Musician's IEM for singing

[gibsones300]

Hey members,
I've been on the hunt for great IEM's for monitoring my own singing. I've used Westone Pro X30 for quite some time and like the way it highlights my voice. I've been wondering if there is something better out there. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm not interested in customs IEM as I've never had luck with the fit (I prefer foam tips).

fire away!

 

[markanini]

At this point it's worth trying out a number of IEMs, because fit is very personal, and you say you're not interested in customs. Don't skip the budget segment because competition from Chinese manufacturers has driven the acoustic performance to a super high levels in the segment. Truthear Red and 7Hz Zero both been reviewed favorably here on ASR and that's a good start.

 

[gibsones300]

At this point it's worth trying out a number of IEMs, because fit is very personal, and you say you're not interested in customs. Don't skip the budget segment because competition from Chinese manufacturers has driven the acoustic performance to a super high levels in the segment. Truthear Red and 7Hz Zero both been reviewed favorably here on ASR and that's a good start.

Thanks for the thoughts. My wife is an audiologist and she’s made me a few different pairs of customs. I’ve always had trouble singing with them because the custom molds make noise when moving the jaw. The foam tips are always silent.

Your point about the Chinese manufacturers is great. I’ve scoured the net for info about iems specifically for singers and have not gotten very far. The curve for music listening does not seem to work very well for personal vocal monitoring. Westone seems to have gotten close to a good “house sound” for vocals, with an emphasis on the mids and upper mids.

At this point, I’m looking for any tips or info from anyone that has experience with personal vocal monitoring or from anyone who might have a lead on a good iem with that mid/upper mid focused sound.

Cheers!

 

[DVDdoug]

The curve for music listening does not seem to work very well for personal vocal monitoring. Westone seems to have gotten close to a good “house sound” for vocals, with an emphasis on the mids and upper mids.

It's probably more important to get a good mix between your voice and the "background" music, probably with your voice relatively turned-up, but whatever you like best and whatever allows you to perform the best. Depending on your setup you may be able to EQ those separately.

It also common to add some "confidence reverb" in the monitoring mix. even if the recording is "dry", with reverb optionally added later. Or if you're not recording, the venue may have natural reverb that's missing from the normal monitoring.

 

[gibsones300]

It's probably more important to get a good mix between your voice and the "background" music, probably with your voice relatively turned-up, but whatever you like best and whatever allows you to perform the best. Depending on your setup you may be able to EQ those separately.

It also common to add some "confidence reverb" in the monitoring mix. even if the recording is "dry", with reverb optionally added later. Or if you're not recording, the venue may have natural reverb that's missing from the normal monitoring.

Reverb is certainly a must for me. I may try some of the highly rated iems posted here with a heavier dose of eq.

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

Reverb is certainly a must for me. I may try some of the highly rated iems posted here with a heavier dose of eq.

I'm a monitor engineer and I'm familiar with most of the brands and some approaches to mixing for singers.
My favorite brand would be 64 Audio. I like using the 12's the most but anything that they make translates incredibly on stage.
For singers with jaw vibrations, it's really important to EQ out a lot of 250-500Hz in the vocal mic. You hear this through your bone and when there is more coming into your ears, it gets overwhelming and causes pitch problems. I often use dynamic EQ there but just some EQ (take 4-5db out) and you're good. I also recommend boosting some 3KHz on the vocal channel. This helps with your pitch. To other people, it would sound bright, but when you're singing it will help you be able to hear your pitch.
Getting a good seal from the IEM is the most important and that is why customs are necessary. You can use comply wraps to help when your jaw moves.
Last, use other instruments to pitch to by panning them about 50% left or right. Don't turn your voice up too loud in the mix because that will cause you to sing flat.
Cheers!

 

[gibsones300]

I'm a monitor engineer and I'm familiar with most of the brands and some approaches to mixing for singers.
My favorite brand would be 64 Audio. I like using the 12's the most but anything that they make translates incredibly on stage.
For singers with jaw vibrations, it's really important to EQ out a lot of 250-500Hz in the vocal mic. You hear this through your bone and when there is more coming into your ears, it gets overwhelming and causes pitch problems. I often use dynamic EQ there but just some EQ (take 4-5db out) and you're good. I also recommend boosting some 3KHz on the vocal channel. This helps with your pitch. To other people, it would sound bright, but when you're singing it will help you be able to hear your pitch.
Getting a good seal from the IEM is the most important and that is why customs are necessary. You can use comply wraps to help when your jaw moves.
Last, use other instruments to pitch to by panning them about 50% left or right. Don't turn your voice up too loud in the mix because that will cause you to sing flat.
Cheers!

Amazing! Thank you so much!

 

[gibsones300]

I'm a monitor engineer and I'm familiar with most of the brands and some approaches to mixing for singers.
My favorite brand would be 64 Audio. I like using the 12's the most but anything that they make translates incredibly on stage.
For singers with jaw vibrations, it's really important to EQ out a lot of 250-500Hz in the vocal mic. You hear this through your bone and when there is more coming into your ears, it gets overwhelming and causes pitch problems. I often use dynamic EQ there but just some EQ (take 4-5db out) and you're good. I also recommend boosting some 3KHz on the vocal channel. This helps with your pitch. To other people, it would sound bright, but when you're singing it will help you be able to hear your pitch.
Getting a good seal from the IEM is the most important and that is why customs are necessary. You can use comply wraps to help when your jaw moves.
Last, use other instruments to pitch to by panning them about 50% left or right. Don't turn your voice up too loud in the mix because that will cause you to sing flat.
Cheers!

I’ve never considered using the wraps on the custom molds. For me, when I put in a custom, the friction between the mold and skin/hair is very noisy and causes a lot of crackling sounds when moving my jaw. I’ve just conceded to foam tips as the best seal and they’re silent with movements. But the foam wraps is an interesting idea. I suppose I would want to relieve the mold where I would apply the wraps so I don’t create a pressure ulcer.

 

[markanini]

At this point, I’m looking for any tips or info from anyone that has experience with personal vocal monitoring or from anyone who might have a lead on a good iem with that mid/upper mid focused sound.

I personally use Truthear Red with silicone tips when doing backup vocals during practice and performance. I settled on the Reds because of the secure and comfortable fit. I've tried maybe 20+ different IEMs over the years and different tip styles and materials. Even then I bring a backup IEM just in case. I own other IEMs that have better upper-mids but they are used at home only, because they don't have as secure fit as the Reds for me.

That's why I can't say that there's a deterministic way for to chose IEMs for vocal monitoring, just trial and error. Marketing wants to make you think otherwise because it's about pushing a purchase.

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

I’ve never considered using the wraps on the custom molds. For me, when I put in a custom, the friction between the mold and skin/hair is very noisy and causes a lot of crackling sounds when moving my jaw. I’ve just conceded to foam tips as the best seal and they’re silent with movements. But the foam wraps is an interesting idea. I suppose I would want to relieve the mold where I would apply the wraps so I don’t create a pressure ulcer.

The problem with custom molds is that the hard plastic doesn't move with the skin on the inside of your ear so the seal will change to varying degrees. This changes the frequency range and decimal level of what is getting through your their seal. Some of the companies that have softer molds work better but those fall apart faster. The comply wraps can help with the change in seal. The friction between your skin and the in ears can be relived if you use a light amount of lubricant. Actual lube, some kind of oil, etc. But be very careful to barely use any and don't let it get into the canal where the drivers are because then you will ruin the in ears.

 

[otseiTiesto]

@gibsones300
Have you tried to fill the silicone ones with cotton wool (or similar) to get something similar to this:

By the way, from what I've read in the Aliexpress reviews, the foam of the previous ones is a bit hard.

 

[jae]

I would say use whatever IEM you may already have with whatever foam tips are comfortable for you and EQ to Harman above voice fundamental. If you're looking for a new IEM there's ER2SE or Chinese IEMs ranging from $20-200 on amazon, like Truthear Zero, Truthear Nova, Tangzu Wan'er, Salnotes 7hz Zero, Salnotes 7hz Zero 2 etc. Since your wife is an audiologist, if she uses probe tube microphones in her practice then you have a great advantage in that you can take sine sweeps in your ear with your earphone/tips of choice fitted and sealed and get measurements that you can use to directly or at least guide your EQ to Harman based on your anatomy and the earphone output. Then afterwards, you can perhaps follow the various tips shared here or used by engineers to make your monitoring more effective to you contextually or personally if you are having issues. Open headphones (which you can also tune with the same method) is another option that doesn't have some of the problems of IEMs. Or use loudspeakers