X32 mixer and in ears

I got an XR18 a few weeks ago and I've been very impressed. Have only used in rehearsals thus far, but it sounds and works great. They just updated the iPAD app in early April, and it's significantly improved. The XR18 is so small, and weighs less than my old laptop! Although there's been some wifi complaints, I've not experienced them. I will be smart for a gig and have a small router or my MacBook Air for wired connection if needed.

My band has been using the x32 Compact, and I bought a P16-M so that I could control my monitor mix; THIS has been a game-changer for me. Full control of 16 channel monitor mix via P16M mounted on my mic stand. Works equally well for floor wedge or my in-ears, and it's connected to the x32 via an Ethernet cable!
 
It's very attractive to me to have true stereo mixes for in-ears and individual control for each band member.

I can't decide between taking the Behringer plunge or beefing up my UAD hardware and going the Apollo route for live shows.

I think overall, the UAD Apollo would be sonically better but it's not really designed for live shows like the Behringer.
 
musicman77 said:
I got an XR18 a few weeks ago and I've been very impressed. Have only used in rehearsals thus far, but it sounds and works great. They just updated the iPAD app in early April, and it's significantly improved. The XR18 is so small, and weighs less than my old laptop! Although there's been some wifi complaints, I've not experienced them. I will be smart for a gig and have a small router or my MacBook Air for wired connection if needed.
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musicman77 said:
My band has been using the x32 Compact, and I bought a P16-M so that I could control my monitor mix; THIS has been a game-changer for me. Full control of 16 channel monitor mix via P16M mounted on my mic stand. Works equally well for floor wedge or my in-ears, and it's connected to the x32 via an Ethernet cable!
Click to expand...

Been gigging with IEM mix from X32 Producer since last August... got to be at least 50+ gigs now.

Mono mix from XLR buss out, with full control over IEM mix via X32Q app on my iPad. I really don't need a stereo mix in a 5-piece and unless there are 2 of any instrument on the stage, have never understood the need for it.

Split XLR (y-cable) from X32 in L/R inputs of my Carvin EM900 into custom mold 1964 Qi's (quad drivers). Other XLR buss outs go to 4 * PSM200 units. X32/EM900/PSM200's are all housed in same rack. Power up and go. Same config whether it's our own PA or we hook into house system via snake split.

Sound quality is excellent, but being RF, the IEM's get the occasional dropout.
Just added this to an existing thread..
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/rigs-...m-900-sennheiser-ew-300-g3-2.html#post1185134

Note: the questions in that thread are NOT based on any audio quality or lack of control from the X32 side.

Have done the P16M route, but got tired of having to run CAT5/6 to each unit, plus power for each unit [CAT5] daisy chained from first as 2nd unit in chain is not powered via CAT5. Going the wireless route was/is so much easier, and I have FULL control over all 32-inputs available on the X32 with the X32Q app.
 
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I find mono to be fatiguing. I at the least would like the efx returns to maintain a stereo image in relation to the send pan. In other words I want to send to the efx from mono sources and have the efx return maintain the pan of the original source send.

I believe this is possible with the Behringer (but not my current setup. efx are mono)
 
barhrecords said:
I find mono to be fatiguing. I at the least would like the efx returns to maintain a stereo image in relation to the send pan. In other words I want to send to the efx from mono sources and have the efx return maintain the pan of the original source send.

I believe this is possible with the Behringer (but not my current setup. efx are mono)
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Each to their own on the mono/stereo mix ;) but I have lots of hours on mono sans issue. YMMV.

But.. I can send any one (or all) of the 8 effects busses back to my IEM mix and control the levels of each from the iPad.
To be fair, I'm not trying to listen to a CD, but accurately monitor what the band is doing. I have not tried panning any of them L/R in the mono mix, but I can adjust levels quite accurately. We do NOT use all 8 busses - just 2 or 3. And I don't like a lot of effects in my IEM mix..
 
My band uses the P1 units - I just run XLR straight from the Out of the x32 to their P1, which is basically a $50 headphone amp. I don't need the hands-on control of the p16. The guys can adjust using their phones or I just do it quickly. Everyone but drums is direct so things don't change much.

I run stereo IEM because I'm mixing and leading the band, so it's nice to hear each guy panned a bit. The other 4 run mono and love it. When I play in other bands and not leading or mixing, a mono IEM is fine for me as I'm mostly focusing on my part anyway.

That said, I don't really blast my IEMs anyway. I like to hear a bit of the stage volume mostly for the drums. Perhaps the mono fatigue syndrome comes from being completely isolated to the non-spatial sound because it is so loud/all you can hear.
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
That said, I don't really blast my IEMs anyway. I like to hear a bit of the stage volume mostly for the drums. Perhaps the mono fatigue syndrome comes from being completely isolated to the non-spatial sound because it is so loud/all you can hear.
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Same here!!!
My IEM volumes are very low... and I am able to hear the PA reasonable well, and the guys on stage between songs... even with custom molds.
In one venue we play, there are 6 *dual 18's under the stage - so hearing bass (which I'm mostly playing these days) is NOT a problem !!
Hitting a low-B makes the entire stage RUMBLE !! :eagerness:
 
s0c9 said:
Same here!!!
My IEM volumes are very low... and I am able to hear the PA reasonable well, and the guys on stage between songs... even with custom molds.
In one venue we play, there are 6 *dual 18's under the stage - so hearing bass (which I'm mostly playing these days) is NOT a problem !!
Hitting a low-B makes the entire stage RUMBLE !! :eagerness:
Click to expand...
A great solution I use is to place an "ambient" mic behind me on stage. Fills in all the gaps and removes the "isolation" feeling for me.

It's also nice to be able to interact with your audience cause I can hear them.
 
Severed said:
A great solution I use is to place an "ambient" mic behind me on stage. Fills in all the gaps and removes the "isolation" feeling for me.

It's also nice to be able to interact with your audience cause I can hear them.
Click to expand...
We tried ambient mics... gave up on them soon after.. Found that we get enough "ambience" thru our vocal mics, and putting up an ambient mic on of each side of the stage, caused more confusion among us than isolation relief, so we dropped them.

I don't feel isolated much when I play.. got used to the IEM's.. in fact, they do such a good job of volume reduction that I often leave them in between sets, so I can tune out all the EDM/Hip-hop stuff the DJ plays in between !!
 
Stereo vs mono is just like color vs back & white. Totally fine when you've never tried it before or are just playing with yourself. ( Yea, exactly ;) )

If you don't get it, read 'This is Your Brain On Music' to really understand how you hear.

sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
 
DTownSMR said:
Stereo vs mono is just like color vs back & white. Totally fine when you've never tried it before or are just playing with yourself. ( Yea, exactly ;) )

If you don't get it, read 'This is Your Brain On Music' to really understand how you hear.

sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
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Oh I understand what you are saying, but much of the world sees in B/W quite happily.. I just don't see the "need" for stereo IEM monitoring except in certain situations.. It's a "nice to have".
I have stereo IEM mixes available via Aviom's at Sun church services ( and could set my band X32 mix up like that too), but I seldom pan anything unless I have 2 acoustics and 2 electrics playing at same time. I've been mixing live for many years and VERY used to headphones for monitoring and mono PA systems. Even then, I tend to turn down the rhythm guitars and only listen to the lead (when playing bass) or myself when playing lead.

Again.. each to their own and YMMV. The only "wrong" way is monitoring such that you damage your hearing. Whatever else works... it's all good.
 
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So hopefully not to hijack the thread, but my band is considering going this route and i am wondering how you feed FOH if you are feeding all of your sends to your IEM system?

I am now looking at the XR-18 thanks to this thread, and for a fully "direct" band I think it would be great for rehearsal and small gigs where we use our own PA. Just wondering about the next step?

Thanks in advance!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ART S8 splitter and snakes to send signal to the 2 destinations.

If the gig has their own sound guy and system, I split our inputs. If there is a system but I'm running sound, I just mix on my own x32 and send a mixed signal to their mixer.

My band uses less than 16 channels, so channels 1-16 are dedicated to out in-ear mix - so the Main sliders are never used. And channels 17-32 are for the FOH. This is so compression and EQ on the channels is never changed in our ears when it needs to change for the Mains. Also so if I do give someone my iPad to mix while I'm playing, they aren't changing the in-ear sends at all.
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
ART S8 splitter and snakes to send signal to the 2 destinations.

If the gig has their own sound guy and system, I split our inputs. If there is a system but I'm running sound, I just mix on my own x32 and send a mixed signal to their mixer.

My band uses less than 16 channels, so channels 1-16 are dedicated to out in-ear mix - so the Main sliders are never used. And channels 17-32 are for the FOH. This is so compression and EQ on the channels is never changed in our ears when it needs to change for the Mains. Also so if I do give someone my iPad to mix while I'm playing, they aren't changing the in-ear sends at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris. Are you only using a single S8? Asking since it has 8 channels but you mentioned using 16.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
unix-guy said:
So hopefully not to hijack the thread, but my band is considering going this route and i am wondering how you feed FOH if you are feeding all of your sends to your IEM system?

I am now looking at the XR-18 thanks to this thread, and for a fully "direct" band I think it would be great for rehearsal and small gigs where we use our own PA. Just wondering about the next step?

Thanks in advance!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I don't have the XR18, but if the config is anything like our X32 Producer, then you mix normally and send the "main" mix to the MAIN L/R XLR outs.. for which it should be configured by default.

We route each of our IEM mixes to the one of our 6 remaining output busses (AUX 1-6 in your case?) and mix those individually. In our case we EACH do that remotely (real time) on our i-device interfaces (X32Q app)!

When we do house systems we split off their snake and map their inputs to ours.. so if they have kick on 12, we plug XLR #12 into our kick channel (#9).. and so on.
I assume you could do the same with the XR18.
 
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Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
My band uses the P1 units - I just run XLR straight from the Out of the x32 to their P1, which is basically a $50 headphone amp. I don't need the hands-on control of the p16. The guys can adjust using their phones or I just do it quickly. Everyone but drums is direct so things don't change much.

I run stereo IEM because I'm mixing and leading the band, so it's nice to hear each guy panned a bit. The other 4 run mono and love it. When I play in other bands and not leading or mixing, a mono IEM is fine for me as I'm mostly focusing on my part anyway.

That said, I don't really blast my IEMs anyway. I like to hear a bit of the stage volume mostly for the drums. Perhaps the mono fatigue syndrome comes from being completely isolated to the non-spatial sound because it is so loud/all you can hear.
Click to expand...

Are you miking the drums at all (or at least in your in-ears)?

We have a similar setup and just pop one mic by the drums just to get him on our ears. A bit more of a setup (especially when sharing the stage with other bands and setup time is limited), but never really tried it w/o miking drums. Just curious to hear others on this.

PJ
 
unix-guy said:
Thanks Chris. Are you only using a single S8? Asking since it has 8 channels but you mentioned using 16.
Click to expand...

I realized that was kinda confusing.

Just a single S8. 5 guys in the band, 4 vocals and guitar, ukulele, bass and 1 line for drums go into the splitter. I split my axe signal with the axe itself (out 1 and 2) so I don't need another splitter channel for it. Technically speaking, we use 9 inputs.

pjrake said:
Are you miking the drums at all (or at least in your in-ears)?
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Generally we don't. That's where keeping the IEM volume low enough to mix with the stage volume comes into play. It's definitely not the full IEM sound, but we aren't going for CD quality mixes here. On smaller stages it works great. Many gigs here do not mic the drums at all, if anything just kick. Remember, I can put anything in to my IEM mixer directly without sending it to he FOH with the splitter. If they don't want an overhead, I can still add it to my mixer.

If we use an electronic kit, then that definitely is pumped through the system and honestly sounds the best.

The hardest part is leading the band, playing and mixing all at the same time. If I focus a lot on mixing and EQing, my performance fails a bit because I'm distracted. So the digital stuff really helps with saving different setups. Even though we only use 9 channels, I have about 3 channels saved for the drums - 1 for kick only, 1 for overhead, 1 for elec drums. Then I just choose whatever channel(s) we need that night.
 
pjrake said:
Are you miking the drums at all (or at least in your in-ears)?
Click to expand...
Yes, mic'ing drums.. in our case.
We have to do that for the larger - house provided FOH systems - so we just kept it .. permanently..

Our drummer suffers from the same thing that many drummers have (pet peeve) .. that ALL their acoustic drums need mics in a club/bar size venue. NOT!

I've run sound for many bands in those size venues using kick/snare/OH mics and never had a complaint about not hearing toms/cymbals, etc.

As a result of everything being mic'ed up (8 channels).. I have kick/snare in my IEM mix and mute the rest of the drums.
YMMV
 
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