"My problem with regular in-ears was that I couldn't hear my rig," he explains. "The ambient system lets me dial in that outside world, as much of it as I need. Now I have a full band mix from monitor world, plus I can hear my whole rig, including the effects. It's the perfect thing for guitarists."
When REO Speedwagon decided to move to IEMs several years ago, Amato was far from enthusiastic. "Originally, I fought against it, because I knew I needed to hear my amp," he recalls. "So like a lot of guys, I ended up using only one ear on stage. In fact, I used to cut off one earpiece. But that meant my stage mix was mono, and I had to turn it up pretty loud to hear everything. When I developed ringing in one ear, I knew I had to find another solution."
The risk to hearing health from wearing only one earpiece is considerable. Not only does this expose the open ear to uncontrolled stage volume, but the artist must also turn up the volume of the single in-ear monitor to compensate.
Sensaphonics founder and president Dr. Michael Santucci explains, "This is actually one of the biggest dangers to hearing health in touring sound today. People think of in-ear monitors as hearing protection, but when they remove one earpiece, they are actually putting themselves at greater risk of excessive exposure. By allowing the performer to hear both the in-ear mix and stage sound with both earpieces in place, the 3D Active Ambient is the only system that addresses this issue."
The Sensaphonics 3D system uses tiny microphones embedded in soft silicone custom earphones to pick up stage sound and lets the artist add it to the monitor mix as desired. It proved to be the right solution for Dave Amato. "At first, I had to have it explained to me, because it really is a different technology from regular in-ears," says Amato. "But when I put them on for the demo, I was like, 'wow, this is amazing.' I knew I had to have them. Now I just wish I had done it sooner."
(Jim Evans)
