Anyone who has been paying attention already knows that I am a big fan of personal monitors. I have tried probably a dozen different models from at least four different companies, and using them as a performer has really helped me understand how to handle personal mixes as a sound guy.
The Gear
You may already know this, but let’s start at the beginning. There are two major formats of personal monitors: universal fit and custom fit. Pretty much anything under $500 is going to be universal fit, which means anyone can use any pair. All of them use some kind of silicone or foam sleeve to “couple” the driver to the ear canal. Until recently, universals sounded universally OK, at best.
The other format is custom fit, which requires going to an audiologist and having impressions taken of your ear. This involves have a silicone goo injected into the actual ear canal and letting it harden. That representation of your ear is used to make a custom product fitted to your ear only. This is significant because when it comes to both sound quality and attenuation of other sounds around you (a major advantage to personal monitors), fit is everything.
Within the formats of universal or custom there are a number of ways to approach actually making sound. Because they are inserted in the ear, most companies have gone with hearing aid-based technology that uses vibrating rods called armatures to produce sound. Armatures were developed specifically to best reproduce the frequency range of the human voice — like I said, hearing aids. Some armature-based personal monitors use multiple rods with or without a crossover to assign certain frequencies to specific armatures. This is one reason the Shure E5 was considered — for a long time — one of the best and most “pro” choices for universal fit monitors. I have a set of custom fit Westones that are three-way armature devices that sound really good.
Future Sonics, on the other hand, started and has stuck with “dynamic drivers” — basically very small speakers — and the result has been that their products have always had a reputation for greater warmth and better low-end response. Starting with a consumer product they designed that was aimed at the iPod crowd and OEM marketed, Future Sonics has used a new driver, which has very much upped the game for personal monitors across the board. A more refined version of that driver was used in the Atrio Series, and further refinements have gone into the mg4plus drivers found in this latest iteration of the Future Sonics Ear Monitors brand series.
My pair came in black (flesh tone and custom colors, even wild finishes like the platinum ones Justin Timberlake was sporting on the recent MTV Video Music Awards and HBO special, are available). All Ear Monitors are full-range devices that sport an easily replaceable 50-inch cable designed to reduce microphonics. The isolation factor cuts down ambient sound by a whopping 20 dB — great for protecting your hearing on a loud stage — and with a sensitivity rating of 112 dB, they put out a lot of volume with a small amount of input power.
The Gigs
I first tried them with some recorded music just to get an idea of how they sounded. Like every other Future Sonics product I have tried, I was impressed. I wore them for about an hour and was very happy with the sound. Highs were crisp (a problem for me as almost 25 years of playing in rock bands has taken its toll on the upper end of my hearing in one ear) and, while it should be impossible to “feel” bass with an in-ear device, I felt like I was feeling the bass.
The most notable part of this initial test is that over the hour, I kept turning the music down because I did not need to have them loud in order to “feel” the music. I ended up with the volume a full third lower than I usually use with other in-ear devices and heard everything and had a very good listening experience. This is very significant because lower volume means your ears hold out longer. It may also help with the problem monitor mixers have with some singers who start using in-ear devices and stop projecting. I have both mixed and heard a number of singers who were lost in the house mix, and there was nothing the FOH guy could do because the singer was just not hitting the mic hard enough. (I was out at a Collective Soul gig not too long ago, and despite the FOH guys’ efforts, the lead singer spent the entire show buried in the mix. When I talked to someone on the crew who shall remain nameless, I got just the story I expected. Since moving to personal monitors — which he had cranked — he had sung softer and softer, as he did not have to fight the band to hear himself in wedges. This is a pretty common problem.)
I took them into a rehearsal situation with my own 10-piece horn band. This is always a tough gig because I have to set up and run the system in addition to playing. We use a Hear Technologies Mix Back and Hear Back system, which gives individual players a “baseline” stereo mix, and then six “more me” controls. In a full band situation, the increased low end helped me “feel” the all-important kick-drum without sacrificing vocal clarity. I got a better baseline mix and — even with the rest of the band on various universal fit products — that better starting place meant less bitching and moaning about individual mixes.
Finally, I A/B’d a set of the universal fit Future Sonics Atrio Series earpieces, a couple of other universals and another set of custom fit pieces along with the new Future Sonics Ear Monitors brand. I used a couple of tunes I am familiar with and that have lots of layers of sound: “The Keys to Her Ferrari” by Thomas Dolby and “Black Cow” by Steely Dan. While each device has its own sonic signature, and these kind of comparisons are massively subjective by their very nature, I found that the Ear Monitors gave me an added level of detail and clarity that was very noticeable. And once again, I found myself turning the Ear Monitors down by about 25%.
The Bottom Line
It all depends on your situation. If you are doing MON for an act where your main gig is to make the “star” happy, then you had best be using whatever the star is using so you hear just what they do. In more “varied” situations, you have a bit more leeway. Either way, the new Ear Monitors are worth a listen. They are accurate enough that I can get a really decent basic mix with a lot less effort, and that makes the rest of the job easier. And if you have any input at all into what your star uses, these are a great choice. Just the fact that you can mix more quietly can make a world of difference for your star. It might get that person who thinks they no longer have to sing with any volume to open their mouths again. And the guy at the other end of the snake will love you for it.
What it is: Custom-molded personal monitors.
Who it’s for: Monitor engineers and performers.
Pros: Great sound at lower volume. Well built.
Cons: None.
How much? $798 plus cost of impressions.
Web site: www.futuresonics.com
