Compressor for Monitor Rack

Sidivan

Fractal Fanatic
I'm looking for a compressor to for my in-ear rack. Currently, we're running straight from the AUX Outs to Wireless In-Ear systems, but the problem is we're tending to ram against the built-in brick wall limiters in the wireless systems. As you can imagine, this is no good. Lowering the signal solves the problem, but then quiet parts are totally lost... thus we're in need of a little compression to get a more consistent signal to the units.

I'm obviously going to need multiple units to get 5 stereo mixes processed and I intend on running them as inserts. I'm guessing that I need a dual channel compressor for each mix (one channel for each Left and Right).

The board is a Crest Audio XRM20

Any recommendations?
 
Last edited:
If space isn't an issue, you can find old DBX half rack Over Easy compressors cheap.
They're one slider operation and I love them.
 
a couple of these will get ya there, I've owned 3 of them and they worked flawlessly for years now.

Behringer: MULTICOM PRO-XL MDX4600

honestly though man, If I was you I'd sit down with the band and discuss going digital. For example, I bought a Behringer X32 Producer not long ago and it replaced everything except power amps and FoH speakers. Just like the Axe FX II replaced all my guitar rack, effects, amps, and cabs, The digital board has done the exact same thing for our PA.

Anytime new gear is to be bought, consider that if you had just bought the Digital one, you wouldn't need to be buying and upgrading and nickel and diming....... just my opinion.
 
a couple of these will get ya there, I've owned 3 of them and they worked flawlessly for years now.

Behringer: MULTICOM PRO-XL MDX4600

honestly though man, If I was you I'd sit down with the band and discuss going digital. For example, I bought a Behringer X32 Producer not long ago and it replaced everything except power amps and FoH speakers. Just like the Axe FX II replaced all my guitar rack, effects, amps, and cabs, The digital board has done the exact same thing for our PA.

Anytime new gear is to be bought, consider that if you had just bought the Digital one, you wouldn't need to be buying and upgrading and nickel and diming....... just my opinion.

That's been banging around in my head for awhile. Digital is awesome, but it's quite the leap for what we need. It's just a monitor rack, so I'm not worried about nickel and diming with effects. I can't imagine we need reverb units and such... That's what ambient mics are for.
 
That's been banging around in my head for awhile. Digital is awesome, but it's quite the leap for what we need. It's just a monitor rack, so I'm not worried about nickel and diming with effects. I can't imagine we need reverb units and such... That's what ambient mics are for.

Is space/size a concern or part of your decision criteria?
If so, the digital options are a nice because you have one unit that covers all of your needs (yes, it may be overkill, but it's still the most compact option).
+1 on the Behringer X32 Systems. I have the X-Rack version and I absolutely love it.
But if you want to go even smaller, the Mackie DL1608 is a really small footprint and has plenty of outputs for IEM.
Owning both of these, I find the Behringer to be a more advanced product in regards to Routing and Grouping flexibility. But if you don't need those additional features, the mackie would be a nice IEM board. You can fit it in a small briefcase as well.....
 
Neither the Mackie DL1608 or the Behringer XRack have 10 Aux Outs, which is what I need.

The reason we have the Crest Audio board is because it's precisely the board we need. The only thing missing is compressors. If we jump to digital, we need to go with the full blown x32 ($2800 with 16 Aux Outs), which is absolutely too much board for us.
 
Just out of curiosity, I've been heavily considering an upgrade like you to one of the digital ones. A & H or Behringer x32 rack. Couldn't you use the regular outputs for for more monitor sends? Basically it has 3 stereo aux's and 4 stereo main outputs...

I ran our older in ear mixer this way using the main outs for my mix. Again, not sure myself because I'm in the same boat as you Sidivan....
 
Yeah its a tough call and I know exactly how you feel, as we went through the same thing. However we use the P16 personal mixers which run off cat5 ethernet cables and gives 16 assignable channels on a digital feed which allows each member their own personal stereo mix without using any of the aux outputs.

Yes it's an investment but I just thought I'd mention it because I had been in the same place and just considering all the factors decided to make the jump and free myself from the restraints of analog limits.
 
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions guys! I have a lot to chew on and bring to the guys. I am leaning towards that FMR RNC that Matt suggested. I love that you can run each channel as an insert and the controls are stupid simple. The rest of the guys aren't gear heads like I am, so simple is very good.
 
Back
Top Bottom