Edge's headphones!

[discothequeLP]

I think i've found the headphones Edge has been using on the Vertigo Tour:



http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4-ifu.aspx




for $300 i could buy the U2 iPod

 

[U2FanPeter]

I bet Edge uses a new set for every show.

 

[darthhawk125]

are you sure The Edge uses Etys?

I myself have a pair, the cheaper er6i's

I found most gigging professionals to use either ultimate ears or shure phones for their monitors.

but if he does use etys, thats pretty cool.

 

[discothequeLP]

i'm just goin' by looks. . . and they look like the ones

 

[darthhawk125]

Hmm

from the looks of it, they definitely are the Ety ER4s

I'm surprised to know The Edge himself uses etymotics. I've been an ety fan when i got my er6i's

I would recommend them to anyone looking to get the best sound out of their digital music players. I've certainly got my money's worth: they sound amazing.

If you gig, then you should go for the ER4s , as the ER6i's are meant for casual music listening.

 

[U2FanPeter]

Would Edge be able to hear ambient audience noise better with the current model?

 

[gragravar]

I recall reading an interview with Joe O'Whatsisname (sound guy for U2) that said that this tour everyone in U2 was using Shure in-ears except Edge who was using Etys, so the above is probably right. Also, the whole point of in-ear monitoring is to block ambient sound so the less that gets through the better. However it is common practice for sound/monitor engineers mixing in pro venues to dot a few microphones about the place to pick up crowd noise and mix this ambient noise into the headphone mix to give the band a sense of how they are going over, the degree of sonic isolation that the in-ears confers is such that otherwise the band might have no idea whatsoever what the heck is going on in their audience.

 

[darthhawk125]

These isolator/monitors can only block out about 36db of sound, and im sure at a U2 show, the audience can be hell of a lot louder than 36db, even w/o the crowd microphones.

 

[U2FanPeter]

The audience may be over 36 db, but they also still have floor monitors when they are on the mainstage(save Bono's teleprompter)

u2fp

 

[ntalwar]

Here's some stuff I found online on the U2 Vertigo monitors (ear and stage):

The IEM systems in use are a Sennheiser combination of new G2 series and older 3000 series transmitter/receivers. "After some A/B comparison, the vocals and guitars seem to sound better with the older units, and the newer units seem to have a much cleaner, punchier sound for the bass guitar," said Skaff. "Larry is also on a new G2 system when he’s wandering around the stage and he has a hardwired one when he’s sitting at the drum kit."

Future Sonics Ear Monitors are worn by Bono, Clayton and Mullen Jr., although Edge has been experimenting with some unidentified consumer ear pieces given to him by producer Steve Lillywhite who, like Brian Eno, Flood and Daniel Lanois on previous tours, has been travelling with the band to offer his own advice on approaches to replicating studio sounds in the live domain.

Skaff adds, "But Marty Garcia from Future Sonics, who has worked with us for some time, has been out on the tour and after discussion with us, he's come up with some new custom ear pieces that we hope might offer a better solution for Edge for the length of the tour." [I tried these out myself on my iPod and I immediately noticed an incredibly smooth bass response.]

Despite the in-ear activity, wedges are still in evidence but the stage count is considerably smaller these days. On a previous stadium tour, the band used around 65 wedges. For Vertigo, there are two Clair 12AMII wedges for Bono, two 212AMs for Edge, one 12AMII by the piano, two ML18 subs for Mullen Jr., and a 212AM, a P4 and two ML18s for Clayton.

So the on-stage sound is a lot quieter then? "A lot quieter, yeah," replied Skaff. "The wedges are basically there for some localized low end support, and what you mostly hear onstage is coming from the house. A lot of that house stuff coming back in the microphones is very usable and it's become a big part of the mix I’m doing for Larry and Adam. I’m just mixing slightly into or behind the guitar levels coming back from the room. The drum kit overheads are very hot, it’s very open and I only have gates on the kick drum. Sam does a great job with Larry's kit and it's sounding excellent."
The simple approach governs Skaff's choice of outboard processing. "It's my standard collection of M5000, SPX990, 480L and TC 1128s. I figured if I was mixing analog I’d stay with the whole analog world."

 

[tpsglick2424]

why does U2 have to have stage monitors when they have ear monitors?

 

[TheEdge U2JT]

As a back up system if the in-ears fail. Same reason Dallas Schoio keep a small board with a few pedals on it below the stage. It's all for CYA.