venues will 500 people, it'll be no problem though.

    Used IEM300 for some year in my band. It works very well. We dont have any amps at all on stage. We use Axe and Kemper for guitars, bass through a MXR compressor end DI, key straight in and drums are Roland TD9 through DI.
    For us it works excellent that way, no sound leak from stage only the PA sound. Makes it easy for soud engineer to make a good sound. We have own PA with digital mixer so its just minor tweaks to get the monitor right every time. We run 2 AUX pr person to the IEM transmitters. I can have a lower volum with IEM than with wedges, saves my ears from to much sound. Sound Engineer alsp have a spare reciever so he can listen to every person IEM settings.
    Only drawback on IEM is that you feel more on your own on stage since you dont hear audience well. I normally only use monitor at one ear and listen to PA and audience on the other. Large venues I have to use both ear with monitoring.

    I love IEM's been using them for a year now. We are a 3 piece band me and the bass player both use kempers and have no back line at all. For the first time in 17 years I can actually hear everything clearly!!!! I couldn't do a gig without IEM's now it takes you to another level sound wise. It took my band about a months to get good mixes and to get used to playing with them in, but after this we were cooking with gas. I say go for them you will love em !!!! :)

    We use Alto TS115A's in the rehearsal room at the moment and usually take them on stage for our own monitoring but with IEM was curious if we would still require them. The less gear we have to carry the better!

    Quote from Alex6534

    We use Alto TS115A's in the rehearsal room at the moment and usually take them on stage for our own monitoring but with IEM was curious if we would still require them. The less gear we have to carry the better!


    If you go all inears then you don't require monitors any longer.
    The most important thing IMO is that the whole band should do inears not only some of them.

    Yeah we'd all be going for IEM, the others were recommending ones like the shure psm200...but I don't see the point in going budget with IEM as it can have the opposite effect if there is static or latency.

    Quote from Alex6534

    Yeah we'd all be going for IEM, the others were recommending ones like the shure psm200...but I don't see the point in going budget with IEM as it can have the opposite effect if there is static or latency.


    I looked into the PSM200 but the reviews are not great I was worried I wouldn't have done my IEM's justice. So I went the IEM300 by sennheiser (gen 2) and I'm really happy :)

    You want it? Try it. I can recommend.


    Our Drummer and Me using Inear. I use Kemper without cab, the other guitarist plays half stack, bassist powered kemper with cab.
    My hope is that the other guitarist also takes kemper, he and bassist leave cab at home and both take inear.
    But it also works good the way it is.


    Gigs with ~50-800 people.
    I use AKG IVM4 with Shure SE 535.


    Inear and kemper are two of the best decisions i took since im a musician.


    If you don't share the InEar transmitter with another Member i recommend you the following setup:
    -XLR Main Out to FOH
    -Monitor out to one of the two InEar inputs.
    -Monitorsignal from FOH with everything you want to hear (without yourself) into the other InEar Input.
    -Set Kemper Main Out Level at good value (i got it on -12dB) and UNlink it from the Master Volume knob of your Kemper.


    Reason:
    No matter what Guy at FOH does during the Gig, i can always change Volume of my own Guitar in Inear by turning Master Volume knob without changing the Volume of the Signal that goes to FOH. -> No Matter what happens, i can always hear myself as much as I want.


    I had Shure PSM 200 some years ago but was not satisfied. But im not sure if the Headphones were the problem. Today important for me is 80% how good they fit into my ears and how good they isolate from exterior noise and only 20% how many driver they got and how perfect they sound. Shure SE 315 and SE 425 are also good choice and cheaper to get.

    I use them as well--I don't think I will ever go back. Not only can you hear yourself and everyone else clearly at nearly all times, it also potentially saves you from hearing damage (provided you don't crank them). I no longer have ringing in my ears after gigs. Also for longer gigs, you can actually get physically fatigued by loud volumes so it allows you to perform longer. Just less wear and tear all around on your ears and body.


    I run my KPA in stereo so I expand on what BobbyKa said. I use a small Yamaha mixer mounted in my rack where I can mix my guitar level (stereo) and FOH level (mono--which doesn't have any guitar) on the fly. We are also lucky in that we run a Presonus StudioLive mixer and I have full control over all band members in my monitor mix via an iPad mounted to my mic stand. It's the ultimate in onstage monitoring. I feel very spoiled!


    But even in unfamiliar situations with lousy sound guys I have them give me a mix of everything but guitar and I can always hear myself perfectly.


    I just got tired of hearing nothing but REALLY LOUD lead vocals (tooth-rattling levels) all night everywhere we played and since I moved to this IEM and mixer setup I never have an issue except when our drummer refuses to mic himself at smaller venues (which I always argue against) so those nights I can't hear him at all.


    J

    What we're thinking of doing is getting a Line 6 StageScape M20D and IEM so we have complete control over our monitoring. We're looking at the Sennheiser EW300 and the Carvin EM900. How many receivers would we need for a 5-piece band?

    "reciever" ist the part u put at ur belt where u put in the Headphone.
    So u need 5 Recievers, unless u want to share ur headphone with another member :)


    the question is how many "transmitter" u need.
    Only answer: U need 1 to 5 transmitter, depanding on what u want.
    If u want to have a stereomix or want to mix 2 signals without an external mixer (like i explained it in my first post) u need one transmitter (=two inputs) per person. If u get the complete mix from FOH or external monitor mixer and only need mono mix u can use one transmitter to feed 2 persons with individual mono mix. If more than one Person can use EXACT the SAME mix u can take recievers with same frequency. In theory u could use 1 transmitter to send 2 individual mono mixes where the 5 people can choose wich one to get.


    I wouldn't recommend sharing the same mix with another member.
    As u want to use the line 6 to make ur own monitormix u need at least 3 transmitter (4 people get mono, one could get stereo mix).


    Remember that u don't need wireless inear for people that don't move one stage (Drummer, Keyboarder...)

    I use a Shure P6HW into a set of single driver Shure ears and it works great for me. Never need to touch the volume as I use the KPA's monitor volume if I need to change the guitar level.


    I find theres usually enough spill of the vocal mic's to give the audience / room feel

    Best thing is to have one transmitter for each person. Then you can have individual mix for each person in stereo.
    If two people sharing one transmitter they can either listen to the same ine stereo or run the system in Focus Mode. Then each have one channel for personal mix, in focus mode the mono signal is processed to both L and R.
    If you run in Focus mono(a kind of double mono) the sound your hear appears to be heard in the middle of your head, and seems to lack some definition. I dont recomend this as it feels very unatural.
    It works in a way if you only use a plug in just one of your ears, the one in line to the other members(if your on the right og the stage have the plug in your left ear). That way way the sound will came for the direction you see them. The other ear will hear the room, audience and PA system.
    If your 5 people you then need 10 available AUX's from the mixing console.


    Though theese systems cost money, so even if stereo is the best you may not afford that at first.

    Quote from Alex6534

    What we're thinking of doing is getting a Line 6 StageScape M20D and IEM so we have complete control over our monitoring. We're looking at the Sennheiser EW300 and the Carvin EM900. How many receivers would we need for a 5-piece band?


    We are using inear for about six month. At the moment no live experience but although for rehearsel it's really great. I had never such a clear sound and everybody can adjust his own volume. For me inear is a great advantage.
    All instruments (Kemper, 11R, V-Amp and Roland TD30K) going through splitter into the StageScape M20D. One monitor signal from the StageScape into one Shure PSM200 to 5 receiver. We are using one PSM200 for a combined mix of the whole band. I know all other would say it doesn't work and normally most of them use one transmitter per guy, but we are very suprised about the clarity and we want to control the overall sound. For us it works perfectly.
    The splitter will be needed to be able to change/adjust the inear sound without changing the levels for FOH. For a better feeling on stage we want to use two ambience mics to here the response of the crowd.
    The StageScape is a great peace of gear. I control it during rehearsel with my ipad and you can record the individual tracks to implement it into your DAW later. Also the Line6 StageSource Speaker (L3m and L3s) are very good and quite linear.
    I think you can't do anything wrong with inear. :thumbup:

    X32 Rack, Furman HDS6 and HR6 wired IEM system with Shure SE215 buds all around (4 piece)


    vDrums, Kemper, and bass all DI. Lead guitar is a 2x12 Blackstar facing the rear (and miced with an e609) with a plexiglass shield over the open back to keep the stage noise out of the audience.


    Love the IEM's and would never go back to lugging amps and wedges around again.


    The comment about the center being quiet is accurate though. We have only really experienced this on really wide stages in bars that aren't very deep.


    In those instances we setup a center speaker to fill in the gap in the sound coverage. The X32 has a seperate center output specifically for this purpose so you can adjust the center fill volume to taste.