monitor board for live in-ear setup?

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producerkid

New member
hey guys i need your opinion(s) on a good in-ear mixer with options/quality vs price in mind.

i need five seperate mixes/aux and the ability to pass every channel to FOH pretty much untoutched if thats possible. just got into the world of IEM and so far i'm lovin it but to hell with having someone mix my ears for me (one show down that way...worked out but it sucked in terms of quality of mix).

as of right now we use an old Peavery Unity 16 channel board at the rehearsal room which has two auxes, two monitor sends, and a main mix. i flatline the main mix and use the right side of the pan controls for my gains on that mix.

it works well enough but...eh...the whole mix seems to change whenever one of the guys on the monitor sends changes HIS mix.

so what are my options?

i can make a fan rigged with TRS connectors having the tip and ring shorted on one end going to XLR on the other end. i can then use the TRS side of the fan in the inserts on a board with the right send configuration to get our signals to FOH.

buuuuut.....isnt that kinda dirty? or would that be a viable option?

the only other thing i can think of is something purpose made but price is definately an issue.

budget: $500

oh yeah.....a guy we know has a mackie monitor board (rack mount) with the fanouts already made up but he wants $1k for just the board.

so the REAL question is....can i get out cheaper, or should we just lump it up and buy the damn mackie for a grand?

sorry for the bellowing. lol

thanks d00ds
 
producerkid said:
i need five seperate mixes/aux and the ability to pass every channel to FOH pretty much untoutched if thats possible.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much ass backward from the correct way of doing it. The signals should be sent "from" the FOH board "to" the monitor board where they can be manipulated with no affect on the FOH. Trying to do it backward will only result in extra noise, distortion, and a pissed off soundman.
 
ocnor said:
That's pretty much ass backward from the correct way of doing it. The signals should be sent "from" the FOH board "to" the monitor board where they can be manipulated with no affect on the FOH. Trying to do it backward will only result in extra noise, distortion, and a pissed off soundman.
Click to expand...

This is not always true, at shows where there is a separate monitor board the signal is split so that both the FOH board and the Monitor board have seperate signals. Some dedicated Monitor boards have splits built in so that the stage signals are plugged into the monitor board and there is an out (split) on each channel that is not effected by the monitor board in any way that go to the FOH. I remember that we had a Peavey Monitor board that had this feature.

I would split every channel at the stage and run a dedicated monitor board for the in ears, that way you have control and nothing that happens at FOH will effect the in ears. Also remember that proper monitor board have lots of sends rather than a main bus, so each send is set up as each persons monitor mix. There are some consoles on the market at the moment that can be configured for monitor work.

Cheers

Alan.
 
well most venues i have played have had a seperate monitor console where the signal was split at the board then went to front of house and to the wedges from the board.

the mackie board i spoke of has the splits built in.

i know what features i need but im just not sure what the best option with the given price point in mind would actually work.

really what i need is a 12 or 16 channel splitter thats transformer isolated. i wouldnt feel comfortable doing a parallel split for everything to go to two consoles.

i know theres a whirlwind box that does this but i dont know where i would find one. ive done the research and it would be easy enough to make a trans-iso splitter given i could find the transformers cheap enough so does anyone maybe have a source for some 1:1 splitting transformers at a decent price?

the necessity phantom power is not an issue at this stage in the game.
 
I also was going to suggest the Aviom (or the lesser costing Hearback) systems, but realize both of those are out of the budget....right? Allen and Heath makes a mixer EXACTLY what you are looking for with the splitter built in, etc, but also 2$k. But when it comes down to a mixer, the Aviom really is cost effective and gives the musicians the control and isn't really all that more expensive and is more "up to date" (whatever that means...). It's the wireless IEM that start to cost that add to the total expense....which I am sure you've already found out!

Look at switching your wiring around as suggested and get the feeds off the main house mixer if possible and route them to your "cheapie" mixer. It would kinda accomplish what your trying to do, and of course get prefader sends from the FOH.

By the time you look into mic splitters, a dedicated board, cables and ends, etc... you're in the Aviom range.

Here's the link to the Allen and Heath:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Allen-Heath-WZ3-12M-Mix-Wizard-Monitor-Mixer?sku=637567
 
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