I spend a lot of time researching in ear monitor (IEM) systems and came across this from LD systems. As this was a first time adventure into IEM for myself and my band I didn’t want to spend thousands on something that might not even be right for us at all!
I am a bass player in a wedding/function band and for years we have been used to playing with back line amps and floor monitors. I myself run the sound from the stage. For years now we have always battled with floor monitors and vocalists struggling to hear themselves, I got it to a point where we just put up with it. We knew the FOH sounded good so we just got on with our own stage mix. Enter in ear monitoring…
I looked at Sennhiser and Shure but both just seemed a little out our budget. So we when for 2 x LD system U508 with 3 of the body packs that go with them (giving me 4 mixes) To set up a whole band on IEM is expensive! For example, I use (L) as mix 1 and (R) as mix 2 and use the body pack in mono. Meaning I get 2 mixes out of 1 receiver if that makes sense.
I had heard from a few people (online) that the LD system headphones aren’t great so I decided to spend the extra on 5 sets of Sennhiser pro 100 ear buds. These are great btw. The tone is very flat with not much bass but the sound cancellation is brilliant on them and I find them very comfortable too which is a must when you are playing for 3+ hours!
As a bass player, playing bass alone with the system isn’t great…at low volumes it’s fine but as soon as the volume on the body pack goes near half way you start to hear a white noise/interference when playing notes…especially the low notes on the bass.
In a band situation, which will be likely 99% of the time! You don’t hear this at all when playing bass with all the other instruments (kick, snare, OH, guitar, keys and vocals) and I must admit it sounds great once you mess around with everyone’s mixes and is overall very quiet (no hiss, no cracks and no drops outs!) I found I did have to have my bass up high on the mixes tho to be able to hear myself.
Tbh, if you have the volume past half way on the body pack I find it far too loud anyway which kinda defeats the purpose of IEMs!
It’s very odd at first if it’s the first time using IEM. As a bass player I found it very strange not to have an amp behind me, but tbh you get used to it in no time!
We all felt the vocals sounded the best tho. It was brilliant being able to hear yourself, it was crystal clear and was probably the first time in 15 years that my singer hasn’t moaned at my for not hearing himself!
The construction of the thing is good too. Good solid receiver (Mine is in a rack) and the body packs feel very well made. One of the best things about it is the scan feature. Once you have scanned it on the channel you want it’s just a case of each band member turning their packs on and that’s it! You only need to do the scan once on first use and set up. Then from then on at each gig it’s just a case of turning packs on. Very easy.
Overall, very pleased with this system. Is the sound amazing?? No! Does it sound better than floor monitors?? Yes! 100%! As a bass player I miss the low end but I have faith that my subs FOH will do this for me and what I hear is only what I hear! For singing though it’s a must, I can’t believe we waited so long to adventure into the world of IEM. I would be interested to see how much better a very expensive Sennhiser or Shure could be as I am very happy with this LD system.
Definitely a must buy if you are thinking about getting into IEM for the first time and don’t want to spend thousands!
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