The bassist/keyboard guy in this particular band writes phone apps on the side. I gave him the idea and he thought it was cool, and ran with it. It is NOT bluetooth, it runs off wi-fi provided by the band. He plans on marketing it, but it has a little latency, which is fine audience wise, but needs to be slightly reduced to be able to use it for performance. I told him I personally would rather stay with wired ears, mostly for dependability. He is still working on it.
Corky…I wrote to these guys about what they have going and received a response that it currently runs only on iOS. It needs only a MacBook to run. Dave knows my system inside and out and if it won’t interfere with what I have going on, I’ll give it a go. It’s a Beta version, so it seems they are giving it away to build feedback and promote their product. If it’s over secure WiFi, that would be OK by me. This is how it works
Thank you for taking an interest in Audio Fusion. You can run Audiofusion with the XR-18 or with any digital mixer or audio interface.
Our system is 100% software based and runs only on Apple products (Windows and Android will come later).
• SoundCaster is the name of the main software program. It runs on a MacBook and receives the raw audio from any digital source just like a DAW. Minimum system requirement is MacOS 10.12 or newer. For best sound quality, connect the MacBook running SoundCaster directly to your Wi-Fi Router with an ethernet cable.
• Wi-Fi router: We recommend you use a dedicated Wi-Fi router for Audio Fusion. Use a high speed router with at least 1500 Mbps on the 5GHz band and using the latest 802.11 AC (Linksys AC2600 is a good value)
• Performer is the app each musician uses on their iPhone to receive the audio over Wi-Fi. We support iPhone 6 or newer.
• Director is the app for your iPad which allows you to label all the instrument signals, remote control of the overall audio levels and help each musician adjust their mix.
As a former lead vocalist, I do miss interacting on a very personal basis with the audience. I’d even consider an Alesis Vortex and come out from behind my keys a lot more. I’ll see how it all shakes out, but if I can go reliably cordless, I’m there. I always have my current setup to fall back on with my wired buds.
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COOL! Give it a shot and let me know how it works for you.
Hi, Corky.
Monitoring was in mono anyway, so that wasn’t an issue. Do you have links to any of these articles? Can’t say I ever noticed a problem, but I have often wondered why you usually see people with both buds in.
I’ll see if I can dig them up and post them here. It’s been 2 years.
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Here is one
I met doctor of Audiology Michael Santucci at his Sensaphonics booth at NAMM recently. I asked him point blank about this and he said in no uncertain terms that it creates a serious risk to hearing to use just one in-ear. He explained why, but rather than try and call that up for you verbatim, here is Santucci and Mike Dias of IEM manufacturer Ultimate Ears, explaining it in Mix Magazine:
full story:
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And another:
To overcome some of the limitations of IEMs, such as isolation from the audience, some performers will wear just one IEM. This is not a recommended solution, and it is important that performers wear an IEM in each ear, for many reasons. Our body’s natural hearing protection mechanism, the tympanic reflex, works with both ears together. Its effectiveness is diminished when one ear is protected, because it leaves the open ear more vulnerable to loud sounds. There is also a stereophonic boost (approximately 6 dB) in perceived volume when two earphones are used together. You can try this yourself with a set of earphones and an MP3 player. Start by listening to just one earphone then putting in the second without turning up the volume. The perceived volume of the first earphone will seem to increase when the second earphone is added. Therefore the converse of this, using one IEM, means the volume must be 6 dB louder to get the same perceived volume, thus exposing the IEM ear to unnecessarily excessive volume. It also halves the listening time before the onset of hearing damage.
Full Story:
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Look at you Corky. You’re like a reference library. What he says makes a lot of sense, not to mention, it just sounds better with both in
Never wanted to be a librarian, but…
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Thanks, Corky. I’ll take a look over the next few nights
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To think I have never put my Grade 1 CSE in Library Studies to good use…
Long story cut short. I did O Level English a year early in 1980 to allow us to focus on the more difficult remaining 7 O Levels I also took in the summer of 81. But in final year we had a change of English teacher who decided we had to fill that spare time with the stunningly useless (unless you are planning to be a Librarian) Library Studies. I did zero work for it and still got a Grade 1 (so equivalent of O Level C pass)! 
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So in reality…YOU ARE a librarian. (somewhat) 
All I need to do is remember those lessons about the Dewey Decimal Classification System, and I’ll be good 
And why did I feel the urge to call my Java software for my synths, librarians. Something subliminal going on there…
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Why don’t you guys try the headphones output as in ears? Works just perfect for me and i can create a perfect balance between my keys and the stage mix.
Great thread. There’s another really cheap, easy solution, too. In addition to the methods mentioned already, like a dig. board with several aux sends, or boards like the Mackie and QSC that have phone apps, there’s a pretty neat, cheap solution: Rolls PM 351. Costs about $80, about 5" x 3". It’s pretty clean, I haven’t noticed any signal degradation at all. Fits on your mic stand, has three inputs… 2 stereo and one mic. (No EQ though). So you plug your inputs into the Rolls, and it passes all 3 of those signals on to the snake and the board, and “reamplifies” them too (it’s active and uses a wall wart, I think it’s 9-18v). You can either use IEMs (2 headphone jacks, which is nice) or send it to a wedge.
I’ve been using one for about 3 or 4 years, in bands with both wedges and IEMS. Typically you take the board monitor mix and it goes into channel 1 (stereo). If each player has their own aux mix it works great, or you can have a “base mix” that is relatively evenly balanced. Your Mic is channel 2. Your instrument is channel 3.
So even with a “base mix” on a board with only one aux /monitor send, each player can control the volume of their mic or instrument. In one band that uses wedges the stage volume was all over the place… so I just turn a knob and I can hear myself again. If you’re a keyboard player, as many on here seem to be, you can use a better small mixer in place fo the Rolls, as some have mentioned.
Another thing is pitch. Some people go off key on IEMs. You have to try several things to correct that. ususally it’s that the singer doesn’t know what a good IEM mix really is, their mic is either too hot or too low. Sometimes if you roll off the bass it reduces pitch being flat. Having the right mix is crucial… in one band the normally on-key singer was suddenly flat on everything… and i mean everything. I finally put my own IEM into his aux feed, and I was shocked at how bad the mix was (he set it up with sound guy during sound check)… everything was full on, bassy, his mic was getting lost… he had basically directed the sound guy to mix like he was mixing for FOH or a final mix, not for singing. Everyone’s different but I have my mic about 6 db or more hotter than the rest of the band, the drums are maybe 3 db lower than a normal mix, and my instrument is maybe 3-4 db hotter than the band. Sometimes bringing the bass down about 3 db helps if pitch is an issue. Stereo is great, and I strongly prefer it if there are enough aux sends, but I’ve used mono too… not a big deal… as long as my mix is good I can sing on key either way.
Personally, I will never go back to a wedge… I can finally hear everything, balanced in the way I want it.
We also use a Presonus 16.0.2 board which saves up to 100 presets, so we use one preset for each song… I think all dig boards do that now. So my mix is a little different for different songs, and on the hardest songs to sing I probably have my mic a bit hotter than normal.
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Most of my band use custom-moulded Ultimate Ears UE7s. I wouldn’t go back to wedges, but do find the sound can be a little bit too neat and clinical, so I’ll often loosen one of them slightly to get a bit of FOH and ambient sound, which I find helps meld everything together better. I’m situated next to the drummer, so the IEM on his side stays firmly in… I don’t do any singing, so that’s not an issue for me.
I’m aware that technically (in terms of stereo etc.) that is something of a hack, but it works for me. UE - probably other brands too? - offer vented models that allow in a small amount of external sound, but I think they are either open or closed, not continuously adjustable.
The comments above about the dangers of using a single IEM are interesting/salutory, though.
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BBT are annoyingly good lol
I have found with IEM my voice is so loud in my head I don’t even need my own mic in my mix.
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Hey, Danny
I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m a huge BBT fan. Folklore is my favourite.
Keep up the good work.
Ha - maybe just as well I was relieved (in both senses) of potential live backing vocal duties by our sound engineer: “Your BVs are really not contributing much and you’re causing me a big technical headache…”. Blunt, but accurate.
(@Neil_Durant knows who I’m talking about)
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