The Benefits of Mixing With In-Ear Monitors

I bought a pair of custom-fit in-ear monitors from Westone four years ago. I picked the top-of-the-line unit with 8, count ’em again, 8 drivers!

These are audiophile-quality IEMs, and they’ve been a game-changer for my live playing, but especially for my mixing.

So I just wanted to share my experience switching from traditional near-field monitors to IEMs.

Mix while standing or moving around

Sitting is the new smoking. Being a piano player and audio engineer, I sit too much. With IEMs, I no longer have to sit in the sweet spot and can mix while pacing, standing, or even dancing!

Consistent listening experience

It doesn’t matter what room I’m mixing in because I’ll hear the same thing in my IEMs. I can mix in studios with different monitors than I’m used to, and I’ll be able to double-check the mix and quickly calibrate my ears to the new monitors more reliably.

Acoustics aren’t an issue

I moved into a new house several years ago, and I’m about to get kicked out of my spare-bedroom studio when my daughter moves into it. I never bothered to treat the room acoustically, and I won’t need to do much treatment to the new space because the acoustics aren’t an issue when you mix with IEMs. Money and labor saved.

Ultra detailed frequency range with multi-driver IEMs

I don’t have trouble mixing bass anymore. I can hear every frequency range equally, so my ability to carve out frequency ranges for each track has never been more effortless.

If you switch to IEMs, you’ll still want to listen to your mix on other systems. For example, I always check my mix in my car, mobile devices, laptop speakers, and near-field monitors. But when I check my mix now, I’m happy with the results way more often.

There you have it. IEMs have changed my life.

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