Mixing your In-Ear Monitors

Alternative title: a non-technical compilation of thoughts on setting up your in-ear monitor mix.
There's lots of technically-specific (and often, unit-specific) advice on IEM mixing and systems around on the internet, but sometimes it can be a little intimidating if you aren't even sure what you're trying to figure out. Here's some general, non-system specific information and advice on in-ear monitors regarding what you might want to look out for in your mix and why. I believe that it's really important to first know what you don't know - then you can figure it out!
p.s. There's TONS of resources on IEM mix units online. If you have to use one of these in any of the venues you play at, take down the model name and get to searching for guide videos!
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Follow me on Instagram - / stalj
Tip jar - ko-fi.com/stalj
1:15 Why is it important
4:49 What are monitors?
9:21 Stereo vs mono
13:49 General IEM mix advice
19:36 Tips on panning
23:01 Final thoughts

[@renkang_sg]

Very great tip on the stereo versus mono IEM mix details. And often time people tend to misjudge the IEM as being too dry because it was dead centre. A little bit of wetness due to space (hence stereo) sometimes can enhance the hearing experience - but I would never thought of it as being 'more natural'. Good sharing! Also - love that Body Count is featured here!

[@stalj]

Thank you for the affirmation and extra info there Prof Yeo! Means a lot to get a nod of approval from an actual qualified sound engineer, since I'm just talking generally based on my experiences 😅 (and of course. After it was so well-mixed)

[@Swagman1957]

Never too old to learn

[@guitarwoman]

Awesome sharing Christal! Thanks for doing this ❤

[@stalj]

❤️❤️❤️

[@zackyjacky2078]

Very nice video! Great information! It’s also great to see you on KZbin! Happy Friday

[@stalj]

Thanks Zacky! Have a great weekend!

[@julieberrymusic]

This is great! I’m learning so much! Thank you! The panning tip is very helpful.

[@stalj]

I'm glad to hear that!! Enjoy the added clarity 😁

[@joannezita629]

Wew!. This is awesome Christal 👍☺️ i watched it twice already and very empressive of how you elaborate both differences. Thank you so musch for these very helpful and useful info. Keep it up!. God bless yah!😇💕

[@stalj]

Thanks Joan!! Appreciate you 😊

[@joannezita629]

@@stalj ☺️💕

[@Pure_KodiakWILD_Power]

Good info. And again, I'm glad you're on camera talking more 😊

[@stalj]

Thank you! When the inspiration strikes and time/energy allows, it'll happen 😁

[@SimplyTresha]

This was helpful, thank you!

[@d.a.t.4699]

Thank you for sharing your experience..you rock!

[@apPLAUd113]

very helpful video and interesting information about how our ears process sounds too!

[@stalj]

Happy to hear it! 🙌🏼

[@sethireland9158]

love your work!

[@Shivjag1]

Learnt so much on this video! thankyou

[@stalj]

Happy to hear that!

[@ringbangsoldier]

Thanks, great tips

[@chuatinghai]

Thanks for sharing!!! Going to share it with my church

[@stalj]

And thank you for sharing with them! Hope it'll be useful 🙌🏼

[@chuatinghai]

@@stalj for sure. 😉

[@EdwinBoon]

Thanks teacher!

[@stalj]

🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@stampcat2]

Appreciate the tips on IEM. Do you have a brand of IE that works better for drummers? Does the number of drivers matter?

[@stalj]

The best brand is often the one that fits your ear comfortably so I highly recommend going to a local shop and trying a few! The best sound in the world isn't going to do much if you don't have a good fit. Drivers wise, at least two, maybe three if you have the budget. Anything more than that majority of people can't tell the difference (again, gotta go try it out to tell for yourself) and even so when you're playing drums I find that we get so much bleed from the instrument itself that the additional audio quality isn't really worth as much after that point!

[@stampcat2]

Agree on the fit because I struggled to get ones that weren't too large and uncomfortable in my ears. I am also struggling to get a good mix so maybe upgrading to 2 drivers would help. @@stalj

[@stalj]

@@stampcat2 you can try Westone, my ear canals are tiny so those are the few that fit me! Definitely worth to try more drivers if your budget allows too 😊

[@tru3nz]

Question, This is for In-Ear monitoring system. If this specific monitor is a mono monitor(Xtuga RW2080) despite it not advertising it was only Mono, but does have a left and right AF. If I use both left and right using a splitter and proceeding to at least seem like it's stereo. When panning hard left or right, will it still project as mono or will it actually pan to either my left or right?

[@stalj]

I'm not 100% sure what you mean exactly so don't take my word for this, but the xtuga rw2080 appears to be a mono transmitter so no matter what you do it will sum the output into a mono signal and you will hear the same signal on both left and right!

[@tru3nz]

@@stalj ok thought so, thanks for the reply.

[@Swagman1957]

Appreciate all your info on ear monitors for drums. I am a percussionists who is born deaf in one ear, any further suggestions for someone like me please.

[@stalj]

Most welcome! Unfortunately I don't have any advice for that besides that due to being deaf in one ear, you wouldn't have to bother with any stereo or panning settings. For clearing up the mix you'd probably need to prioritize what instruments are most vital to pay attention to in your performance situation, and lower the levels of the less important ones.

[@DeanReynoldsMusic]

Hi Christal! So, I am an MD and Bass Player at a church in North Atlanta. I just purchased an iRig-2 a week ago in order to record my in-ear mix for play back I tested it yesterday (Sunday) for the first time but my Bass level was n to enough. I adjusted my levels pretty good but I needed to hear more of me.. Any thoughts from you or anyone?

[@stalj]

Hey Dean! Could you hear enough of yourself live while playing or is the issue just not enough bass in your recorded mix?

[@DeanReynoldsMusic]

@@stalj Such a great question! basically you are saying if I can hear properly live, then it should be better in my irig? Actually my in-ear monitors suck haha My custom in-ear monitors are out for repair. So no, I did not hear myself well yesterday!

[@stalj]

@@DeanReynoldsMusic well yes and no! I'm assuming that you are recording and listening to the same source that's coming from your monitor mix, so in that case whatever you hear live should technically be the same mix that you recorded. But that sound will be colored by your in-ears live, and your speakers at home when you're listening to the recording. So it could be the case that you didn't have good sound in your ears, and so didn't have the bass loud enough live, thus it wasn't clear in the recording either. Unless of course I'm getting this all wrong and you're recording from a different sound source altogether? Either way, you could take the currently recorded file and bring that into a DAW to boost some bass frequencies to see if that helps with a little more clarity!

[@DeanReynoldsMusic]

@@stalj Sweet.. My Irig2 is connected to my in-ear wireless.. which means whatever I send to my In-ear, should be almost the same from my Irig2..even though it has it's own gain..

[@raymondlew7]

Thank you . one question , where do you pan your metronome click?

[@stalj]

Good question! Personally I keep it in the center because I prefer my left and right sounds to be reasonably balanced, and I don't like the click to be sticking out too much - I rather use it for reference and do my best to stay in pocket with the band (when I hear it too loud, I know I'm off!). But I know people who pan it to a side too (often opposite the MD comms mic - I tend to have that near center too) and that works for them, so this one's really up to you!

[@stalj]

@@TheGunwaleBoy another more common term for the metronome!

[@kevinleepredom8386]

Hi thanks how can u just talk about this for ever ,, im.listening lik

[@marcelinocolonalsup679]

Hi thanks I'm not sure what your question was exactly, but I feel it, brother.