A parcel, a parcel, ooh there's a parcel..

What could it be?

Shoes (nope, I only order my high heels in person)

Books (possibly)...or is it..

My New Custom In Ear Monitors from Ultimate Ears?

WOOT!! Finally got'em!

For those who have been following this thread, and them whats haven't, when we last left our hero, he had failed to get some from a local Australian supplier who yelled at him when he asked if they'd be ready in time for Tamworth last year. 

Your hero (and mine) graciously declined to use the platform of his own blog to name the supplier and add some choice @%^# suggestions of his own. However, your hero better stop talking about himself in the third person as he hates that. oh no. did it again.

Rather than get mad and write something defamatory...and also just in case it was ME being the @^&#@##...I canceled the order and waited almost a full year to finally sort out a new pair from an alternate supplier. Don't get mad, vote with your chequebook.

I am kinda glad I did. the price on these was lower than from the 'other' supplier and I got more Drivers (the little gizmos inside the things that make with the noises). Still, these were not cheap. Factoring in Ear Molds and Postage, they still came in at over $500 which is still pretty flipping expensive, but in testing so far, they are doing a terrific job of keeping sound out.

Aha! I hear you say, keeping sound out? I thought these were so you could hear better? 

Well yes, Dear Reader, but one of the ways to hear 'better' is to reduce the outside noise (guitars and drums etc) coming in.

These little things have a filter on the side to allow some 'ambient' noise in (ie: the rest of the band/reality) or you can send the band through the PA to your headset transmitter (depends on how you set it up),  but by blocking unwanted external noise you can turn your own 'monitors' down and thus preserve your hearing a little longer.

I have had a heck of a time over the last year using the default earplugs that come with the wireless set, or trying to combine them with other customized earpieces I already had. It's worked very well to get the sound of singing/harmonica to me without the need for monitor speakers, but keeping excess stage noise out has been problematic.

Finally, I have a complete solution and I will post some results from some testing after I use them in live gig environment.

So far, for any readers thinking about in ear monitors, I am PRO the concept, I think they're great. The custom earpieces are $$$ but are necessary if you want to truly control what you are hearing.

FYI I am using a SHURE PSM200, not top of the line but a very decent unit and a very practical one. it has two inputs which are direct pass throughs - that means you can monitor the sound from the front of the device, before it goes to the PA. This also allows you to rock up to a gig and insert your monitor system into stage gear without messing with the PA/soundo, who might say 'WTF' and look at you like you've grown an extra head cos you don't want to use the loud stage monitors competing with all the other sound.

There, rant over.

Oh yeah, you can tell when you've spent some $$, lookit the box:

OOOH!! Matte Black! 

I'll post my results after we do our next rehearsal or gig.