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<blockquote data-quote="brian maddox" data-source="post: 91871" data-attributes="member: 158">Re: What do you guys think of this live IEM RIGTo understand the point requires that you step back and think about what happens when you put IEMs in both ears.&nbsp; We humans hear in stereo ALL the TIME.&nbsp; It&#039;s what we&#039;re used to.&nbsp; As a result, we naturally are able to separate and differentiate different sounds that are at the same volume based on this LOCATION alone.&nbsp; The brain science behind this actually pretty miraculous stuff, but i won&#039;t get into all that right now.&nbsp; Suffice it to say that we all do it, and we don&#039;t think about it.&nbsp; It just happens.As soon as you put IEMs in your ears, your stereoscopic hearing goes away [which is why you instinctively feel closed off from the world] and you&#039;re left with what signals you are presented with.&nbsp; if the signals in both ears are identical [MONO] you will often have a significant amount of trouble differentiating different sounds from one another, particularly if they are the same volume and occupy similar frequency ranges.&nbsp; So Guitars will tend to walk on vocal.&nbsp; or Keys will walk on Guitars.&nbsp; That sort of thing.Now, if we use a STEREO IEM mix, we have the ability to change what each ear hears, and in different proportions.&nbsp; This allows us to &#039;place&#039; different instruments in different places in our head.&nbsp; I&#039;ve done experiments on this and it&#039;s AMAZING how well our brain can place things in different places.&nbsp; If you pan a signal from left to right in a pair of stereo IEMs, there are at least 10-12 DISTINCT locations that you can differentiate, which means there are 10-12 different places you can pan things to in your head and hear them all clearly.&nbsp; So you could have 10 different guitar players playing, set them all to the same level, and still be able to pick out each one&#039;s part very clearly by focusing on that &#039;area&#039; in your head.&nbsp; Totally amazing stuff.&nbsp; With a MONO mix, 2 guitars becomes difficult and 3 is just mud.&nbsp; This makes it very hard to play as a group as each person just ends up turning up their signal louder than the others so they can hear themselves.Okay, so that&#039;s why stereo is cool and why many people [including me] say it&#039;s essential.&nbsp; However, if you&#039;re playing in a 3 piece band with one or two vocalists, and you&#039;re on a budget, it might not be as big a deal.&nbsp; There just aren&#039;t as many things in the same frequency range walking on one another.&nbsp; The group i play with has 3 guitars, drums, bass, keys and usually 4-5 vocalists.&nbsp; For me Stereo is absolutely essential.Your situation is kind of a bummer though.&nbsp; You&#039;ve spent good money on your IEM rig, but you&#039;re still feeding it a MONO source.&nbsp; It&#039;s like buying a 4 cylinder Mustang.&nbsp; It&#039;ll still go down the road, but oh the lost potential...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="brian maddox, post: 91871, member: 158"] Re: What do you guys think of this live IEM RIG To understand the point requires that you step back and think about what happens when you put IEMs in both ears. We humans hear in stereo ALL the TIME. It's what we're used to. As a result, we naturally are able to separate and differentiate different sounds that are at the same volume based on this LOCATION alone. The brain science behind this actually pretty miraculous stuff, but i won't get into all that right now. Suffice it to say that we all do it, and we don't think about it. It just happens. As soon as you put IEMs in your ears, your stereoscopic hearing goes away [which is why you instinctively feel closed off from the world] and you're left with what signals you are presented with. if the signals in both ears are identical [MONO] you will often have a significant amount of trouble differentiating different sounds from one another, particularly if they are the same volume and occupy similar frequency ranges. So Guitars will tend to walk on vocal. or Keys will walk on Guitars. That sort of thing. Now, if we use a STEREO IEM mix, we have the ability to change what each ear hears, and in different proportions. This allows us to 'place' different instruments in different places in our head. I've done experiments on this and it's AMAZING how well our brain can place things in different places. If you pan a signal from left to right in a pair of stereo IEMs, there are at least 10-12 DISTINCT locations that you can differentiate, which means there are 10-12 different places you can pan things to in your head and hear them all clearly. So you could have 10 different guitar players playing, set them all to the same level, and still be able to pick out each one's part very clearly by focusing on that 'area' in your head. Totally amazing stuff. With a MONO mix, 2 guitars becomes difficult and 3 is just mud. This makes it very hard to play as a group as each person just ends up turning up their signal louder than the others so they can hear themselves. Okay, so that's why stereo is cool and why many people [including me] say it's essential. However, if you're playing in a 3 piece band with one or two vocalists, and you're on a budget, it might not be as big a deal. There just aren't as many things in the same frequency range walking on one another. The group i play with has 3 guitars, drums, bass, keys and usually 4-5 vocalists. For me Stereo is absolutely essential. Your situation is kind of a bummer though. You've spent good money on your IEM rig, but you're still feeding it a MONO source. It's like buying a 4 cylinder Mustang. It'll still go down the road, but oh the lost potential... [/QUOTE]

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