IEM ALD? (couldn't find in glossary/FAQ/elsewhere)

[WXB]

I couldn't find any info on the "IEM ALD" post type anywhere and I have no idea what it means. The other types are fairly self-explanatory and/or have a descriptive tooltip but the tooltip for this type just shows "IEM/ALD".

Can someone please explain or point me to a reference? Also, is it possible to add this to the glossary and update the tooltip to something more descriptive in order to help others seeking this info?

Note that this is not a complaint as I'm greatly appreciative of all the contributions that go into this site. :worship:

[U2Lynne]

IEM - In Ear Monitor - this is what is broadcast to the musicians in those ear pieces you see them wear. Very ofter it is different for each musician and so the text file may say which of the musicians IEM the broadcast was taken from

ALD - Assisted Listening Device - this is what is broadcast to the user in the audience who is hard of hearing and picks up a special set of headphones from the venue

[rspencer]

What Lynne said.

They will both be sourced off of the board, but not a pure feed.

IEM will vary according to what that musician wanted in his monitor mix.
ALD will often be a bit lighter on bass frequencies, as those are more easily heard (and felt) by people with hearing loss, i.e. the people for whom ALDs were designed.

[Unidecker]

i have a bunch of old dead recordings done with the iem's and they are funny as heck to hear jerry and phil making fun of the crowd and people in the first few rows like jerry says " hey look at that guy is he dressed as a clown or is it halloween again" phil says " no he wears that every day and giggles..lol

[LeifH12345]

Do ALDs have a special jack like the old airplane ones or just a normal 1/8" / 1/4"?

I've never used one

[Unidecker]

1/8 mini

[Audioarchivist]

I've seen some ALD devices that were infrared wireless headphones with the IR receiver mounted on the headband - there was no jacks or plugs to tap into. I am not sure if that's typical or not. I have seen another that could be used easily with 1/8 mini stereo plugs that would easily line in to our recorders.

I wouldn't pick recording an ALD feed over a good audience pull, but I'd definitely tape it WITH the audience pull with the aim of matrixing them!

[LeifH12345]

I was going to do it for some comedy shows in NY but I went with my mics instead. Didn't want to compromise the recordings having no experience with ALDs.

[jcrab66]

I've had good success with both...

[hoserama]

ALDs tend to be low signal strength and can be very susceptible to static/drops. The receiver actually uses the ground wire of your headphone (or audio cable if patching into a deck) as an antenna, and can sometimes pick up interference from the SD card write if you have a regular SD-card recorder. Plus often times the feeds are very compressed.

Although sometimes, and certain venues, they can shine as recording opportunities. Usually requires you to sit next to the transmitter. There's one festival show I hit frequently where they setup the transmitter right near the soundboard...so I always relocate over there. Pretty much a mono soundboard for the show.