The Art of In Ears with Tiago Costa

[00:00:06] This is the Tech Arts Podcast where we talk about tech, leadership and all things that

[00:00:12] concern church audio, video and lighting.

[00:00:16] Welcome to the Tech Arts Podcast and the Earthworks Audio Studios.

[00:00:20] My name is DL.

[00:00:21] So glad to have you joining us today.

[00:00:24] Today's episode is going to help a lot of people.

[00:00:27] It's on in ears.

[00:00:28] The entire episode is dedicated to this.

[00:00:31] And if you use in ears or are thinking of using in ears, you don't want to miss

[00:00:36] this episode.

[00:00:37] We're calling it the Art of in ears.

[00:00:41] But before we start talking about that subject, I want to give a special shout out to Filo

[00:00:46] Conference.

[00:00:47] I spoke at Filo Conference a few weeks ago and I want to take a second to thank Todd

[00:00:52] Elliott and the entire team for this invite.

[00:00:55] I had a blast and learned a lot.

[00:00:57] This team really knows how to do a conference.

[00:01:00] If you've not signed up for Filo 2025, make sure you do so now by going to Filo.org.

[00:01:08] If you're a tech, worship pastor, creative arts pastor or a live production volunteer,

[00:01:14] this conference is a must attend event.

[00:01:17] Book your tickets today by going to Filo.org.

[00:01:19] Hey, on our last podcast, we gave away a Luminode.

[00:01:23] I want to give a shout out to our winner, Mark from Village Church in Bartlett,

[00:01:28] Illinois.

[00:01:29] Congrats on winning the Luminode.

[00:01:31] And a special thank you to Anthony Stofflett and the Luminex AC lighting team for allowing

[00:01:36] us to give away a Luminode.

[00:01:38] If you want to have a shot at winning free stuff, be sure to follow us on our social

[00:01:42] media platforms and sign up for the newsletter.

[00:01:45] You can do all of that by going to AudioVideoLighting.com.

[00:01:51] Once again, that's AudioVideoLighting.com.

[00:01:55] I said earlier, we're dedicating today's podcast to the art of in ears.

[00:02:00] So without further delay, let's kick the podcast off by focusing our tech tip on a

[00:02:05] company that makes in ears and has been there since the beginning.

[00:02:09] Today's church tech tip is ultimate ears.

[00:02:12] Joining us today to talk more about this is Tiago Costa.

[00:02:15] Tiago, welcome to the Tech Arts Podcast.

[00:02:17] Thank you.

[00:02:18] Hey man, tell us a little bit about ultimate ears.

[00:02:21] Well, ultimate ears is one of the brands that makes in ear monitors.

[00:02:27] It's actually the pioneer in the industry.

[00:02:32] Ultimate ears started in 1995 next year.

[00:02:35] In 2025 we're going to be 30, which is incredible.

[00:02:41] It started in the back of the tour bus of Van Halen when the engineer Jerry Harvory

[00:02:53] decided to start creating something so they could use as monitors instead of using the

[00:02:59] wedges, the traditional floor monitors.

[00:03:03] And then that's where it started.

[00:03:05] So Tiago, did you say it started with Van Halen?

[00:03:07] Yes.

[00:03:08] That's one of my favorite bands.

[00:03:09] That's so cool.

[00:03:11] Jerry Harvey started that on the tour with Van Halen and kind of figured out.

[00:03:15] That is correct.

[00:03:16] So Jerry was the audio engineer for the band, and then they were realizing that

[00:03:25] they were overusing their ears with a lot of stage noise and obviously playing rock.

[00:03:34] You can imagine, especially way back then 30 years ago, they were using huge amps on

[00:03:41] stage and drums.

[00:03:45] Everything was really loud.

[00:03:46] And then it takes a toll when you overuse, exposed to so much noise for a long time.

[00:03:53] And so they started brainstorming and then Jerry put the first prototype together.

[00:04:01] And then from there in 1995, that was I believe in 1994, in 1995, Jerry officially

[00:04:08] opened Ultimate Ears.

[00:04:09] Well, what makes Ultimate Ears so special?

[00:04:12] So I'm sitting listening to this podcast.

[00:04:17] I'm another church.

[00:04:18] Why should I go in the direction of Ultimate Ears as opposed to one of the hundreds

[00:04:23] of other in-ear companies that are out there?

[00:04:26] That's a great question.

[00:04:29] Obviously, we learned recently that worldwide there are over 300 companies making in-ear monitors.

[00:04:37] Obviously a lot of just moment pop that just start up, they're trying to get off the ground.

[00:04:44] But there are a lot of people trying into the market.

[00:04:48] But there are some major players.

[00:04:52] We all know some other brands out there that are doing a great job.

[00:04:58] I usually tell people who come ask me this question, I get asked this question a lot.

[00:05:03] Like obviously we're not the only company that knows how to make in-ear monitors at

[00:05:08] this point.

[00:05:09] And when you're choosing an in-ear monitor for you, unless you have some really good

[00:05:16] critical ear, you're splitting hair in terms of how you choose the right model

[00:05:23] for you.

[00:05:26] I really believe that Ultimate Ears creates great products.

[00:05:30] We have some really good sounding in-ear monitors.

[00:05:33] We have a series of different models that we have different sound signatures.

[00:05:41] Each model has a specific sound signature or an EQ profile.

[00:05:47] So basically what we sell, any company, not just Ultimate Ears, what we sell to

[00:05:54] the customer is sound.

[00:05:56] We sell you how it sounds.

[00:05:59] Now obviously there are a lot of technical details and a lot of people want to know,

[00:06:05] oh, how many drivers this one has?

[00:06:07] And they want to compare, oh, how does your triple driver compare to this other

[00:06:13] brand triple driver?

[00:06:15] And it's hard to compare because we're not comparing just the three drivers.

[00:06:20] We're comparing how they are EQed, what is the quality of those drivers?

[00:06:26] How are they aligned in phase to make sure that they deliver a specific sound

[00:06:33] signature?

[00:06:34] So that's what makes everything different.

[00:06:36] Now what makes Ultimate Ears different than anybody else at this point is not just

[00:06:42] the great product that you get.

[00:06:45] I believe the service, the customer service that would really differentiate Ultimate Ears

[00:06:51] from anybody else.

[00:06:53] First of all, obviously we've been there longer than anybody else.

[00:06:57] So every major step that happens with India monitors usually happens at Ultimate

[00:07:03] Ears first.

[00:07:05] We were the first ones to start doing 3D printing and then we created a technology

[00:07:12] that allows us to also scan your ears with a 3D scanner.

[00:07:18] Obviously we only have that locally or when I'm traveling around the country

[00:07:22] with a scanner, I will scan a worship team or a band somewhere.

[00:07:28] But usually when there is happening in terms of innovation, Ultimate Ears is

[00:07:35] ahead of the game.

[00:07:37] But really the customer service is really, really amazing.

[00:07:43] Our turnaround time is usually awesome.

[00:07:46] Our regular turnaround time is 10 business days for a new set.

[00:07:52] Other brands out there, they usually start at five to six weeks and our repair

[00:08:00] team is really, really on it, really good.

[00:08:02] We're trying to get it out back to people's ears because we know everybody's trying

[00:08:07] to use them, especially church people.

[00:08:09] We use them weekly.

[00:08:11] So it's very important.

[00:08:13] Yeah, I think service is a big deal because you're putting it in your ear and taking

[00:08:18] it out all the time.

[00:08:19] It's just going to break.

[00:08:20] Things are going to break.

[00:08:21] But if you've ever seen the Ultimate Ear brand, I've actually held them in my

[00:08:24] hand before.

[00:08:25] They're built really solid, really nice.

[00:08:29] They come with some excellent features.

[00:08:30] You mentioned the multiple driver thing and we'll get into that a little bit more

[00:08:35] later.

[00:08:36] But just the service piece of Ultimate Ears is a big deal because the way you use

[00:08:42] them and the way worship team tends to abuse them, you want to have service

[00:08:46] kind of there ready to go.

[00:08:47] But on the driver thing, it's like the number one question I get asked.

[00:08:52] Multiple drivers, like I've got to have 8000 drivers in my ear in order for

[00:08:56] this to sound good.

[00:08:58] Just talk about that for just a minute or two on multiple drivers and number one,

[00:09:04] how it makes a difference in your ears.

[00:09:06] Yeah, I also get asked the question a lot.

[00:09:12] And now you can get what?

[00:09:14] 23 and a half drivers in an ear.

[00:09:16] It's crazy.

[00:09:17] So the most we have is actually the first in the industry.

[00:09:22] We have 21 drivers.

[00:09:23] It was the UE Premier and it was released last year in 2023 and NAMM.

[00:09:31] And it's pretty amazing.

[00:09:33] Well, yeah, let me talk a little bit about the drivers.

[00:09:36] So I'm going to try to dumb down a little bit the answer so everybody can

[00:09:40] follow and understand what drivers are.

[00:09:43] Like sometimes they say, oh, this one has this many drivers and people have

[00:09:46] no idea what that actually is.

[00:09:48] The drivers are basically speakers.

[00:09:51] They are very small micro speakers.

[00:09:55] They're built to deliver sound.

[00:09:58] So, so for example, imagine this is a speaker and I am pushing some sound out

[00:10:07] of this speaker and it sounds OK.

[00:10:10] You can hear, you know, things.

[00:10:13] And then I decide to add another speaker, just a different color, as you can see.

[00:10:19] I just added a different speaker over here and I put them together and I'm

[00:10:24] pushing the same sound that was playing.

[00:10:28] Well, because now I have two speakers, what I'm going to have to do,

[00:10:32] I'm going to probably have to turn down a little bit of the volume

[00:10:35] because I don't I have two speakers trying to push the same set,

[00:10:40] the same amount of sound.

[00:10:42] And also you can divide the frequencies that they are.

[00:10:47] Let's say this speaker can actually deliver a better clarity, you know,

[00:10:53] crisp sound, which is the highs or mids.

[00:10:56] And this one is responsible for more like low end.

[00:11:01] So you kind of divide it don't necessarily depends on how many

[00:11:05] speakers start adding.

[00:11:06] You can start dividing those frequencies and say, hey, you're

[00:11:10] responsible for this frequency here.

[00:11:13] This is your job and this is your job.

[00:11:15] And then when you do that, it allows the sound to have a lot more depth

[00:11:22] and definition.

[00:11:26] But that brings us to other things as well.

[00:11:30] It's not just about how many speakers.

[00:11:34] I love the dual driver that we have.

[00:11:37] It's the intro model that we have the UE5.

[00:11:40] It is actually the oldest sound signature that we have.

[00:11:45] We have in our line.

[00:11:46] Jerry did it like way back then.

[00:11:48] It's been 20 plus years, almost I believe probably 25 years that it's

[00:11:55] been in line and it's still there and we still use it.

[00:11:58] It's great.

[00:11:59] Sounds really good.

[00:12:01] Now, if you want to add a little more detail here and there,

[00:12:06] you're going to start adding new drivers to hear a little more definition.

[00:12:12] Now, people want to know, but what should I get if I want to hear?

[00:12:18] I play the keyboard.

[00:12:20] Which one should I get?

[00:12:22] And a lot of people, including all the in-ear brands,

[00:12:27] they try to market to musicians saying, oh, if you are a keyboard

[00:12:32] player, you should get this one.

[00:12:33] If you're a guitar player, you should get this one.

[00:12:35] If you're a bass player, you should get this one,

[00:12:39] which is probably a good guesstimation of how that works,

[00:12:43] but not really very musical in my opinion.

[00:12:47] Because we all have different ways of interpreting frequencies.

[00:12:51] So if I tell you, you have to have this one because this one is the best

[00:12:58] one, that is probably the best one for how I hear,

[00:13:01] for how I like to hear and how I interpret.

[00:13:05] And even with age, you start losing some frequency.

[00:13:10] So it's not always the same for everybody.

[00:13:14] But the best scenario is when if you can meet with me, for example,

[00:13:22] I will have all the demos and you will sit down and listen

[00:13:27] and see which one works for you better sonically.

[00:13:33] That is the best scenario.

[00:13:34] That is not always the case because people live all over the country,

[00:13:38] all over the world.

[00:13:39] I help people all over the world get in-ear monitors.

[00:13:43] But what I try to do, I've been working with Ultima since 2013.

[00:13:49] It's been basically 11 years.

[00:13:52] It was May of 2013.

[00:13:54] And so it's been a minute.

[00:13:57] So I have a lot of experience.

[00:13:59] I'm also a musician, producer, worship pastor.

[00:14:02] So I know, I understand music in a different way.

[00:14:06] So I try to understand what people are telling me,

[00:14:09] what are their needs in terms of what they want to hear.

[00:14:14] And then when I ask the question, what would you like to hear?

[00:14:19] What kind of frequencies do you love?

[00:14:21] People want to tell me what they want in their mix.

[00:14:25] And I always tell them, well, you can buy any of the models

[00:14:29] and then mix that way.

[00:14:31] Because mixing, it's something that you can learn how to do it

[00:14:35] in any sound signature.

[00:14:38] Now to make it sound good in the way that it's pleasing your ears,

[00:14:44] that has to do with the sound signature.

[00:14:46] Is it warm in the mids?

[00:14:48] What are you looking for?

[00:14:50] Is that gives you a little bit of a low end

[00:14:53] because you want to feel the music.

[00:14:57] So that's what drivers do.

[00:15:01] The more drivers don't necessarily mean better,

[00:15:04] it means more expensive.

[00:15:06] That's for sure.

[00:15:07] You've sold me.

[00:15:08] I want to move forward.

[00:15:09] How does our audience get in touch with you

[00:15:12] so that they can buy an ultimate ear?

[00:15:14] Well, I'm always available.

[00:15:15] You can go to myinears.com, www.myinears.com

[00:15:21] or hit me up on Instagram as well.

[00:15:23] It's going to be at My In Ears.

[00:15:27] It's usually very easy to get in touch with me.

[00:15:31] There is a chat on the website that you can start writing there

[00:15:36] and I will be able to respond to you promptly.

[00:15:38] I love helping people understand, educating people

[00:15:42] on how to properly use in-ear monitors

[00:15:46] and make sure that you have not only a good sound signature,

[00:15:50] but you have a proper mix and a proper understanding of how

[00:15:54] to use what you invested on.

[00:15:57] Yes, that website again, everybody is myinears.com.

[00:16:02] And if you can't tell,

[00:16:04] Tiago walks you through the process.

[00:16:07] Part of that service and support of ultimate ears,

[00:16:09] he makes sure that you get the right in-ear for your need

[00:16:14] and you don't necessarily need the 21 driver in-ear system.

[00:16:17] He will make sure it fits who you are.

[00:16:19] And if you're a singer or a bass player, a keyboard player,

[00:16:23] they walk you through that and make sure

[00:16:24] that you get the right system for you.

[00:16:26] Again, that website, myinears.com.

[00:16:30] Tiago, I know you have a lot of experience in this area

[00:16:33] and I feel like many churches need education

[00:16:35] on how to use in-ears properly.

[00:16:38] Would you mind staying on and talking to us

[00:16:39] a little bit more about in-ears?

[00:16:41] Absolutely.

[00:16:42] Stay tuned in our next segment, Tiago,

[00:16:45] he'll talk to us about how to properly use in-ears

[00:16:48] and why audience mics are important.

[00:16:51] If your church uses in-ears

[00:16:53] or is thinking about getting in-ears,

[00:16:55] you don't wanna miss this segment.

[00:16:57] It all starts right after these messages

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[00:18:22] Welcome back to the Tech Arts Podcast.

[00:18:24] Today we're talking with Tiago Costa

[00:18:27] from MyInEars.com.

[00:18:29] He is representing Ultimate Ears House of Worship Division.

[00:18:32] Tiago, welcome back to the Tech Arts Podcast.

[00:18:34] Thank you, good to be here.

[00:18:35] So we talked a little bit about Ultimate Ears

[00:18:38] in the prior segment and why it's a great company

[00:18:42] and why you should buy from Ultimate Ears.

[00:18:47] But before we jump into kind of why I should use

[00:18:50] MyInEars and how to properly use InEars

[00:18:52] and things of that nature,

[00:18:54] tell us a little bit about yourself, your experience.

[00:18:56] What's your street cred?

[00:18:57] Well, I started early in ministry.

[00:19:02] I've been in ministry for many, many years.

[00:19:05] I'm originally from Brazil.

[00:19:06] I moved here to the US in 2000

[00:19:10] and I've been working as a worship pastor

[00:19:12] for many, many years.

[00:19:14] I worked in full time ministry for about 23 years

[00:19:20] and then I was introduced to Ultimate Ears

[00:19:24] by a guy called Rick Machao,

[00:19:27] who was the worship pastor at Saddleback Church

[00:19:29] for many years.

[00:19:31] And he was my good friend and mentor

[00:19:33] and he had a great relationship with Ultimate Ears

[00:19:36] which happens to be around the corner

[00:19:39] from where we live here in Southern California.

[00:19:42] And then he brought me in and he said,

[00:19:45] Hey, Tiago is a guy who knows a lot of people.

[00:19:50] He has a lot of contacts.

[00:19:55] He speaks three languages

[00:19:57] and he brought me in and vouched for me at Ultimate Ears

[00:20:03] and I've been working with them,

[00:20:05] helping them develop the house of worship

[00:20:08] for the last 10 plus years and it's been great.

[00:20:13] He speaks three languages you said?

[00:20:15] Yeah.

[00:20:16] I can barely master one language, my language,

[00:20:20] the English language.

[00:20:21] I have so much respect for people

[00:20:23] who speak three languages, especially cause,

[00:20:26] you know when people are talking in a different language

[00:20:28] I'm like, I wonder what they're saying.

[00:20:31] I would love to always be that person

[00:20:33] who could understand them and then not know what it's

[00:20:35] anyway, that's a different subject.

[00:20:37] They'll not know what I'm,

[00:20:38] that I'm actually able to understand them.

[00:20:40] But yeah, maybe one day I'll master the English language

[00:20:45] and get that one down.

[00:20:46] Me too.

[00:20:48] So Tiago, why should I use in ears?

[00:20:51] You know, you got a church out there.

[00:20:53] I actually just visited one a couple of weeks ago.

[00:20:55] They're using wedges and I said,

[00:20:58] hey, you know maybe you guys should look at

[00:21:00] switching over to in ears.

[00:21:01] They having this stage noise issue

[00:21:04] and they're like, I don't know why, tell us, sell us.

[00:21:07] Why should we use in ears?

[00:21:09] So help churches out there understand why it helps.

[00:21:12] This whole in ears things, a church,

[00:21:15] this whole transition start actually happening for real

[00:21:20] within the last 15 years I would say, 10 to 15 years.

[00:21:25] A lot of churches are like completely

[00:21:28] moving to in ear monitors.

[00:21:30] The larger churches, the mega churches,

[00:21:33] they have been using in ear monitors

[00:21:35] for longer than that, for 20 plus years.

[00:21:39] But you know, I think before I even answered

[00:21:43] why a church would need in ear monitors

[00:21:46] is why you would need in ear monitors.

[00:21:49] Because in ear monitors was made

[00:21:52] so you can save your hearing.

[00:21:58] Today we are exposed to a lot of noise

[00:22:03] when we go play on a stage.

[00:22:07] A lot of churches, they're gonna have multiple services.

[00:22:11] So you will get there early in the morning

[00:22:13] and then you're gonna have a run through,

[00:22:14] a sound check run through and then multiple services.

[00:22:18] When you don't have proper protection,

[00:22:22] you are going to start to have issues with your hearing.

[00:22:27] That is I think the main reason why

[00:22:30] I think someone should consider in ear monitors

[00:22:33] is for hearing protection,

[00:22:35] you wanna make sure that you have longevity

[00:22:39] in your ministry and in your career

[00:22:42] if you're a professional musician, singer.

[00:22:47] But churches, I think churches will get a huge bonus

[00:22:52] because a lot of our churches are not really treated

[00:22:58] to have live sound.

[00:23:00] Let's start with that.

[00:23:02] And then when you have in ear monitors,

[00:23:05] you reduce a lot of,

[00:23:07] you basically get rid of all the speakers

[00:23:10] that were on stage and that helps immensely

[00:23:15] clean up the sound of the entire room.

[00:23:20] The front of house will suddenly start sounding

[00:23:24] much, much better and cleaner

[00:23:26] and the sound is gonna be much,

[00:23:29] much better for everyone.

[00:23:31] You start to eliminate some of the feedback issues too.

[00:23:33] Correct.

[00:23:35] And then you start to get rid of the typical wedges

[00:23:38] bringing to the game.

[00:23:40] But it's funny you said,

[00:23:41] and probably not funny,

[00:23:43] it's kinda cool that you said

[00:23:45] that in ears help protect your ears

[00:23:48] because the churches I visit that aren't using in ears

[00:23:52] kind of use the opposite argument.

[00:23:54] It's like hey if I'm putting something in my ear

[00:23:56] and I'm turning it up,

[00:23:57] isn't that damaging my ears?

[00:24:00] So I think that leads me kinda to the next thing

[00:24:02] I wanna talk to you about

[00:24:03] is in ears because if they're properly used,

[00:24:05] they protect your ear from all of that noise

[00:24:08] that's going on just like you talked about.

[00:24:10] So talk a little bit about that.

[00:24:11] How do you properly use in ears?

[00:24:13] Answering your question two things.

[00:24:15] One is I am a huge advocate for custom in ear monitors.

[00:24:21] Okay.

[00:24:23] And I know a lot of churches are going to say,

[00:24:26] hey we're all going to in ear monitors now

[00:24:28] and then everyone rushes to Amazon

[00:24:32] and they will buy whatever cheap set

[00:24:34] they can find over there.

[00:24:36] I have seen so many churches

[00:24:38] and so many people using Apple earbuds as monitors

[00:24:45] and what the damage that can really make to you,

[00:24:50] it's actually worse than if you were just using wedges

[00:24:54] and didn't have anything.

[00:24:55] So Tiago explain custom.

[00:24:57] What do you mean by custom in ear monitors?

[00:24:59] Custom is this.

[00:25:01] This is a custom in ear monitor.

[00:25:04] It was made for my ears.

[00:25:07] The molds, we took the molds out of my ears

[00:25:12] and then it's made for me.

[00:25:14] This is the shape of my ear.

[00:25:16] This will fit no one else but me.

[00:25:19] And so it's very important because why customs?

[00:25:24] Because when you have this custom to your ears,

[00:25:27] it will give you the proper seal.

[00:25:32] Okay, when you put this in,

[00:25:34] you're only gonna hear what is coming into your monitors.

[00:25:38] So you can be singing for example

[00:25:43] or playing another instrument right in front of the

[00:25:47] cymbals and the drum set behind you

[00:25:50] and that's not gonna affect you in any way.

[00:25:55] You're not gonna be bothered by what they're doing behind

[00:25:58] because you only hear what you have in your monitor feed.

[00:26:03] So this is what custom in ears is.

[00:26:06] So the way people get custom

[00:26:08] is they usually go to an audiologist

[00:26:11] and they will get the molds done

[00:26:16] that they're gonna put some,

[00:26:18] I'll say some, it looks like Play-Doh.

[00:26:21] They put some Play-Doh inside your ears

[00:26:23] and then they will take it out

[00:26:25] and then that's your molds.

[00:26:26] Yeah, I've had it done.

[00:26:27] It's the weirdest feeling in the world.

[00:26:30] They will send those molds to us

[00:26:32] and then we'll make the custom in ears.

[00:26:36] I personally work with a 3D scanner

[00:26:40] so there is no weird feeling like you were saying.

[00:26:44] Like I will just, you're gonna sit

[00:26:47] and I'm gonna go with a scanner

[00:26:49] and get the molds of your ears done in 3D

[00:26:54] and then it's a digital mold.

[00:26:56] Also, it's never gonna go bad

[00:26:58] so we'll have it forever and whenever you need.

[00:27:02] Yeah, plus it looks nice.

[00:27:03] You don't have this big bulky headphone on your head.

[00:27:08] I'm gonna have to hit you up Tiago

[00:27:10] get some custom in ears for me.

[00:27:13] So first thing, custom,

[00:27:15] I think that's to properly use in ears

[00:27:18] and block out some of the things

[00:27:19] that are going on around you, get custom molds.

[00:27:23] But let's say a church can't afford to get custom molds

[00:27:25] but they wanna switch to in ears

[00:27:27] because they just have a lot of stage noise

[00:27:29] and front of house needs to help.

[00:27:32] We'll love for front of house

[00:27:34] and get rid of some of that stage noise.

[00:27:35] So what are some other things

[00:27:37] that are important to properly using in ears?

[00:27:41] If you can, get the best that you can.

[00:27:45] There is like a universal fit.

[00:27:48] Okay, as long as it fits your ears.

[00:27:50] We have a line that was actually just released

[00:27:53] this NAMM a few months ago in NAMM 2024.

[00:27:58] That is we have three different models,

[00:28:01] the UE150, UE250 and UE350.

[00:28:07] Those are the models and they're great.

[00:28:09] They sound really good.

[00:28:11] They don't seal completely

[00:28:14] but it's one of the best fitting for your ears

[00:28:18] without being customs and they sound really good.

[00:28:22] Now, to answer your question a little better,

[00:28:24] I think one of the most important things that you can do

[00:28:28] is to learn how to properly use your in ears

[00:28:34] because sometimes you make an investment

[00:28:36] in buying something that is really good quality

[00:28:39] and then you get to church,

[00:28:42] you plug your in ears and they sound terrible.

[00:28:46] And that is because within that transition

[00:28:50] that was from wedges to in ears,

[00:28:54] there was never a real good transition

[00:28:58] in terms of teaching people, educating people.

[00:29:01] Hey, you're gonna have to sometimes create your own mix.

[00:29:07] And for me, because I work with production,

[00:29:10] it's a no brainer.

[00:29:11] I never needed to have an education about this

[00:29:15] when I got to the church to create my mix for my ears.

[00:29:19] That was an easy thing,

[00:29:20] but a lot of people struggle with that.

[00:29:22] Well, the first thing I would like to tell you is

[00:29:25] don't be afraid to ask for help.

[00:29:28] Your audio engineer will be more than happy to help.

[00:29:33] I hope so.

[00:29:34] But we're more than happy to help you create

[00:29:37] a good mix, a baseline mix.

[00:29:40] If you can, you need to have a stereo mix

[00:29:45] and I'm gonna probably get in trouble here

[00:29:47] with the tech team or not with the tech team,

[00:29:51] but like with the pastors,

[00:29:54] executive pastors of the church

[00:29:56] because that starts becoming a little more expensive

[00:29:59] to get the right gear for the church.

[00:30:03] A lot of the soundboards,

[00:30:05] they don't have enough auxiliars

[00:30:07] that will allow you to have multiple stereo mixes.

[00:30:13] But this is the right way to do it.

[00:30:15] When you have a mono mix,

[00:30:18] it's like buying a really nice 4K TV

[00:30:22] and watching in black and white.

[00:30:25] You have no perspective, no depth.

[00:30:28] So when you have a stereo mix,

[00:30:30] you create your mix and then you,

[00:30:32] for example, I'm singing and I play my guitar.

[00:30:35] So my voice is right here in the middle,

[00:30:39] but the BGV lady that is singing with me,

[00:30:42] she is gonna be like here

[00:30:45] and the other person on my right side is gonna be here.

[00:30:49] And then the drums, for example,

[00:30:52] the kick drum is gonna be dead center over here,

[00:30:55] but I'm gonna spread out the other things,

[00:30:57] the snare as well, snare's in the middle,

[00:31:00] but everything else is spread out.

[00:31:03] The electric guitar, which I'm not playing,

[00:31:05] is gonna be tucked in somewhere to the side.

[00:31:09] I'm gonna start spreading things in my mix.

[00:31:12] So not everything is here

[00:31:14] because when you hear everything in one place

[00:31:17] and you're trying to sing or play your instrument,

[00:31:20] you're gonna try to push your volume way high

[00:31:24] in order to hear yourself.

[00:31:25] I think that's where it comes down to,

[00:31:28] how many years do you have?

[00:31:30] Two.

[00:31:31] How do you naturally listen to things in the world?

[00:31:34] In stereo, you hear it left, right behind you.

[00:31:38] Immersive is a big word nowadays.

[00:31:41] That's how you naturally hear things.

[00:31:44] And I think when we talk about

[00:31:46] how to properly use in ears,

[00:31:47] it's a lot of times about volume mitigation,

[00:31:50] meaning how do I run my ears

[00:31:52] at the lowest volume that I can

[00:31:54] but yet still hear what I need to hear?

[00:31:57] And when you run things in stereo,

[00:31:59] you will naturally run things lower.

[00:32:01] When you're using both ears in,

[00:32:04] you will naturally run things lower.

[00:32:06] Keyboards, guitars, everything kind of panned in a way

[00:32:09] that is natural to what's happening on the platform.

[00:32:13] You will naturally run your in ears lower,

[00:32:16] which leads me to my next thing with you.

[00:32:19] I go to churches a lot of times

[00:32:21] and they pop one ear out.

[00:32:23] So talk a little bit about why that is so,

[00:32:27] I'll use the word dangerous.

[00:32:29] Maybe it's not dangerous

[00:32:30] but why it is not helpful for your ears and longevity.

[00:32:34] We'll put it that way.

[00:32:35] Well, you're absolutely right.

[00:32:38] You were saying we have two ears.

[00:32:41] And I usually, because I'm usually talking to people

[00:32:47] in the church area,

[00:32:50] I will say it is a sin to do one ear only

[00:32:55] because God gave you two ears

[00:32:58] and we need to honor God's purpose for your life.

[00:33:02] So take that into consideration.

[00:33:05] But basically when you take one ear out,

[00:33:09] you are gonna try to overcompensate the sound.

[00:33:14] So first of all, when you hear,

[00:33:17] and I know this, I'm a worship pastor.

[00:33:19] I wanna hear the congregation.

[00:33:21] I love hearing the room.

[00:33:22] It's very important for me.

[00:33:24] But if I take one ear out,

[00:33:27] now I'm gonna try to compensate in this ear

[00:33:30] what I hear on this side.

[00:33:32] And also even the sound that your body receives back,

[00:33:38] the vibrations of the sound,

[00:33:42] all of that is being trying to be computed

[00:33:46] in your mind and you're trying to make sense of it all.

[00:33:49] So you're gonna start pushing a lot of volume over here

[00:33:52] to compensate and make it even.

[00:33:56] So this ear is gonna be damaged

[00:33:59] in a lot of people they have ringing ears

[00:34:02] when they leave church because of that

[00:34:04] after playing all morning or a worship night.

[00:34:09] And I understand.

[00:34:10] So one of the things that I would like to tell people

[00:34:14] who like to pull one ear out,

[00:34:15] usually singers like that more than anybody else.

[00:34:19] The reason they do that, there are a few reasons.

[00:34:21] One of the reasons is I would say

[00:34:24] they probably got the wrong sound signature.

[00:34:27] They bought the wrong in-ear monitors for them

[00:34:29] and they just don't like how it sounds.

[00:34:33] And by the first song, second song, the ear's out.

[00:34:38] And you see this not only churches,

[00:34:39] you see this across, just watch any concert,

[00:34:43] you're gonna see the singer pulling one ear out.

[00:34:46] That's one thing.

[00:34:47] The other thing is at churches,

[00:34:51] we don't spend enough time mixing properly.

[00:34:56] So we don't really have a sound check,

[00:34:58] we have a line check, which is we get there,

[00:35:02] I can hear you, I can hear you,

[00:35:03] can hear, I can hear, okay, let's go.

[00:35:06] And then the click starts and we start the song.

[00:35:09] So it's really important to say,

[00:35:10] hey, hold on, I need to adjust my mix.

[00:35:13] This does not sound correctly.

[00:35:16] And if you don't,

[00:35:17] you're not gonna wanna keep both ears in.

[00:35:21] The only reason you're gonna keep one ear in

[00:35:23] is because there is a click in the guide

[00:35:25] telling you where to go

[00:35:26] and you wanna make sure you're singing

[00:35:27] with everybody else.

[00:35:28] The number one reason that I get

[00:35:30] that singers pull their ears out

[00:35:32] is they feel closed off

[00:35:34] to what's going on around them.

[00:35:36] And I think what Tiago's saying is

[00:35:39] longevity of one ear is the problem.

[00:35:42] You're just gonna crank it up.

[00:35:43] I get it, if you're up at the front of the platform

[00:35:46] and the crowd's clapping and you wanna get some of that,

[00:35:49] you may pull an ear out

[00:35:50] just to kinda hear what's going on

[00:35:52] or maybe the pastor walked up

[00:35:54] and they're not in your mix

[00:35:54] so you need to pull it out.

[00:35:56] We all understand that.

[00:35:57] We're not saying hey, plug it 24-7-365.

[00:36:01] But the more you can have that stereo mix

[00:36:04] in two ears will help you.

[00:36:06] But then when people say,

[00:36:07] hey, but everything just feels closed off to me,

[00:36:11] how do you fix that?

[00:36:13] How do you help them feel the crowd

[00:36:15] and hear the crowd and hear some of the things

[00:36:18] that they just feel like they can't hear

[00:36:19] when they got two ears in?

[00:36:21] There are a few different ways to work with that.

[00:36:23] One of them, Ultimeers, actually offers

[00:36:26] something called the ambient feature.

[00:36:29] So what we're gonna do,

[00:36:29] we're gonna make a hole,

[00:36:32] small hole in the bottom over here

[00:36:34] which is a canal that allows

[00:36:36] a little bit of the ambience to actually bleed in.

[00:36:42] I use that in all my in-ear monitors

[00:36:45] when I'm leading worship, I want that.

[00:36:48] It's not every church that I go to

[00:36:51] that's gonna have a good set up of ambient mics

[00:36:55] which is the next thing that I'm gonna talk about.

[00:36:58] So the ambient feature really helps.

[00:37:01] Is it enough?

[00:37:02] No, I could use a little more

[00:37:05] but it helps tremendously.

[00:37:07] This is why when Tiago says

[00:37:10] you gotta get the right in-ear for you,

[00:37:12] you wouldn't want a drummer to have the ambient feature.

[00:37:15] That is correct.

[00:37:16] He would want full seal

[00:37:18] but a singer may want it, right Tiago?

[00:37:20] So I think that's important for you to realize

[00:37:23] that the in-ear piece that you're getting changes

[00:37:27] depending on what your role is in the band.

[00:37:30] But this feature can be added on any of our models.

[00:37:34] Oh wow, very cool.

[00:37:35] It's just an add-on that we do and it's simple.

[00:37:39] So the next thing is, I would say,

[00:37:44] is the ambient mics.

[00:37:45] It's very important to have that.

[00:37:49] Earthworks makes amazing ambient mics.

[00:37:54] There are a lot of other options, honestly.

[00:37:57] You can try, but it is important

[00:38:00] to try to get a good ambient mic.

[00:38:02] And when you say ambient mic,

[00:38:04] you're talking a microphone that's not in the PA.

[00:38:08] A microphone that's only for your ears,

[00:38:11] that's picking up the audience

[00:38:13] and some of the things that you would naturally hear

[00:38:15] if you didn't have the in-ears in.

[00:38:17] That's what you're talking about, right?

[00:38:18] Sometimes it is also called crowd mics.

[00:38:24] People sometimes say that.

[00:38:26] Audience mics, crowd mics, yeah.

[00:38:29] So a few things about ambient mics

[00:38:31] that I would like to say.

[00:38:31] One, first of all, I'm not an auto engineer.

[00:38:35] They will probably speak better about that

[00:38:37] on how to properly set up mics.

[00:38:40] But people sometimes just put any kind of mic

[00:38:44] and they expect them to behave nicely.

[00:38:50] That is not always the case.

[00:38:52] Sometimes you're gonna set up a microphone

[00:38:55] and if you don't EQ that mic properly,

[00:38:59] if you don't compress the mic properly,

[00:39:03] and if you don't give enough level of the mic,

[00:39:08] it's not gonna sound good.

[00:39:11] What we're saying here is don't throw an SM58

[00:39:13] in the sound booth.

[00:39:14] I've seen it.

[00:39:17] Yeah, what's funny about that

[00:39:18] is the singers are up there singing

[00:39:21] and somebody in the sound booth

[00:39:22] starts to talk really loud.

[00:39:23] They hear it in their ears.

[00:39:25] It's the funniest thing in the world.

[00:39:27] Anyway, I got sidetracked.

[00:39:29] The other thing about ambient mics that for me

[00:39:31] is it is an experience that I've had

[00:39:35] just the best way that I've found.

[00:39:42] Most setups that you see of ambient mics

[00:39:45] are far right, far left.

[00:39:49] That's how they put the ambient mics.

[00:39:52] This is not my favorite

[00:39:53] and it is not the most effective in my opinion

[00:39:57] because that's not how we hear.

[00:40:00] Our ears, they don't hear that wide.

[00:40:03] We don't have that spectrum that wide.

[00:40:06] So the best setup in my experience for microphones

[00:40:10] are dead center on stage.

[00:40:12] I know it doesn't always look amazing,

[00:40:15] but you can get some small mics

[00:40:18] and maybe blend in with a little planter or something.

[00:40:21] I don't know, but that's the best setup

[00:40:23] if you can cross them so they're aligned properly.

[00:40:28] It's a, what is it called?

[00:40:30] Is it X, Y?

[00:40:31] Yeah, like the X, Y or the cross pattern.

[00:40:34] Yeah, you can also, a lot of times,

[00:40:37] the lip of the stage,

[00:40:38] you can hide it underneath the lip of the stage.

[00:40:40] You wanna be a little careful with that

[00:40:41] so you don't get the rumble and things of that nature.

[00:40:43] That's where EQ comes in

[00:40:45] trying to get rid of some of that low end rumble.

[00:40:48] Some people put them on the sides of the stage.

[00:40:52] It's a little bit more, looks better.

[00:40:55] But like you said, like Tiago said,

[00:40:58] it could throw the perspective off a little bit.

[00:41:02] I think the bottom line here though

[00:41:04] is have audience mics.

[00:41:06] It's important to have audience mics

[00:41:10] that are true ambient microphones,

[00:41:13] not vocal microphones as you just put out,

[00:41:15] but mics designed like AKG 414 or Earthworks

[00:41:20] makes a few models that are really nice

[00:41:23] to be used as audience mics

[00:41:25] and have those put into the mix

[00:41:28] so that the artist is more likely

[00:41:30] to leave their ears in.

[00:41:34] So I'm on wedges Tiago,

[00:41:36] and I'm trying to transition my team to in-ears.

[00:41:42] What's my best first step?

[00:41:44] The best thing that you can do

[00:41:46] is to make sure you have the right soundboard,

[00:41:48] the right equipment that is gonna be able to handle that.

[00:41:52] And I say this because if you don't,

[00:41:55] you're not gonna have enough monitor lines for the team,

[00:42:01] unless your church is just you and another player.

[00:42:05] You're gonna really lack that.

[00:42:06] So the first thing, if you're doing the church,

[00:42:09] you're gonna have to do that.

[00:42:11] Now, if the church is already set up

[00:42:15] to have that kind of thing,

[00:42:16] then your best thing you will be to make sure

[00:42:20] that you're gonna have,

[00:42:22] where are you gonna plug your in-ears, right?

[00:42:25] After you have your soundboard.

[00:42:28] A lot of people think that they need to have

[00:42:30] expensive wireless systems,

[00:42:34] which trust me, I am an advocate for wireless,

[00:42:39] good wireless systems.

[00:42:41] I will not use anything that is not Shure or Sennheiser,

[00:42:46] the good ones, because it can't,

[00:42:49] if you have this in your ears and they,

[00:42:51] for some reason the frequency gets out of sync

[00:42:55] in those wireless device, it can really mess you up.

[00:42:58] You can hear some really terrible noise in your ear

[00:43:03] and you don't want that.

[00:43:04] But I would say the cheap way to do this is to go wired.

[00:43:09] And if you're not a person that moves a lot on stage,

[00:43:12] for example, the keyboard player can go wired,

[00:43:16] the drummer can go wired,

[00:43:18] most likely the bass player can go wired.

[00:43:23] Electric guitar who has a pedal board

[00:43:25] is probably not gonna be going a lot of places,

[00:43:27] can go wired.

[00:43:29] That way you're gonna already save a lot of money.

[00:43:32] There are some great cheap options to do that.

[00:43:36] And then from there,

[00:43:37] you're gonna have to look for some good in-ear monitors

[00:43:40] and start learning on how to prepare your mix

[00:43:45] and use it.

[00:43:46] Yeah, so I think to recap,

[00:43:48] starts with the console, right?

[00:43:49] Make sure you have enough outputs

[00:43:51] to be able to run stereo,

[00:43:53] to be able enough inputs to get those audience mics

[00:43:56] into the console.

[00:43:58] And then what Tiago said, I think is important,

[00:44:01] like you don't have to go wireless out of the gate.

[00:44:03] Maybe you start with your band on in-ears,

[00:44:06] get them wired up and moving in the right direction.

[00:44:09] And then maybe you go wireless with your worship team.

[00:44:11] So you can kind of step into this a little bit.

[00:44:14] Yeah, I disagree with you

[00:44:15] on the electric guitar thing though.

[00:44:16] I've worked with a lot of electric guitar players.

[00:44:19] They're gonna have to be wireless.

[00:44:20] They like to run around and thrash

[00:44:22] and jump up and down.

[00:44:24] Sounds good.

[00:44:25] No, I'm not against that.

[00:44:26] I love that.

[00:44:27] I'm just saying if you wanna start with a low budget,

[00:44:31] which most people do,

[00:44:33] you're gonna have to learn how to use properly

[00:44:36] the resources that you have.

[00:44:37] I agree with you.

[00:44:38] I just, most electric guitar players have an ego.

[00:44:40] They have to be wireless.

[00:44:41] So Tiago, we talked a little bit about multiple drivers

[00:44:47] in the church tech tip segment.

[00:44:49] You hit on it a little bit here.

[00:44:53] Let's spend a little bit more time

[00:44:54] on the multiple driver side of things

[00:44:58] because I've bumped into singers that say,

[00:45:02] hey, I feel like it doesn't sound good

[00:45:04] because I don't have eight drivers

[00:45:05] or I don't have six drivers.

[00:45:07] And for me, I'll give you my opinion first.

[00:45:11] The instruments is where I tend to lean more

[00:45:13] towards the multiple drivers.

[00:45:16] Whereas the vocals,

[00:45:17] and this is where I'm gonna let you speak to it,

[00:45:20] how many drivers do the vocalists need

[00:45:23] in order to do what they've got to do out there

[00:45:26] and sing and be on tone, pitch and all that?

[00:45:29] I don't necessarily would say

[00:45:30] they need a specific number of drivers.

[00:45:34] I would say, I would still probably say,

[00:45:37] let's try to find what is the best,

[00:45:40] what kind of sound is gonna work for your ears best.

[00:45:44] With that being said,

[00:45:46] I have found that a lot of vocalists,

[00:45:50] they are, they found their sweet spot with three drivers,

[00:45:55] three or four drivers.

[00:45:57] That's where they usually are very happy.

[00:45:59] They like found, I got over here,

[00:46:02] this is what I wanna be.

[00:46:05] If you are a person who have critical hearing,

[00:46:09] who knows what you're doing,

[00:46:11] the more drivers you add just gives you more opportunity

[00:46:16] to put the mix in the right place.

[00:46:19] So then it doesn't, like, it really depends.

[00:46:22] So for example, I think our best seller is the UE 11.

[00:46:28] The UE 11, if you read online,

[00:46:30] is gonna say is for drummers and bass players.

[00:46:34] And I think that scares people a lot.

[00:46:38] That's the one that I'm using here

[00:46:39] and that's the one that I've been using.

[00:46:41] It was my first pair, the UE 11s.

[00:46:45] A lot of people use the UE 11s and they love it.

[00:46:48] Singers, they use the UE 11 or band

[00:46:52] and the UE 11 is four drivers

[00:46:57] and it sounds like a front house.

[00:47:01] It's a very full range.

[00:47:03] So that's what I think attracts people to it a lot.

[00:47:06] Now, if you go from up from there,

[00:47:08] it's the UE 18 plus,

[00:47:10] it's gonna have a different sound signature.

[00:47:13] Each time you go up in driver is not necessarily better.

[00:47:18] It can be better if you know what you're doing,

[00:47:21] if you are more experienced.

[00:47:25] Sometimes if you buy something that is very expensive

[00:47:27] but it's not gonna make sense

[00:47:29] because you didn't learn how to properly prepare

[00:47:32] what you need to prepare, it's not gonna make sense.

[00:47:34] So we have six drivers, we have eight drivers.

[00:47:39] The UE Live is great as well.

[00:47:42] And now we have a UE Premier with 21 drivers.

[00:47:47] I'll tell you a little bit of my first experience

[00:47:49] with the Premier.

[00:47:51] The week that we were releasing the Premier,

[00:47:54] I actually took them with me to church to lead

[00:47:58] and I'll tell you, I plugged it in on my mix

[00:48:03] that I already had used the previous week.

[00:48:06] And it was really hard for me

[00:48:12] because I wasn't thinking that I was gonna need more time

[00:48:16] to dial in the mix correctly.

[00:48:19] But it has so much separation

[00:48:22] that my mix that I usually use with the UE Live,

[00:48:26] which is eight drivers was not.

[00:48:30] It liked that UE Live thing there.

[00:48:33] Shot off fireworks behind you.

[00:48:35] But the mix that I was using with the UE Live

[00:48:38] did not work properly with the Premier.

[00:48:40] So what, at that day,

[00:48:42] I know that I had a terrible experience

[00:48:44] with my in-ear monitors.

[00:48:46] Should I go ahead and blame the UE Premier

[00:48:49] and say it's terrible in-ears?

[00:48:51] No, I didn't do my homework.

[00:48:54] I got to church, we only had three minutes

[00:48:57] to get things ready and get it going.

[00:49:00] The following week, I brought them back

[00:49:04] and I started my mix from the ground up.

[00:49:07] I zeroed everything and I started,

[00:49:10] and then I dialed in correctly.

[00:49:12] And then it was really, really amazing.

[00:49:15] So what I want you to learn from that experience

[00:49:20] is that the more drivers you have

[00:49:23] might require you to have more attention

[00:49:27] on how you're mixing.

[00:49:29] A lot of people, if you are singing,

[00:49:33] leading worship or on tour with an audio engineer

[00:49:37] that mixes your ears,

[00:49:39] that makes it a lot easier for everybody

[00:49:41] because that person is gonna be responsible to help you.

[00:49:45] But if you're responsible for doing yourself,

[00:49:48] then you need to own that and understand

[00:49:51] I need time to work on this thing

[00:49:53] and make sure it's dialed correctly.

[00:49:55] So those drivers, they can respond

[00:49:59] and give you the right sound that you're looking for,

[00:50:02] that you paid so much money to have.

[00:50:06] So that's basically it.

[00:50:08] The more drivers,

[00:50:09] the more attention you're gonna need

[00:50:12] to have with your mix,

[00:50:14] they're gonna sound amazing.

[00:50:15] I hear things on the UE Premiere

[00:50:18] that I've never heard anywhere.

[00:50:21] It's amazing the detail that you can hear,

[00:50:24] but it requires me to dial in correctly.

[00:50:26] Does that make sense?

[00:50:26] It does, and I think what you're basically saying

[00:50:29] is if you're a vocalist,

[00:50:31] you don't need 21 drivers.

[00:50:32] If you're a vocalist,

[00:50:33] you're probably fine with two or three.

[00:50:36] And then if you're a band member,

[00:50:37] maybe you need a little bit more,

[00:50:39] especially like the bass who wants to hear

[00:50:40] a little bit more detail.

[00:50:42] But at the end of the day,

[00:50:43] if you go from just the basic set

[00:50:46] to a three driver set to an eight driver set,

[00:50:49] allow time to remix it so that it sounds right.

[00:50:52] Because if you're a bass player

[00:50:53] and you're getting eight drivers now or 21 drivers,

[00:50:56] you're going to get more time

[00:50:59] or need more time to mix that

[00:51:01] because it's gonna sound different.

[00:51:03] It's gonna have a different tone.

[00:51:04] It's gonna have a different way

[00:51:05] that it comes across and things of that nature.

[00:51:07] But talking about the mix there,

[00:51:10] I'm on the platform, I'm singing.

[00:51:13] You mentioned earlier,

[00:51:15] they talk to singers and they have like click,

[00:51:18] guide, acoustic guitar, and themselves.

[00:51:21] And typically themselves is cranked up like 150 dB.

[00:51:25] But talk for a little bit about

[00:51:28] what do I need in my mix to be successful?

[00:51:32] So I'm looking out there

[00:51:33] at the front of house audio engineer,

[00:51:35] he's mixing for me.

[00:51:36] I'm a small church.

[00:51:38] He's a volunteer, she's a volunteer.

[00:51:40] What do I need to get in my mix to be successful?

[00:51:44] Do I need the full 40 channels in my mix?

[00:51:49] Because in my opinion,

[00:51:50] that can start to muddy things up

[00:51:52] and make it difficult to do

[00:51:54] what you need to do as a singer.

[00:51:56] Or we'll talk from a singer's perspective.

[00:52:00] What exactly do I need in my mix to be successful?

[00:52:03] Okay, from a singer's perspective,

[00:52:07] I have found that for pitch reference,

[00:52:12] I sing in better pitch every time I can hear

[00:52:18] the bass well mixed in my ears.

[00:52:22] Not extra loud, just in the right place.

[00:52:27] That's what it gives me the best pitch reference.

[00:52:29] And a lot of people don't think that's the case.

[00:52:33] The other day I was asked to mix from the house

[00:52:37] for a church and I did it.

[00:52:39] And then I, from the house was sounding good

[00:52:42] and it was before the service started.

[00:52:44] And I start checking people's mixes

[00:52:46] to hear what they had in the mix.

[00:52:47] And this one singer, she was singing a little bit sharp

[00:52:51] and I could not believe it.

[00:52:52] She only had a little bit of the click,

[00:52:55] her voice and guitar.

[00:52:56] And I'm like, oh Lord.

[00:52:58] So I didn't tell her anything.

[00:53:00] I literally just start mixing for her

[00:53:01] and starting some stuff, adding some stuff for her.

[00:53:05] So I added the bass, I added a little bit of the keys

[00:53:08] and I give a little bit of drums,

[00:53:10] not exaggerating, a little bit,

[00:53:14] just so she could be singing with the right tempo

[00:53:18] and feel natural.

[00:53:20] Sometimes if you don't have drums playing in your ears

[00:53:23] because you feel like,

[00:53:23] oh that's gonna bother me too much

[00:53:26] and you only have the click, it doesn't sound natural.

[00:53:29] You start singing a lot more mechanically.

[00:53:32] And if you're behind when you're singing,

[00:53:35] it's hard to grab pitch and tone.

[00:53:38] But it was amazing to see that a little bit of,

[00:53:40] adding a little bit of the band,

[00:53:42] a little bit of the bass.

[00:53:44] And I didn't exaggerate,

[00:53:47] like I would probably do more for me.

[00:53:50] I added a little bit, but it fixed her pitch.

[00:53:54] Like within few seconds,

[00:53:56] she was able to get the reference that she needed.

[00:53:59] So I think it's important for,

[00:54:01] when I start my mix, the first thing that I do,

[00:54:05] first of all is just to,

[00:54:07] if I'm starting from the ground up,

[00:54:09] I get the master volume and I go to probably like 90%

[00:54:16] on the master volume, not on the bell pack.

[00:54:19] If I'm mixing somewhere else,

[00:54:21] like on the iPad or something like this.

[00:54:25] And then I will go,

[00:54:28] I start adding the channels that I need.

[00:54:30] And the first thing that I add is drums.

[00:54:32] I put the drums where I feel like they need to be

[00:54:34] not too loud, just in the right place.

[00:54:37] And then I add the click track

[00:54:39] and then I see where they are in reference with the drums.

[00:54:42] And then I will use sometimes because I lead worship,

[00:54:46] I wanna know where things are.

[00:54:47] I will add a little bit of the tracks.

[00:54:50] I don't do all the tracks.

[00:54:52] If they're coming together, sure,

[00:54:54] I will have to put them all,

[00:54:56] but I don't use a lot of it.

[00:54:58] It's just a tiny so I can have a reference.

[00:55:01] But if they come separately, I don't use them all.

[00:55:04] I just do a little bit of what I feel like I need

[00:55:08] from the tracks.

[00:55:09] And then for example, things that bother me in the tracks,

[00:55:13] if they're too much,

[00:55:16] sometimes you have a synth bass in the tracks

[00:55:20] that is just unnecessary for me from what I'm doing.

[00:55:24] So I don't add that kind of stuff

[00:55:26] or percussion that are pre-recorded.

[00:55:29] I don't necessarily add that to my mix.

[00:55:32] And then I'll start adding my guitar,

[00:55:35] my voice and people around me.

[00:55:37] Depends on how many BGVs you have,

[00:55:39] I don't add them all.

[00:55:41] I will have maybe two BGVs singing along with me.

[00:55:45] If I have six people singing, I don't need them all.

[00:55:48] I only need maybe two to help me sing along.

[00:55:52] Yeah, to give you reference.

[00:55:54] I mean, it sounds like you add

[00:55:55] a little bit of rhythm in there,

[00:55:57] get some bass so that you can get

[00:55:58] the right low end tone to it,

[00:56:00] keyboard so that you can understand

[00:56:02] what key you're in, pitch, tone, all that.

[00:56:05] And then some singers, maybe soprano,

[00:56:08] whatever you need to kind of keep yourselves

[00:56:11] singing together and with each other.

[00:56:14] But you definitely don't need everything.

[00:56:17] And I think that's key,

[00:56:20] especially if you're mixing yourself

[00:56:22] and you have the ability to kind of

[00:56:23] just bring yourself up.

[00:56:26] You wanna be able to mix some things in there

[00:56:28] that'll help you perform well.

[00:56:30] Also, be careful and be mindful

[00:56:33] of how much ambient mic you're gonna add to the mix.

[00:56:38] Because when you get to church,

[00:56:41] there is nobody in the audience

[00:56:43] and you're adding ambient and it's probably,

[00:56:46] it probably becomes very, everything becomes very,

[00:56:49] the room becomes very big.

[00:56:51] And people get there and the sound will change.

[00:56:54] The sound will change for many, many reasons

[00:56:57] because people are dead.

[00:56:58] There are a lot of bodies there

[00:56:59] assimilating the sound.

[00:57:02] But also the ambient mics are gonna change.

[00:57:04] So you need to learn,

[00:57:06] maybe you didn't do it right for this one service,

[00:57:09] you can fix for the following service

[00:57:11] or for the future reference,

[00:57:14] you know, oh, I need to have a little less

[00:57:17] for when the service actually starts.

[00:57:19] Yeah, audience mics are important

[00:57:21] but they can also get you in trouble pretty quickly.

[00:57:24] They can make your mix washy

[00:57:25] or the audience is so loud that you can't,

[00:57:29] you can't follow the actual band.

[00:57:31] So it's good to give you reference to the room

[00:57:34] but you don't want it to overpower the mix.

[00:57:37] Which is why if you have the ability to use compression

[00:57:40] and things of that nature,

[00:57:41] it'll help you on the audience side of things,

[00:57:44] being able to kind of hear what's going on.

[00:57:47] So Tiago, tell our audience again

[00:57:50] if they wanna get in touch with you.

[00:57:51] You have a lot of knowledge and experience.

[00:57:53] It sounds like you help everybody through the process.

[00:57:56] How do they get ahold of you

[00:57:58] and how do they buy ultimate ears?

[00:57:59] You can reach me at myinears.com.

[00:58:05] There is a chat, a live chat

[00:58:08] that will usually ping directly on my phone

[00:58:11] and I'll be able to chat with you.

[00:58:13] You can also, there is a phone number

[00:58:16] that you can call, is gonna call me directly.

[00:58:20] I will leave a link with David,

[00:58:24] he can put on YouTube the link

[00:58:26] that you're gonna have my full contact

[00:58:28] and you can download on your phone and save

[00:58:30] and you can reach out to me at any time.

[00:58:32] I'd love to help talk to you.

[00:58:34] If you have any specific questions,

[00:58:37] maybe for your church or for how you're using

[00:58:41] India monitors, I would love to help.

[00:58:43] You don't have to necessarily buy.

[00:58:45] You can just call me to get to know me

[00:58:47] and talk to me, ask questions.

[00:58:49] You can also ask questions about other gear around,

[00:58:55] India monitors or any gear in church

[00:58:57] that we usually use.

[00:58:58] I will be able to give you some pointers

[00:59:02] and I'd love to help for sure.

[00:59:04] So if you're watching this on YouTube,

[00:59:06] just go to myinears.com

[00:59:09] or you can go into the notes section.

[00:59:11] There'll be a contact link for Tiago.

[00:59:14] Again, that's myinears.com.

[00:59:17] He will hook you up and make sure you get what you need.

[00:59:20] You can also go to Instagram

[00:59:23] and follow him at myinears.

[00:59:27] Tiago, thank you for coming on and educating our audience

[00:59:30] on in-ears and how to use them.

[00:59:32] Pleasure.

[00:59:33] Well, that wraps things up for today's episode.

[00:59:35] I can't wait to talk to you

[00:59:37] on the next Tech Arts Podcast.

[00:59:38] Until then, I'm David Leuchner,

[00:59:40] signing off by wishing you a great day

[00:59:43] and praying God blesses every moment of your week.

[00:59:46] See you soon.

[00:59:47] You have been listening to the Tech Arts Podcast

[00:59:50] presented by Digital Great Commission Ministries.

[00:59:53] DGCM is a 501c3 nonprofit

[00:59:56] that was started to help churches

[00:59:58] with all things technical.

[00:59:59] Whether you need help building a team,

[01:00:01] finding the right gear,

[01:00:02] or just a better understanding of the church tech world,

[01:00:05] DGCM is here for you.

[01:00:07] Find out more about our free onsite visits,

[01:00:10] reports and consulting

[01:00:12] by going to audiovideolighting.com.

[01:00:15] Digital Great Commission Ministries

[01:00:17] will help you run your church service like a pro.

[01:00:20] Find out more at audiovideolighting.com.