Joe Crabtree's Drum Blog

Getting the in ear monitors(view gallery)

Since early on in my drumming career I've been a big promoter of looking after your ears. Behind a drum kit it's very easy to wreck your hearing on a single gig. I know so many 'macho' musicians who complain about the sound degradation when wearing ear plugs and I know what they mean, but I also know many musicians with tinnitus (a constant ringing or white noise) and once they have it they regret not being more careful.

Today Andy and I drove over to Banbury to the headquarters of ACS (www.hearingprotection.co.uk) to get fitted for some Dogs Bollocks in ear monitors (that's not what they're called - just what they are.)

For the first three gigs of this tour I used my own little in ear monitor system instead of the regular drum wedges. It made a huge difference to my playing and made the gig so much more enjoyable. For the first time I could hear what was going on. In the past I've put up with whatever monitor sound we can manage but unless it's an open air gig it nearly always ends up sounding like mud. With in ear monitoring it's like playing to the record.

I heard about ACS through some drumming friends. I'd always used cheap ear plugs figuring that as long as they reduced the noise level it was fine. The problem for me as a drummer was that most ear plugs aren't very even in what they cut out. Foam plugs kill all the top end so it ends up sounding like your drums are in another room. The triple flanged rubber things that I've used for the last few years were an improvement but they still cut out more of the higher frequencies. The problem with that is that you never hear the attack of the cymbals. As a result I'd find myself over playing the cymbals to try and compensate and that's no fun for the rest of the band.

When I did RoSFest last year I got talking to Jimmy Keegan from Spock's Beard. He told me that he took a monitor feed from the desk and an input from an overhead and ran them through a little mixer into his in-ear monitors. The benefit of this is that you can hear the top end of the cymbals but you can control the level. I was excited by the concept and invested in a small mixer and a body pack from Shure (for limiting the output so I don't go deaf)

Where ACS came in was with the custom fit ear moulds. I went to an audiologist and they took an impression of my ear. A week later I had some custom fit ear plugs (which are very even in reduction across the whole spectrum) and some sleeves for my Shure headphones. The latter are what I used on the first dates of this tour.

Two nights ago the right side of my Shure headphones stopped working. Last night I had to play with wedges again and it was like going back to the dark ages. I was desperate to get my in-ear system back up and running. I contacted ACS and arranged to go and get some of their top of the line in-ear headphones. These things have two separate drivers in each ear piece so you get amazing bass response. They're not cheap but the sound quality and isolation is worth it. They supply these things to pretty much everyone who needs this kind of thing - Pink Floyd, Phil Collins, Kim Wilde (yep - she's still going)

Anyway, mine should be here in the next day or two and I'm tremendously excited about using them on the gig. Andy got some too - I'm sure he'll post his thoughts when he's tried them out.

My advice to ALL drummers and music lovers is to get some custom fit ear plugs (I use the ER15s.) I always take mine to gigs even when I'm a spectator. I find it much easier to hear what's going on with them in as most gigs are a little too loud. The ones I have are clear and barely noticeable when you have them in. They're very comfortable and it's basically just like turning the volume down on the world.

If you're an audiophile with an iPod it's worth checking out the headphones they do. If you fly or take the tube a lot they're amazing as they cut out all the background noise.

Before I got mine done I had no idea about where to get ear impressions done or how it all worked. You can find most of what you need to know on their website - www.hearingprotection.com. In short I went to a SpecSavers where they had a hearing department (for people wanting hearing aids). The audiologist squirted some fast setting goo in my ears to take the impressions. It was painless and took about 20 minutes out of my day. He sent the impressions off to ACS and I got my ear plugs in the post a week later.

Joe