IEM Mix Set-up

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dbsoccer

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I am new to using IEM. Due to an asymmetric hearing issue I have found the in-ears solve a problem I was having with stage monitors. I invested in the Xvive U4 system. I am using Shure SE215 Pro? earphones that I purchased several years ago for a similar but slightly different reason. (I put a question mark on the Pro as I don't see Pro denoted on the earphones. The price of a new pair of SE215 Pros seem right for what I recall paying for these several years ago.)

I need help is establishing a process for setting my mix. I use this IEM system for practicing at home and for an occasional Open Mic outing. At home I use a Mackie Mix-5 mixer with a Shure 87C mic and an mp3 player feeding into the mixer. And I plug the transmitter of the U4 system into a Main Out port. The mp3 player plays backing tracks and I sing. Karaoke-ish, I know, but I enjoy it and no has yet to throw food or drinks. I know there are better IEM systems than the U4 but the U4 seems to lend itself better to the Open Mic environment than the more expensive IEM systems.

So what is the proper way, if one exists, to establish the mix? At an Open Mic I'm given a bit of time (2-minutes??) by the sound guy but not hours, obviously. At home it's different, of course. But the goal is to get it right and to get it right as quickly as possible. Currently, at home, I just turn knobs or ask the Open Mic sound guy to turn knobs. There must a bit of "science" that I need to learn about.

Thanks.
 
My two cents, the mix in headphones or in ears can't give you a mix in the room. In ears are for your listening to you can hear the mix for you and you only. Mixing for others means mixing for various environments. Trying to get it balanced and as neutral as possible so it translate to as many environments that the song will play in.

Mixing in my opinion is not for me alone, but to me and to the rest of the "world" (aka others).

I am sure there are others who can give you better information.
 
Thanks DM60. And for the learning point as I was thinking of me and not the mix for the audience. I realize the sound guy for my Open Mic or for a stage band will mix for the audience. My goal is to better understand how to do this for me and what I'm hearing. Thanks again for the learning.
 
In ears and a stranger doing your mix can be really problematic - far worse than wedges. With wedges if the mix is rotten you can always change position, with IEMs, you cannot hear anything but the mix you are given. I have four or five pairs of 215's an I like them better than many others I've tried of all prices. I have some in custom moulds and others in ordinary expanding foam and even one set in homemade moulds (you wrap them in the thin cling-film food covering, then squidge up to balls of special putty, cone shape it and pressit into your ears and then get somebody to push in the 215s and seal and finish them. Leave them in for ten mins - remove and pull out the 215s, and drill a small hole through to the in ear section. Line it with a ball point pen tube, silicone the 215s back in and job done).

Mix wise, make sure the sound guy knows what you have to send - i.e. the track and your voice. then start with your voice, get it the right level and then get him to gradually increase the track. Don't go one two, actually sing properly. Make sure you agree signs. A wiggle of your fingers, a la piano playing and a finger up, or down, or a point at the mic then up down should do for track and voice. If it goes horribly wrong, pull then out and make do.
 
Thanks Rob. Perfect. This is what I was looking for and I'm sure DM60 would maybe have had similar input had I framed my question better. First get the voice level right and the slowly bring up the backing track to where it sounds like I want. The mix guy I work with is good about adjusting to what we (the 'performers') want. Once he gets us right and we are going our thing then he'll sit in the back of the room with a remote control board and adjust the room's mix. It's all for fun.

With regard to things going wrong, the first time I tried IEM was at my first recital after I had been taking vocal lessons for a few months. I sprung this idea on my vocal teacher probably the day of the recital. My practice time with the monitors was minimal. But I charged right on in front of the entire crowd of people. After about two or three bars of my song I was horrified. I pulled them out and finished with just the stage monitor. It was ok. I didn't miss any words, at least. One guy came up afterwards and told me how good I sounded and, particularly, after I pulled out the monitors. My teacher just cringed. Great experience, however. But the learning was not that IEM are bad but using them without any experience was stupid.
 
@dbsoccer - I think I would not have given you as good advice as Rob, but you are right, I didn't understand the question and totally missed it. Glad Rob was able to help you out.
 
Oh sure, just when I thought I had this figured out I realized I didn't. The combination of the Mix-5 and the receiver of the Xvive there are 3 level controls. Logic tells me to set the controls on the Xvive receiver and the main out on the mix to a mid point and use the channel level controls to set, first the voice, and then the backing track. I realize this is probably obvious but, like anything, until you've done it a few times, it's not obvious. And maybe I've got it wrong. Even a simple mixer like the Mix-5 has a lot knobs that can make it intimidating to the novice.
 
DB, as they say in the country when you are in over your head: "You've done bit a hog in the ass!" (Hogs are mean for reference).

And what they meant was: Yea, it is a bitch, but you can handle it.
 
I absolutely loved iems. Our normal sound guy was like the one you mentioned, he got it, but lots dont. In fairness, they don’t get floor wedges either, but you can at least move a bit. In our band we quickly moved to personal mixers which was perfect. Almost studio quality listening. We even bought a behringer x32 rack so when we did festivals, down the list, we could use our personal mixers, and be up and running in next to no time. We had mic splits of the ones we needed and just set up next to the stage, and unplugged mics and swapped our system in. We had particular needs that an average mix would wreck, like me needing NOT to hear the guitar or drummer vox at all! Yet i needed certain voices and the keys, plus my bass. Playing one note on my bass, simging a different one, and the third note coming from the keys player meant it was too easy to sing the wrong note if just one wqs low or missing. Our keys player struggled a bit with iems and his fallback was a mic stand mounted small monitor that had his keys coming out of it. He could just turn it up if it wasn't in the wedges and sing to that! Could work with your tracks?
 
If you're using the mic that's provided, the gain is probably already set close enough to what you need. So that's mostly just a matter of bringing it up in your ears. Start your receiver turned down a bit from maximum then have him raise the mic level while you sing until it's about right. Then have him slowly raise the track, also while you sing, until it's balanced. Use your receiver volume to fine tune the overall level. A bit of hand signaling should deal with any issues that come up.
 
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