CLEAR TUNE MONITORS

During MM's last tour with 30STM, I was having trouble with my right in-ear monitor; it was "shorting-out," that is, the cable was not making the proper connection and cutting in-and-out (not a good thing while on stage!). This is one of the most frustrating things, and it's extremely difficult to play when your music and your cues are sporadically firing and miss-firing. This was not the first time I had trouble with the cabling of these particular in-ear monitors; namely, on the Armistice Fall Tour, I did over half the tour with just generic Shure E5s.

Fortunately, on the 30STM, I ran into a friend who told me he could help me with my monitoring problem. He was making and designing his own in-ear monitors (with a company called  CLEAR TUNE MONITORS). I was skeptical at first because this type of product is no easy thing to do, but I heard him out.

We got in touch later at another MM show, where backstage he made the custom-fit molds in order to design me a triple driver mold and a re-mold [or "over-mold"] of my generic E5s; that is, he took my back-up Shure E5s (which only have a generic ear piece, like any over-the-counter earbud) and created a custom-fitted mold for them. Genius! Now, for a super low cost, I had an amazing, reliable, new in-ear mold with a pair of great custom-fit back-ups.

Below is a picture of me going through the molding process, which will stay on electronic file:

Well, today came the "moment of truth" because up to this point, I had only used my E5 re-molds (specifically for the Rock al Parque show in Colombia), which worked and sounded wonderful. However, I still hadn't experienced his brand of in-ears until today, and I am absolutely blown away with my triple driver in-ears! Triple-driver means that there are three miniature speakers inside the mold that handles different ranges of frequencies (namely, the high, mids, and lows).

I remember being really excited the day my first set of custom in-ears came in (around 2006 while on the road with MM), but this triple driver has completely trumped that experience!

These new in-ears have made me want to listen to music non-stop all day. I've been "rediscovering" all favorite recordings and enjoying this deep, multi-dimensional aural experience. So, I had to extend this experience to my other favor form of expression: writing. Thanks for listening.

Next stop: Japan, Fuji Rock Fest.

Check them out by the way; they are super affordable products and it's not just for professional musicians (great stuff for iPod users, etc.)  CLEAR TUNE MONITORS.