Live equipment list for a 4 piece band - help and advice

M

mst

Member
Hello guys!

So, me and my band decided to go fully authonomous on the stage (we are a RHCP tribute band). our need, channel wise are:

Singer - 2 channels voice and piano or other instrument ( can be my acoustic gtr)
Guitar - 2 channels voice and FM3
Bass - 1 channel bass
Drum 7/10 channels

Total 15/ 16 channels at most

Our objective is to be FULLY indipendent mix wise, so to have:
- our own personal monitors ( drummer can have a erarphone one) and at least 4 indipendent stage mixes ( one each);
  • then give the appropriate channel output to the sound guy, ehwn present OR
  • rent the appropriate wattage loudspeakers for the stage we are playing on.

So my Idea was to get
3/4 stage monitors ( drummer can go headphones)
mixer
whatever other equipment i need to achieve the right output ( and I am ignorant in that) so to speak:
  • the 4 indivisual mixes for the players
  • either the full out to the sound guy tha mixes himeslf
  • just a mixed L/R if w play with no sound guy


could you suggest an equipment solution?

Thanks!

Ill start with my solution

mixer - BEHRINGER X Air XR18

2X splitters BEHRINGER MS8000 Ultralink
4X gmx 500 8 inn/outs cables ( from splitter to behringer mixer and from splitter to FOH)
2X behtinger F122 monitors ( singer does in ear and guitarist has his own)
 
Last edited:
mst said:
please excuse my english: I meant, I have no budget figure per se, I would like to go for the best affordable solution that guarantees reliability

dont they call that the "bang for the buck" solution? cheap but efficient and reliable
Click to expand...
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be annoying, I really didn't understand either the "bank" or the "cuk".

Back to your actual question, "affordable" and "cheap" aren't very useful words without some sense of approximately what amounts of money you're talking about.

Same with "guarantees reliability". Literally nothing does that, even really high end gear. It's all a balance with price, quality and customer service reputation.
 
The Behringer stuff is great. I like the XR18 as it also records multitrack. I have an old one that was very reliable. We always used an external router as the built in WiFi solution was not very reliable. That may have changed over the years. But you might want to include an external router in your budget if your sound person is wandering around the room with their tablet or phone.

You don’t have your FOH / mains speakers listed. The Turbosound stuff from Behringer is also great bang for buck. I haven’t kept up with their system integration but there are power and connectivity advantages built in to the Behringer / Turbosound lines. We have been using the Turbosound TFX122M monitors. They’re great - very directional. They don’t bleed in to other areas of the stage.

Other than cables, mics, junction boxes, power conditioners, etc., your list looks great.
 
It might also be useful to know your geographic location. English isn't your first language so are you international? If so, that could greatly affect your options.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Sorry, I wasn't trying to be annoying, I really didn't understand either the "bank" or the "cuk".

Back to your actual question, "affordable" and "cheap" aren't very useful words without some sense of approximately what amounts of money you're talking about.

Same with "guarantees reliability". Literally nothing does that, even really high end gear. It's all a balance with price, quality and customer service reputation.
Click to expand...
No worries man!

yeah i just meant to advis for something in the realm of the behringer stuff so decent reliability and quite some fatures with the known behringer quality, that for the money is quite good!
 
I would definitely go with an X32 rack over the Xair and get a Router with it. The built in wifi on the XAir Series is not as reliable in venues with lots of interference. The splitsnake or splitter that you suggested would be fine or something similar to it.
 
RoshRoslin said:
I would definitely go with an X32 rack over the Xair and get a Router with it. The built in wifi on the XAir Series is not as reliable in venues with lots of interference. The splitsnake or splitter that you suggested would be fine or something similar to it.
Click to expand...
What's your reasoning on this one, the X32 has the same number of ins/outs or close to, although expandable? The router would be something you get for either. I've had 3 of the XR18/MR18's now for my 4 and 5 piece bands doing up to 6 IEM/Monitor mixes and it has worked really well. I'm not sure what the X32 Rack has that it doesn't (not saying there isn't anything just don't know why one would make that choice so curious)?
 
Our band used a XR-18 for years with no problems. As suggested here and everywhere else, we used an external router. A few years ago we switched to a Soundcraft Ui24r (again with an external router), mainly for the better user interface (in my opinion) and the ability to record multitracks on a thumb drive instead of needing to bring a laptop or other computer to record the multitracks. I also like having an onboard MP3 player for break music and in one case, a pre-recorded song intro. I do think the Behringer has a bigger and better selection of effects, but I strongly disliked the fact that the UI for the Behringer is different on different devices, i.e., the UI on an Android tablet is not he same as on an iPad , and the laptop UI is different from either of those. The UI for the Soundcraft is consistent across all platforms.
 
XR18 with your own router will do the job. Amazing piece of gear for price and all it includes.
 
We use a Mackie DL32-R.

We wanted maximum outputs because we have 5 members and want a dedicated stereo mix for each member.

We use 2 ART S-8 splitters so all 16 channels we send to our mixes are split fit FOH.

Drums come from Alesis Strike brain - 8 channels
Both Guitars are stereo from FM9s - 4 total channels
Bass / Stick also stereo from FM9 - 2 channels
Vocals - 1 channel (or 2 if backing is needed)

These days, we could do with less splitter inputs as the 3 FM9s could just use another output to feed FOH if we want.
 
my advice: look at every single piece of equipment in your signal chain and have two: tablet, tablet charger, ethernet cable, xlr cables usb cables, etc.
 
The X32 Rack is fantastic. But it’s $1000 more expensive and probably overkill for a weekend band. But if you think you’ll need more than 18 channels, more than 4 effects slots or you’re saving scenes or doing some elaborate routing, the X32 will future-proof you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom