Someone invent this please:

[earthtonesaudio]

To replace in-ear monitors, how about this:

Send the raw audio tracks from a USB-equipped mixing console to an internet-connected computer. Then design an app for smartphones that allows the phone user to access the tracks on the laptop, make a unique sub-mix just for themselves, and then plug headphones into the phone to use as in-ear monitors.

So if each of the band members already has a "smart phone" and at least one person in the group has a laptop, you can have in-ear monitors with better mixing options than anything out there, for just the cost of software and maybe some nicer earbuds.


So c'mon software people. How about it? Chop chop!

[loudboy]

The latency would kill you.

Also, I doubt an Iphone will get loud enough, or deliver high enough quality sound.

I can see it maybe 5 years down the road, tho.

[frankencat]

Yes the latency would be the deal breaker. It's already apparent in both wired and wireless systems but it's workable now. Add another layer of processing and routing and it would be a disaster.

[teleguido]

Yeah, latency is definitely an issue here. However, I think it might actually be possible (but COMPLETELY impractical) today.

First off, there's no need for the server to be internet connect. Just connected to a network that all of the phones would be on as well. The phones would connect via wifi, not the celluar network. I'd be willing to bet that if you were willing to put up with a very compressed sounding mix in your ears that you could get the latency down where it was usable. There are plenty of wireless VoIP phones that work reliably in corporate networks. As long as you used efficent transmission protocols I think you could do it.

The real problem is that by doing this you've just introduced an additional 50+ points of failure to the monitor system that were not there before. This is one scenario where having a "smart" device is actually a disadvantage. The wireless beltpacks in a normal IEM system are about 1000x more simple than a smartphone, and therefore about 1000% less likely to fail. Think about it: what can go wrong with a regular IEM? Dead battery, shorted cables, or it gets stomped on. What can go wrong with a smartphone? All the same stuff, plus application crashes, overheating, incoming calls, background tasks causing slowdowns and latency, etc.

Add in the fact that wireless networking can still be a big challenge, even when latency is not a huge concern, and this product becomes less and less desireable. You'd be spending $25,000 putting all this together and cause a troubleshooting nightmare... Just so that you didn't have to put on an IEM beltpack.

While something like this could potentially be REALLY cool, I just don't see it happening for at least 5 years.

[earthtonesaudio]

Yeah, I kinda agree with the existing technology being reliable enough to perform hassle-free in this sort of application. But I disagree with the latency comments. Up to a point it could actually be a benefit to have built-in latency. Most players are used to hearing their sound after it's traveled through the air a bit, so a latency less than or equal to that amount would sound more natural, not less.

Of course, I suppose drummers are used to a very small natural latency from their kits, so for them it would be a problem. But on the other hand the people who have the most trouble with IEM systems are typically guitar players, or others who sit/stand roughly equidistant from all the instruments. So for the majority of people I think the system's latency would be less of an issue than it might first appear "on paper."


I'm not sure how well it applies here, but I remember playing games like Half-Life in my dorm room, with my roommate on his laptop, and neither of us experienced latency issues. Surely a handful of audio tracks could be transmitted in a similar way with good performance... ah well maybe one day.

[cubistguitar]

latency kills feel

you really want to leave monitoring exposed to chance elements that arise with consumer hardware

it would be purpose-made hardware to solve those issues and that is already available as Aviom, etc

[teleguido]

latency kills feel

That's really the crux of it. While you may not have noticed the latency when playing Half-Life on a LAN, it was still there. Ever played a first person shooter where there was a little bit of noticeable lag? Drove you nuts, didn't it? Imagine trying to play guitar while being constantly annoyed... You would not perform very well.

I would also argue that the point at which latency makes you feel "disconnected" while playing an instrument occurs MUCH sooner than it does when playing a video game. Personally, I'd rather have no monitors than monitors with latency.

[Somniferous]

Letting the artist mix himself = to much time wasted with them tweaking the mix for "more me" and the mix they think they want.

Even in the studios withself mix boxes, I tend to only send them a stereo mix, and themselves. That way they can only turn themselves up. It saves a ton of headaches and time. Artists should be worried how they are playing and if they can reference off of the monitor mix, not if the monitor mix sounds like a finished record.