General Music Chat

I have used some and dont like the isolation.

My band has a full complement of monitors so we dont even think about it these days.

BUT, If I were starting from scratch I would look hard at getting the whole band on board and everyone get their own. Being able to hear every nuance of vocals and instruments would be cool live. My band practices thru headphones and it really makes you much tighter. Plus not having to haul all the extra gear around! A monitor system is basically a whole other pa system.

Good point JW.

From the audience stand point though ... a stage full of equipment LOOKS cool.

Sure, we tend to focus more on sound, but it's funny how people get kind of giddy when your hauling in all that gear. LOL

As long as Apple keeps adding apps and idiots keep streaming videos and movies to watch on 2" and 3" screens less and less bandwidth is going to be available for other uses. Even FM radio is in the works to go cellular on newer units as soon as they get a way to squeeze copyright cash from cell users. You only have X amount of space for frequencies. Movies and vids eat up bandwidth like a fatty gobbles sweets.

Most likely wireless will all turn to crap anyway when all the frequencies are used up as more and more people go wireless. Then dropout due to frequency overload will be commonplace. What a great crisis! Then heavy users will be charges by bandwidth usage. No more $$$ a month for unlimited usage packages.

Cell is the new CB radio for a lot of people. It is addictive to a lot of them. Text is the new 10 code. Anyone who was in radio at one time was captivated by being able to talk to friends while driving down the road. That was just as addictive in its day.

But not to worry. Someone will make some apps so musicians can use their cells for in ear monitors and wireless guitar. But you will probably only get to use them in between movie and video streams. Or after the kiddies go to bed and mom and dad take away the toys for the night.

JW, the new band I am playing in practices with headphones also. I know you guys already have wedges but ya'll are PERFECT for I.E.M.'s because you are already used to them. There is know DIF. whatsoever between headphones and I.E.M.'s they are the EXACT SAME animal.

One other thing about I.E.M.'s is the further you push your earbuds into your ear canal the better they sound. It is like bypassing your eardrum and plugging your bands sound into your brain

NOW YOU'VE DONE IT !!

Some dipweed will have his 1/4" shoved all the way to his cerebellum.

I guess you guys don't watch much alien invasion stuff. I LOVE IT! on the History channel they talk about Dr. Drake and the Drake equation. Anyway on that episode they talk about S.E.T.I. (the search for exta terrestial intelligence) and they show the bandwidths that their computer searches. My point is HAVE YA'LL SEEN HOW MANY BANDWITHS THERE ARE? Me thinks, more than you think!

My sides are splitting George!

Haley, we kind of are on hold with my group. Our singer has hernia and cant quit work to have it fixed, singing hurts him for a few days after a gig. So at this point Im not investing in any new equipment.

BUT, If I was starting from scratch and had a drummer with electric drums, just think how versatile you could be. If you got in one of those too loud situations, just turn the while mix down for the audience while the band keeps thier sound balanced. Carry a couple of big main speakers and amps! no wedges or wires to trip over

As I said if I was starting from scratch today this is the way I would go.

Jw, Live sound reinforcement technology is growing in Leaps and bounds. It is entirely possible for everyband to have the exact same technology available on a smaller level that the Arena's now have for the same dollar investment that you and I have spent building our p.a.'s ($20,000) the technology is SOOO! much more efficient these day's. If you get a chance see my post from earlier this morning (kind of lengthy) on this same thread about the Allan & Heath Mixrack. My friend has powered speakers that will put out more decibles than mine and your p.a. but the whole darn system runs on 15 amps he is using line arrays. Just think no more blowing or triping breakers even in the smaller venues as you said with electric drums and L.E.D. lighting system you can put on concert arena quality shows on a 20 amp circut. Please understand I am not trying to talk anyone into to buying anything just letting ya'll know whats out there.!

" My point is HAVE YA'LL SEEN HOW MANY BANDWITHS THERE ARE? Me thinks, more than you think! Wink"

Do you know much about the frequency spectrum? I am a ham operator, so I need to know frequency spectrum's. I was also a lab tech for Zenith Radio Corporation.
There are a lot of frequencies. However, unless you want a 6" - 20' or larger antenna on your wireless phone you can't use a lot of them. And the higher you go, the shorter the range and the more drop out you get. The lower, the more noise interference. To top it off, technology isn't there yet.

Ever hear of Nyquist frequency? To transmit at a particular frequency the frequency needs to be twice the bandwidth of the information being transmitted. For those reasons there is a preferred spectrum for wireless. So for a 4 gig connection, the bandwidth needs to be 8 gigahertz. All digital devices are limited by that. And you can only go so high at this point in time. In the future maybe it will be broader. However, with millions of cell and wireless devices entering the marked daily, will there be any room at all by then?

Lower freq mean longer transmission times and less bandwidth. Higher = more bandwidth and more dropouts. That is why some particular frequencies are targeted for takeover. A large frequency spectrum on its own doesn't mean crap. The ability to use it for specific purposes does.

Remember the first wireless phones? They looked like a military walkie talkie with a 1' or longer whip antenna. I guess some would be willing to go back to that.

I've got a headache.

"And the higher you go the shorter the range and the more drop out you get."

I certainly don't know as much about frequency's as you Slacker and I am not being sarcastic here. Hell I don't even know how to do this quote thingy like you guy's do so I had to just memorize and type it LMAO!
My point is the wireless devices we use in the music industry use that Higher frequency thingy I quoted you on above. At best we need 1000 ft. and after reading your response to my earlier post I am guessing the drop out thingy is responsible for the popping and crackleing effect I described earlier. So unless the folks blocking these frequency's (FCC) I hope our little 1000 ft and under my be safe for a little while at least.

To do IEMs for the entire band, you need a monitor mixer with enough distinct mixes to satisfy every player in the band, and everything needs to be mic'ed or go direct into that mixer.

So if your guitarist is insistent that he needs two 4x12 cabinets to get 'his tone' then you're fighting a losing battle.

Also, doing it right isn't a simple or cheap proposal; it's not just slapping some earphones in and turning a few volume knobs; EQ, limiting, and lots of trial and error (unless you have a dedicated monitor engineer)

UH... J ... top right hand corner of the post =>

Here is a link that will clear up ALL QUESTIONS concerning this frequency stuff and to help clear Sans headache




http://www.shure.com/americas/support/t ... /index.htm