- In this video you're gonna learn everything
you need to know about custom in-ear monitoring.
My friend Johnny from Alclair stopped by the church
front office to talk about the benefits
of custom in-ear monitors.
He also shares a bunch of advice on how to select
the right model with the right amount of drivers for you.
And then finally, because I need to order custom
in-ear monitors, we walk through the whole process
of creating impressions, designing the look
of the in-ear monitoring, and then finally,
placing the order.
So if you are interested in custom in-ear monitors
make sure you watch this video to the end
because you'll understand why these
are such a great tool for any musician,
and you'll also know how to go about
ordering some for yourself.
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My name is Jake Gosselin,
I'm the creator of Churchfront.com,
an online resource for innovative
and creative church leaders.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
and hit the notification bell so you can continue to receive
all of our latest content to help you grow yourself
and grow your church.
And also make sure to check out the show notes
below this video for some free resources
and tools for your worship ministry.
So the overall purpose of this video is to number one
help educate you about the benefits
of custom in-ear monitors.
And then number two, just show you the whole process
step by step at how you go about getting some
made for yourself.
Because it's a little bit more complicated
than just going to a store, going to Amazon,
and placing an order.
For most of the time that I've been using in-ear monitoring
in a worship ministry environment, I've just been using
universal fit in-ear headphones.
I've used the Shure SE315 headphones and unfortunately
a few weeks ago the wire on these headphones broke
and I'll probably have to go ahead
and just get that cable replaced
so these can become my backup headphones.
But I thought that was kind of good excuse to start looking
into some other options for in-ear monitoring.
I've always wanted custom in-ear monitors,
but I just never really made the time or effort
to go get some made for myself.
And honestly I've never really felt like spending
the extra money on custom in-ears
because they do cost more than the universal fit.
So I finally bit the bullet and decided
to get some custom in-ear monitors.
And I wanna take you along this journey
as I learn about the benefits of custom in-ear monitors
and I decide which ones are right for me.
Johnny is one of the representatives for AlClair
and he lives in Denver.
So that means if you live in a city
with one of the representatives,
so currently they're in Denver, Minneapolis, and Nashville,
their sales reps will come to you
so you can demo the in-ear monitors
and get those custom impressions made
which you'll see later in this video.
But before you try to select the right model
of custom in-ear monitors for yourself,
it's first important to understand the benefits
of custom in-ear monitors versus just universal fit ones.
So here's what Johnny had to say about that.
- Well the biggest thing is it closes off
amount of volume coming in.
So stage volume, like you see in a lot of churches,
they have drum cages.
They're trying to reduce the stage volume,
so if people are using wedges of if they're universal fit,
they're great that their on ears,
that's like a great step,
but custom really seals out all the outside noise coming in.
So it's really you're focusing on what you need to hear
and not everything else going on around you.
And some people do, they're like,
I wanna hear all the ambience, I wanna do this.
It's like the quickest and easiest step to get that
is doing through mics.
Without damaging your ears.
And that's another thing, it's gonna save your hearing along
down the road so you'll be able to do
what you're doing for a lot longer.
- The next thing I wanted to understand more about
custom in-ear monitors is driver count.
Because when I went on Alclair's website
and I started shopping through the different models
of their in-ears, I noticed that the more drivers,
the more expensive the headphone.
So here's what Johnny had to say about drivers.
- A driver is essentially just a speaker.
So everything that we do is micro obviously
because we have to fit components into your ear.
So essentially a driver is just a speaker,
we have a woofer, a mid-range, and a tweeter.
So that's just how, that's how you identify them as drivers.
And the difference between them is just
the different frequency ranges.
So you're able to hear a woofer, obviously is low-end,
like sub-lows all that kind of thing.
Mid-range is that mid-range frequency
and the highs is, the tweeter is the high range.
So that's really the difference between drivers.
And the industry unfortunately went to the more drivers
the betters, but that's really not the case.
It's really what you need to hear.
You have more drivers you're gonna have more distinction
in frequencies but not like a crazy amount.
Like after four or five drivers you really can't tell
where or what's going on.
It's clear for sure, but it's not like a huge, huge change.
- So now that you understand the benefits of in-ear monitors
and the role of drivers within in-ear monitors,
it's time to make some custom in-ear impressions.
The primary custom aspect of these headphones
is that they're only going to fit you once they are made.
And in order for this to happen,
there needs to be a custom impression
made of your ear canal.
Cause you're gonna send that impression
to Alclair's headquarters where they manufacture
the in-ear monitors, and they're not gonna be able
to make those until they have your custom impression.
And there's a couple ways
you can get a custom in-ear impression done.
For most of you, you'll have to Google search
for an audiologist or a hearing aid center
in your local area.
But if you are in Denver, Nashville, or Minneapolis,
you can contact Alclair and one of their reps
can meet up with you,
not only to make the custom impressions,
but they can also demo for you all of the different
models of headphones that they have.
That's what Johnny did for me.
One thing to make sure to do before you meet with
one of Alclair's reps is to get your ears cleaned out.
Johnny was able to clean out of the wax in my ears for me.
And a little bit of wax in your ears is fine,
but I had walls of wax that were obstructing
my eardrums and my ears.
And when he took them out, I cannot believe
how much better I could hear.
- So you actually have a lot of wax build up.
- Oh great.
- I can take it out though maybe.
Which is actually really normal.
- Yeah.
- Do you want me to try to take it out?
- Yeah sure. - Kay.
This is a monster.
(laughing)
You're freaked out. - That is.
Oh my gosh.
But dude, like I, literally, I feel like
my hearing right now.
I just can't believe how much
I can hear like high sounds now.
Ahh, oh gross.
So after the disgusting but satisfying experience
of getting my ears cleaned out,
Johnny was finally able to create the impressions.
- This is a foam block.
What it's gonna do is it's gonna protect your eardrum.
Alright now we do the impression.
- Okay.
- I'll have you bite down on this.
This just opens up your ear canals.
- Like this?
- So when you sing it doesn't break seal.
- Okay.
- Alright here we go.
You're gonna go silent.
(clicking)
Alright you can go ahead and take that out.
- Here is the custom mold.
That was the foam on the end to protect my eardrum.
So we got one for each ear.
So once the impressions are made,
then I would focus on finding the right model
of custom in-ear monitors for yourself.
The best place to browse through the different models
of custom in-ear monitors is at alclair.com.
So when you get to alclair.com
go to the monitor shop
and you'll be able to scroll through their different models.
And as I mentioned earlier, usually the more drivers
equals the most money.
And since I met up with Johnny in person
I was able to demo these different models
that they have available.
You must spend so much of your life
watching people struggle putting.
- I do, and it's kind of funny not gonna lie.
(laughing)
Sometimes like I'm gonna let you struggle first.
- Oh yeah.
There's so much more bass.
- Yeah, that's what I get all the time to.
- I like them a lot man, they're awesome.
- There's yelling.
That's why I don't meet in coffee shops anymore.
- And you probably struggle with people yelling at you.
- Yeah.
That is the main reason why I stopped meeting
in coffee shops.
(laughing)
It's cause people just sit here and start yelling like.
- They're so amazing. - I don't know this.
- I love Alclair monitors.
It's like the best, just like word of mouth screaming
marketing for you right there. - Yup.
Yeah seriously.
- My personal price range was between $500 and $1000.
But just for kicks and giggles
I did listen to some that were less expensive
and more expensive than that.
So first I demoed the dual driver headphones that they have,
I believe it was the dual dual driver.
And these headphones boost the upper-mids
so they're great for vocalists and lead singers.
They don't have a lot of bass to them,
but the extra boost in mids will help your voice
really cut through the mix so you can hear yourself well.
That's really important for any vocalist.
Next I tried their tour triple driver.
So this has three drivers in it
and this one has a really well balanced sound.
It had more bass to it but it still had those upper mids
that were cutting through the mix.
Next I tried the RSM quad drivers
and I really like the balanced sound
that these headphones had.
I prefer monitors that have a flatter balance
across the frequency ranges,
and then I can just boost or cut different aspects
of the EQ as I like.
And then finally I tried a pair of the revx ten driver
in-ear monitors, and this was just for fun.
I really don't want or need $1500 custom in-ear headphones.
But it was a lot of fun to just hear them
and they did sound amazing.
After demoing all the different models of in-ear monitors,
I went with the RSM quad drivers.
They were within my budget,
and really the only difference between those
and like the triple tour drivers
is having just a more balanced sound
across the lows, mids, and highs.
Not only am I using in-ear monitors
for leading worship every Sunday,
but I also do a lot of video editing
and post-production work and it's good for me to hear
what is truly coming from whatever device I'm listening to.
Selecting the right model of in-ear models is up to you.
First it's up to your budget.
I really don't think you can go wrong
with anything from Alclair in any budget and price range,
they really do make a quality product.
So if you can only afford the dual driver headphones,
go ahead and just get them.
But if you have the budget for in-ear monitors
with six to ten drivers in them,
by all means, go ahead and get them.
But in the end it comes down to what you like best
and what sounds good to you.
So if you are in Denver, Nashville, or Minneapolis,
I highly recommend meeting up with one of the Alclair reps
to demo these different models.
And just make sure you go to Alclair's website
and they're gonna teach you more about selecting
the right model for you if you're not able
to demo them in person.
Once I had my model of custom in-ears selected,
I went ahead and designed the look.
I'm a pretty minimalistic guy when it comes to design,
I like darker colors, so with the shells of the headphones
I went with smoke, and with the faceplates
I went with the bubinga wood.
I'm confident these are gonna look so sharp
when I finally get them.
So the last thing I need to do is just send Alclair
my in-ear molds that Johnny made for me today.
And then within a few weeks
I'll receive my RSM quad driver headphones, I cannot wait.
Johnny, pleasure doing business with you as always.
- Oh you too man.
- Thank so much, so. - Alright.
- Everybody make sure you go to check out alclair.com
and Johnny is actually gonna hook you guys up
with a special 10% discount for the folks
who are subscribed to the Churchfront channel.
All that information is below in the description
if you want some custom in-ears for yourself
and you wanna take advantage of that discount.
So thanks so much Johnny, appreciate it brother.
- Yeah man.
You have a good one. - See ya.
I hope you found this video helpful
in going about the process of selecting
the right custom in-ears for yourself,
designing them, and ordering them.
If you're a worship leader
and you're using in-ear monitoring,
then you need to know about Ableton Live.
It's the number one worship leading software.
Not only can you run a click in tracks with Ableton,
but you can also automate ProPresenter
and lighting software.
You can enroll in my free training
lead worship with Ableton by clicking the link
in the description of this video.
Thank you so much for watching this video.
If you found it helpful hit that thumbs up button
and share it with your friends in ministry.
You can check out some related videos right over here
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