I’m a drummer and I want to use a click track. I’ve heard in-ears are good for this. Any advice?
In-Ear Monitors are what you you’re looking for.
In addition to your click, you’ll be able to mix in any support tracks and personalize your mix as well. But before we talk about which in-ears will work best for you, let’s talk about your setup.
Ideally you want to be hard-wired. If you’re drumming and playing to a track and lose signal in the unlikely event of RF (radio frequency) interruption, at least you’ll still keep the beat and the rest of the band can keep the groove!
There are multiple in-ear solutions, but here are two hard-wire options that we are partial too:
The Shure P6-HW, which is a portable headphone amp:
If you decide to go with the hard-wired belt pack, be aware it only has two inputs. You will be able to run a mono mix down one side and the click down the other side. There is a balance knob to blend between both inputs so you could still change the click level on a per song basis. But the knob is not easy to adjust quickly while starting another song. Also, you’ll only have one click source and you’ll lose the stereo mix.
A small dedicated mixer just for the drummer like the EURORACK PRO RX1602:
The mixer is usually the better option as it has more inputs which means more flexibility. You can get a stereo mix, a mono click from the track playback and also a click from a metronome if there are songs without track. It is easy to put the small mixer on a snare stand or box next to the drummer and it is much faster to change levels if needed. I have found that most drummers that play to track require more or less click on a per song basis, so the added versatility is a great asset.
As for your in-ear monitor choices, buy what you can afford. Custom in-ears make a world of difference — especially for drummers who tend to sweat a lot during shows. And bonus: custom molds stay locked in place so you don’t have to worry about losing your seal while you do your best Keith Moon impression.
More bands use UE 7 PRO worldwide than any other in-ear monitor. If you are going to spend your hard earned money on something, buy the right product the first time and don’t buy stuff twice. At least, that’s that my opinion.
Till next time,
