Hey all. Im playing aroud with the idea of using earbuds (either the Shure 425s or Dre Beat Earbuds) but I dont really know if its worth switching from headphones. Supposedly they are safer for hearing and I DJ 4-5x a week. Im currently an open format DJ but I lean more house but I’m playing a lot of different styles of including doing some scratching so i’m not sure if earbuds are right for me.
just want some opinions on what you all think about earbuds.
OR use em under a set of cans to reduce ambient noise and save your hearing from cranked up booth monitors , run the master though the IEMS and cue as normal in your cans (technically you’d actually get better monitoring latency by around 10ms doing this too).
Forget Dre’s, utter shite they don’t exist round these parts (DJTT) … theres pro westone buds available in the DJTT shop too at around the same price as the shires.
BTW worth mentioning I don’t use IEMS for the sole reason I need to spend a fortune to get custom fit for my tiny ears
If you’re in an environment where you need to have to repeatedly take them on/off to interact with others I wouldn’t recommend it. However, if you’re isolated or performing on stage they’re great. I spin with a band at times and I found that I’d have to turn my cans up extremely loud to hear myself over the band whereas my in-ear Shures block out nearly all external noise. But they are a pain if people are constantly walking up asking questions, etc.
I like mixing with IEMs, and I find it gives me a better idea of what’s going on than using headphones.
But, you need to make sure your mixer can support them. If it doesn’t have a cue/master mix control for the headphone signal, it’s going to be a PITA. Split cue is another option, though I really don’t like it when mixing with IEMs for some reason.
If you want to try it, just get yourself a $10 pair of Skull Candy earbuds and try it at home…if you like it, buy real IEMs. It not, you’re only out $10.
The reason I mentioned the skull candy earbuds is that they’re in-ear earbuds that actually stick into your ear. If your ears are shaped so you can use the normal ones (shaped like old sonys or the iPod earbuds) with the speaker facing forward towards your tragus instead of into your ear canal while still making a decent seal…you can use those. I just haven’t seen anyone using the iPod earbuds the way that makes them sound good.
If you are going IEM’s you need to consider DUAL ARMATURE options (eg UE TriFi 10’s) to get a purer ‘monitor sound’ with good isolation. This comes at a price. The price on Dr Dre’s is for the royalty, not the quality - they SUCK! IEM’s are great for listening but as pointed out, are a ball ache if you are you are continuously alternating between single/double ear listening when DJing.
Hey man so I switched recently to IEM’s and have been trying it out for the past few months. All in all, i’m not a fan. I really don’t like how the IEM wires loop around your ears. But that’s just me! Others swear by IEM’s especially bc they definitely are good for your hearing. I’m just a bedroom DJ and so external noise is not an issue for me. Thus I’m switching back to normal headphones!
As Mostapha said, definitely try it out first and see if you can do it. Also, I agree with Jonathon about the armatures. Make sure you get dual or if you can afford do the triple! I think westone just came out with quad too. But only spend this money if you feel like you can make the switch for the long run!
I just sold my IEM’s a few days ago because I just couldn’t do it. Maybe in a few years when I’m headlining in Ibiza I’ll think about switching back
muhahahaha
, run the master though the IEMS and cue as normal in your cans (technically you’d actually get better monitoring latency by around 10ms doing this too).