Does anyone use a combination headset wireless mic that has an in-ear monitor with it?

Thanks!
LLOYD S

Lloyd, I use one for phone calls. If you are looking for musical use, none of the available offerings have what you would call a recording grade microphone, nor a monitoring grade earphone.

-Scott

Scott:

I thought the same as you but go to this site

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/microphones/dfine/slim-in-ear-broadcast-headset-microphone

and scroll down. You'll see this:

"Dual-Ear Mount, Dual In-Ear: Allows for two-channel monitoring from producers or for stage monitoring. A great choice for theatre actors and singers."

LLOYD S

Ok. You didn’t say you were looking in the $700+ range.

If you absolutely must have that kind of a combination, dpa is a great company with a long history of making great mics under their current brand as well as their former association with B&K. (I think it’s B&K)

I really wasn't looking in any price range in particular. I was just a bit surprised to see one at ANY price, and thought perhaps some forum members may have one, or at least tried one.

I understand the basic problem, that is, to have both functions in one headpiece, you need 2 discrete channels of wireless info, one sending from the headpiece mic, back to the PA, and one receiving monitor sounds from the PA into the headpiece ear bud.

That just seems like an ideal setup for any musician, that is, having the "monitor" right in your ear, rather than somewhere on stage. I'm a bit surprised that more companies haven't developed their own systems, creating competition, and bringing the price down.

Thanks for your thoughts!
LLOYD S

Lloyd I worked for Westone; the inventors of in ear monitors, for 5 years.

Most live sound engineers still want a larger microphone capsule in front of a singer. Head worn mics don’t offer that, on purpose, for discreet (read: less visible) use; largely for drama.

In ear monitors, on the other hand, offer the engineer and musician many benefits. I will admit it is a bit of a learning curve for some to learn to sing on key with in ear monitors in place, present company included.

I moused around the Westone site but I guess they haven't branched out into mic/monitor headset combos. I see they do have some pretty pricey in-ear monitor-only sets. Makes the combo ones from DPA look not so bad, price-wise.

I can understand why sound engineers want something bigger than a headset mic, but there seem to be more and more "live" performers using them. And what with all the sound enhancement gadgets available nowadays I suppose you could get a headset mic to sound fairly decent in a "casual", non-recording situation.

Thanks!
LLOYD S

There’s lots of factors that go into both monitor and mic design and execution that drives price of each. Couple that with zero available beltpack systems that do both transmission and reception and there is not a market driving the need for a combined product.

This isn’t to say that will not change. But at present, there is just not strong enough market drivers to offer combined product. Think of it as an analogy to putting effects directly into guitars. Yes, there was a small spurt of this but the overall market drive things in a different direction. It pops up now and again, but overall, not enough to to drive product development to mass acceptance.

What is your interest btw?

The wife and I do a bit of playing with a jam session group at the RV park we winter in. There's no PA to speak of, we just have a couple of small amps for her bass guitar, my guitar and a couple of mics. Other players bring their own amp/mics. It's really just a pick up group, very casual.

We end up having to situate the amp/speaker somewhere that makes it hard to hear our voices. She wondered aloud, if there wasn't a way to have a headset mic (we currently use mic stands) with an earbud monitor to better hear herself.

That's where it began.
Thanks!
LLOYD S

The combo product wouldn’t work for you without a mixer of sorts that would let you dial in ‘more me’ yet let you set levels for the amps with a different mix than what is going to her ears. What you all need is a jamhub system but they have recently gone out of business.

Yes we figured we'd need a mixer of sorts, or at least a way of dialing in "more monitor in my ear", not necessarily "more me", although that would be nice too.

Too bad about JamHub.
Thanks for the info!

LLOYD S

Your particular setup seems better suited for a traditional mixer/monitor combo. You can get the small Behringer, Yamaha, Mackie, Peavey low end mixers for $50-80 range and a low priced monitor starting around $80 - And a combo about half that retail price off Craigslist.

Such a setup will also retain the casual feeling with the group.

Agreed

Thanks guys!
We have a small mixer and a couple of small speakers we could use for monitors. And indeed we've been making that do.

The problem with it is this:
When you spread out 6 or 8 "jammers" across a "stage", each with their own mic/amp combo, it just doesn't work to only monitor "ourselves" and there's no provision for including all/any of the others "sources" into that mix.

Hence, the interest in the headset mic/monitor.
If we had that, we could easily set a volume to hear ourselves in the "mix" or "mix up" as it usually ends up.

We'll continue with the way we're doing things, and keep our eye on the evolution of the mic/monitor.
Thanks again for your comments!

LLOYD S