Thanks for checking out the video, and I'm glad to see so many people have found it helpful! If you are interested in an IEM hack, I made a video on a way to get a DIY wireless IEM system for only $100-$120! Check it out here: th-cam.com/video/AoykGJRcPPw/w-d-xo.html
Hi Scott. I just wanted to tell you thanks so much for your informative videos, as ive used as bunch of your videos to set up my IEM system, with a Behringer XR12 second hand with 4 outputs as per your video on how to do that, with all the band with wired P2’s, with your recommended CCA C12 earphones. My band mates are so stoked with how it sounds, with the defining point for me being able to hear the little bass licks my bassist puts into the verses, that ive never heard before! Rather than a splitter snake we are using DI boxes on the end of all the gat pedalboards, and individual XLR splitter cables on all the mics as that was significantly cheaper. For all the watchers out there this is legit and a game changing way to set up your band. All up, to buy all the cables to connect the band, the XR12 second hand it cost 600 NZD. Each band member brought their own Behringer P2 and earphones. We used cable crap to wrap an IEM cable and the DI cable together, so that their is still only one cable from the mixer to your pedalboard, then the same for the cable to your guitar/P2. Highly recommend you do this as well!
Thank you for the reply! I know this video is a couple years old, so awesome that you still responded. I actually found and watched that video right after posting my question. Still slightly confused, but I will rewatch, and most likely skip the DI Box for now and see how it goes. Thank you again!
Thanks for this video! The XR18 is a workhorse. I use it for home recording and started using it for in ear monitoring right before lock down happened. it really made a difference. Can't wait to see your next posts. thanks again!
Wow. Great series. This IEM series was so helpful. IEM ADVICE NEEDED: Band has been using IEMs for about a few months with our XR16 but our bass player hated them. He wants to use a wedge on stage. The rest of us want to continue to use IEMs. 1) What pitfalls (if any) will we encounter using a hybrid of wedges and IEMs as monitors? 2) What adjustments should we make on stage and in the Xair app to adjust for the addition of a wedge to our set up? Thanks. I want our bass player to hear what he wants and how he wants, I just don’t want to compromise those of us still using IEMs.
Yeah, there is always SOMEONE in the band haha. It’s a pain, and I prefer in ears for sure. You can always use a wedge if you want, just realize it’s more likely to get feedback. That’s just something you’ll have to accept. If he just wants to hear his bass, try using inears but also having his amp loud on stage behind him. That might make him happy for a compromise. In ears also take a few shows to get used to. Or he also might have ones that are way too cheap and do not sound good. They are all possibilities
wow, i rarely comment on videos but this video is worth the comment! This was super super helpful, been trying to find an explanation like this for a while and finally here it is! Thank you so much man! Cheers from México xx
All of these videos have been extremely helpful! Really appreciate you putting all this together. Quick question: do you have a video that shows how to set up the two separate mixes for a stereo transmitter within the x32 program?
Hey, Heres the (annoying) guy from the 1st video of this series. Just wanted to let you know that I think I figured it out and I just realised how funny your vids are. And now actually also understand what you explain in this video. Thanks for the advice. And I can't see how old this video right now but keep it up, it's actually really good explained in a, atleast my opinion really funny way!
This is an amazingly indepth video.. that helps so many get I to in ear monitoring. I had a similar set up with splitters and snakes and surprisingly every place we play the sound guy looks confused when we hand him a bunch of tails... "But I already have all my cables run" is usually the comment.. like disconnecting and reconnecting will ruin his life.. So we use radial cat5 junctions for our vocals and instruments. (We use modelers and not real amps but this will still work just the same) our cables go in and we plug in their lines out the back so we get our signal to our IEM and they get a direct signal for FOH now drums we normally are in smaller clubs so we can hear them just fine but we do use an xlr y cable to split the kick mic and a proximity mic under the drummer to capture everything else. But I also use those patch pays at the back to bring the main L&R to the edge so I'm not poking around trying to plug in cables. Great video
Thanks! And yeah, some sound guys are dicks about it for sure. I always let them know ahead of time. I’ve heard the “I’ve already ran my cables” line before too lol. Always from a grumpy sound guy
@@ScottUhlMusic yup far too many time. Plus our rig allows for quick on and off if we aren't the headliners.. so it functions as a opener and closer rig for us anyway.. still trying to get midi control to function 100% to run the backing tracks without having to have someone start each track from the laptop.. so far each controller has only been 50% effective.
Thanks for you help. I’ve used your advice for years but things have changed. I used to play gigs with the same band and the same pa. Easy peasy. Now, I play festival stuff with a 10 min setup between bands! Plugging in a 16 channel splitter box is NOT an option. I’d love to just mix my own mix on my tablet but it never works out. Lost wifi password is the most common excuse but really the lack of time is the issue. Sooooo, here’s the plan: 1) Velcro a Rolls PM 351 Personal Monitor System to my keyboard, 2) Vocal Mic and keys into the Rolls PM351 and thru to the PA, 3) Split off the stage wedge monitor line and plug it into the Rolls Monitor LINE IN, 4) Ask sound guy to copy and paste the main mix to my wedge, and 5) mix a combo of MIC, INST, and MONITOR on the Rolls to my IEMs If I can’t tap into the monitor mix my back up plan is to run a LINE OUT from my Zoom recorder into the LINE IN on the Rolls and point the Zoom in the least offensive sounding direction. Splitting off the monitor line is probably going to sound the best but I’m not sure what gear I would need depending on whether I’m dealing with powered, unpowered, bi amped and the varied connectors involved. Suggestions would be appreciated.
Man, the number of times I’ve updated my IEM setup to fit my needs. Haha, I couldn’t even count. It really all depends on what you are trying to do, accepting that it will never be perfect, and communicate with sound guys ahead of time. That’s the best advice I’ve found
Hello, Everyone. 👋 New subscriber here, just want to thank for this guide as I found it very informative and well explained, like other videos in this channel. One aspect to point out is the benefits of using a splitter to separate the signal and have total control in your own mixer, so this should be a standard for bands of any kind, some performers just bring their instruments and no more personal gear, based on my experience there’s still some people that are used to just step in stage without any kind of extra equipment and just hope for the best, I know is not easy to invest in a separate mixer for monitoring specially if you play in different venues, like private events, small spaces or even on places that doesn’t have any kind of PA. In other hand personal monitoring can be done without the need of a splitter, it’s just a ideal scenario where the band affords to have a separate mixer just for monitors, but if you don’t have a splitter it can be done just fine if the band knows how to use their phone/tablet apps and let the sound engineer control the main mix to the PA.
Thank you for sharing! Incredible detail and knowledge here and very useful. The explanations are on point where folks should feel like walking away near experts after viewing this! (I know I do 😃)
Funny...this is just 2 years ago and at 15:28, the X32 Rack is suggested at $1200. These things have ballooned in price and are currently $1700 (7/2023)!!
Hello Scott, loved the video. It is very informative. I had a question, we have a 6 piece band and I was wondering how many in ears I can hook up to a single receiver? Or do I have to purchase 6 different in ear and receiver sets? I’m totally new to in ears and how they work so I have been watching your video to learn as much as I can.
I use the soundcraft 24r so you think it’s possible to use one mixer foh and iems. My thought is can I split 4 mics into channels 1,2,3,4 and then bus 5,6,7,8 to the aux.
Great video!!!!. Very well explained and it is a good guide to build one of these systems. I am Argentine and seeing a reference to an Argentine actor (called Francella 19:06) added even more value to this video. Greetings and thanks for the information
Extremely valuable info! If you only have a usb audio interface, like the UMC404HD that I use, you can use Reaper with its web interface controls to accomplish this on an even tighter budget (
If you are just recording music covers and don't need to perform live, is a splitter still necessary? I want an in ear setup and as I understand it, splitters are only for if you are going live. I am just doing vocal covers at my home. Can I make do with everything except the splitter?
Hi Scott, do you have any issues/solution with mic-bleed and In Ears? I m a Singer in a Metalband and I can hear the cymbals of the drums basically anytime. I use just my microphone Shure SM58 and 2 guitars (D.I.) and the click in my mix (Behringer XR18). It's still way too loud for me because of the cymbals. My ears hurt and I have to lower the mic signal in my mix. Therefore I have to rely on a floor monitor for some extra vocal volume. Do you have any solution/suggestion here? Thanks for your awesome work!
Yeah that’s a tough part. We have four singers in the front of the stage (all in front of the drummer) in one of my bands. I have them in my ears and there is always bleed from drums. I turn the drum mics off in my ears. Scooping out some high end can help for sure, but I haven’t figured that out yet. That’s part of the problem with drums and how loud they are by design
This is the best guide that I found so far! It is not require to use the Ultranet setup although the Ultranet still make a lot more sense but it will be whole lot more expensive 😂 Currently my stage snake does not have the 2-ways split therefore I am thinking to use the ART S8 to split the outputs of the stage snake. Maybe I will get at least 2 of em which total of 16 channels. Or simply, I will get the exactly the same stage snake like yours 😁 Just wondering, is there any better alternative for this?
Yup, I have a video about this that I use for Ultranet: A Device to SIMPLIFY Your IN-EAR MONITOR Setup - MIDAS 4816-O Splitter th-cam.com/video/vhKOkp4Ives/w-d-xo.html
Just bought a bunch of this gear and looking forward to setting it all up. One question...If the X32 doubles as both FOH and IEM, is the splitter necessary? Do you have a video on how to run your own FOH AND IEMs with the X32?
The most common method for these stompboxes is a quarter-inch cable from the stompbox into a DI box, then an XLR cable from the DI Box to the mixer (or splitter in your case). If the pedal has an XLR output, you can skip the DI box and go straight from the stompbox to the splitter.
The best video tutorial I could find about this subject. Very enlightening! Thank you very much! Question: if the band is also the front house, i assume you don’t need a split cable and you can run the the main right and left speakers in a similar ways as you do for the IEM, right?
I have a question...the band manager for one of the artists I play for asked me to pull down some of my drum cam videos because they had click and guide in them. He didn't want me posting videos that "give away the secrets" of how the show works. What do you suggest I do so I can send an audio source to my camera that doesn't have the click and guide? I use a 12 channel mixer and have the monitor in channel one and go out of the mains into the camera. I don't have separate auxes on the mixer. There's an FX send but it only goes mono which would make my videos sound funny having only the left channel producing sound. I thought maybe using a Rolls Amp with 2 headphone jacks and sending one to my mixer for my monitor and the other to the camera and asking for a 2nd line exclusively for click? We're talking about getting our own monitor system like what you demonstrated here as well.
Without separate auxs or sends, I do not believe you will be able to. You need to be able to chose what to send. Even a smaller mixer should have an aux send or something like that and then you can chose which channels go to your camera 👍
Just had a few different questions. 1) What exactly is the patch bay being used for and would it be necessary for me to get one? 2) Me and my band don't usually run our own sound we've been playing at venues that have a house PA and board, how would this concept work in that sense, would they have to unplug their cables and plug our snake cables into their mixer? Just trying to get an idea on how the whole process would work when we got to a venue that has their own house PA and mixer. Other than that your video has been extremely helpful!!
1) patch bay was just to get the cables into the mixer, I’ve updated it since then 2) that’s what the splitter is for. And yes they would plug your splits into their snake or however they get the signal My updated video on my rack might help: th-cam.com/video/ZVWjseFbmQQ/w-d-xo.html
@ScottUhlMusic amazing video. Maybe a dumb few questions here but: 1) Do you ever receive any resistance from sound engineers having to re-patch everything when using a splitter? 2) My band plays small club shows. What if instead of using a splitter we used Y-splitters for the vocal mic's and cabinet mic's, and just left the drums alone and relied on ambient drum sound? Sorry if this comes across as naive, as I'm new to all of this!
You can get resistance from grumpy sound guys with anything haha, that’s all a part of sometimes. Just be sure to tell them ahead of time so they aren’t surprised when you get there for load in. Y cables can work but they won’t be as easy as with a splitter. With the split, everything is in one location and it makes it much much easier and cleaner to do the split. Y cables sometimes can get cross talk as well
Thanks! You need the splitter if you are sending signal to front of house to be mixed. If you are doing a show where you are running sound, you do not need a splitter 👍
@@ScottUhlMusic Thanks for the response! Do you think I could use 6 of the XLRs outs to send each instrument out to front of house instead of the splitter?
@@kevinmundarain7572 Front of House usually really prefers to have a clean split so they can do their own EQ,Comp,Verb,Gain, etc. So if you are coming out of the outputs you would just make sure it's set to pre-eq/comp/etc so you are sending a completely dry signal to them so they can mix it for what sounds best in their system.
Awesome. I imagine I could do this (without needing the splitter) directly out of my midas 32r board. Probably have to plug it into an external router (bus).
@@ScottUhlMusic thanks! I have some Sony earbuds I like. I’m just trying to figure out the cheapest way to run two mixes without extra hardware. For now I’ll run a monitor mix out of the headphone jack into a headphone splitter. I guess.
Great video Scott. Couple extra tips gained from experience... 1) use a label maker to label each of the inputs on the snake box and the plugs on the FOH end of the split snake with the name of what’s plugged into that channel. This makes it WAY quicker for the FOH sound guy to connect to his system. He shouldn’t necessarily be matching up the channel numbers. Instead he’s matching the vocal or guitar to the channel he uses for that in his system that might be a different number than the channel number that the bands mixer uses. I’ve had it happen too often that the band uses channel 1 for vocals and the FOH guy uses his channel one for kick drum. The stage hand matched up the numbers (instead of the names) and the vocals are coming through the FOH kick drum channel. Oops. Also consider calling things by generic names when labeling. “Center vocal” instead of “Steve vocal”. The sound guy doesn’t always know the guys names but he does know who’s standing center stage. 2) another good choice for digital mixers is the somewhat older school digital mixers with actual moving faders. Examples are Yamaha O1V96 or the Behringer X32 (there are versions that fit a slant top rack). Advantages are that you don’t need to mess with WiFi and possible interference. Also some of these can be picked up used these days really cheap. Disadvantage is that to adjust you need to walk over and push the faders around since you’re not using the phone or iPad apps. (Put it in a slant top rack placed in the Backline on the stage by the guitar amps or drums ... it’s now similar to adjusting a guitar amp.) Get out the label maker and label the aux buttons with the band members name. When Steve wants to change his mix he needs to make sure the aux button with his name is lit up first. If not, push it so It lights up. The faders snap to his settings and he can move them around.
Great advice for sure! And yeah I should have said use a label maker and label the NAMES of the cables... like "cable 1 - Kick" "cable 2 - Snare" etc. Thanks for sharing, great advice!
Excellent as always! The splitter is just if your sound man is actually at the so called FOH right? If you’re doing everything yourself on stage you wouldn’t need it correct? Thanks dude.
Hey Scott, I'm a big fan. Your in ear videos are all very helpful and easy to understand even to someone with very little knowledge of the subject. I know you probably won't see this comment but I might as well try asking... Are DI boxes necessary in this setup? If I have back vocal tracks, synths (that are played) and playback samples coming out of my Scarlett 18i20. Do I need to first plug them into a DI box then go into a splitter, or can I just get 1/4 TRS - XLR cables and just go straight from my Scarlett outputs into the splitter (art s8) inputs with those tracks? Thanks for the videos!
@@ScottUhlMusic Haha wow, you truly are amazing man, answering my comment on such an old video. Thanks! So you're saying I'd be fine just going straight into the art s8 splitter from my Scarlett outputs (for tracks/click/synths)?
Hi there Scott. Question 🙋♂️. I have a very small band with my two sons. Drums, bass and elect guit. With 3 vocals. We don’t do any live gigs, just home rehearsals... I was wondering if there’s a way to use our iPods pro as ear monitors. That would be an interesting video tutorial 😅. Great video btw.
Hi JC, glad you are enjoying the IEM videos. I'm not sure I'm understanding your question. You want to use your iPOD (iPOD correct, not iPhone or iPad) for in-ear monitors? You said iPod "Pro" so do you mean iPad Pro?
I think he believes the iPod can be used for a monitor amp, of sorts. NO! That WILL give you latency if you even get it to work. You’ll all be out of time with each other.
Some do and some don’t. I don’t have that splitter anymore. But if yours doesn’t, I have this little device that works amazing; th-cam.com/video/cFqnYsloQc8/w-d-xo.html
@@ScottUhlMusic Thanks for the info! We use 2 Blue encore 300s and a KSM 105 on stage plus overheads so I’m searching for a splitter that passes phantom. The Behringer MS8000 does but I would rather have a snake similar to the one in your video. Seismic audio have them but I can’t find any info on whether they pass phantom or not.Thanks for the reply!
Great video! I’m only looking to to have wired monitoring for band rehearsals 3 Hx Stomps 3 vocals. Everyone using headphones. Would I still need the split snake for this? I just want to be able for everyone to have their own mix.
Nope, no split snake is required! You only need a split snake if you are going to send the signal separately to front of house. If you do shows with your own PA (you guys mix the FOH), or for just rehearsal, you do not need a splitter.
@@ScottUhlMusic Thanks. I tried plugging my Hx stomps into a Behringer mixer and using a headphone amp to send to everyone. But it was so crackly and distorted it was impossible to play. On the Behringer Air series this isn’t a problem?
That sounds like a gain staging problem. Your gain was too high. You can also set the output to different levels (mic/line/instrument). That’s under your global settings. I did a video on global settings here: th-cam.com/video/pg2VdBX7tBo/w-d-xo.html But that sounds very much like a gain or impedance issue
Question about routing cables on stage. We have a rack splitter and we'll generally be using the venue's mics for vocals. Would we unplug the mic on stage, run that cable to our splitter, then run our own cable back to the mic?
Do you need the DI boxes? Couldn't you just plug the IEM signal right into the digital mixer, and the one with the backing tracks into a 1/4" to XLR adapter? Everything here totally makes sense to me except that. Thank you!!
Great video. Do you know how this would work if you only have 1 mixer? as in the mixer for FOH is also used to control IEM. we’re in a church setting so we never move our setup unless we play live somewhere. we’re currently running the X32 Behringer (not the rack, it’s the other one…don’t know the name…)
Great job. Thanks. We are a four piece band, running p16m. I’m wanting to run my Beat buddy out so it only goes to the P16M’s. And run a second cable out of the beat buddy direct to the PA. THE beat buddy has two 1.4 inch outs and I’m running both through a A B switch. I can’t seem to get the routing correct. No matter what do, I get both out the PA . Any suggestions appreciated. TR
Yup that’s correct. In the x32 you can pair channel 1&2 or 3&4 etc to be run in stereo, or you can set it mono and have channel 1 be it’s own mix, channel 2 be it’s own mix, etc
You can also use your behringer output plug directly to foh to save time and energy yet you can still use your in ear monitors without the snake cables. The downside is the sound guys can't mix individually.
Most of the time, they have a snake on the stage or to the side of the stage, so you have the in ear rack live near their snake. I don’t think I’ve ever ran into a situation where I needed to run more than 15 ft 👍
@@ScottUhlMusic I'll keep that in mind! Looking at doing this soon. Your video helped loads! I've got the sennheiser I.e.m e300 G3 system. It'll be good to finally put it to use
@@ScottUhlMusic I've had it for about 10 years and I've never used it as the band that I was in called it a day. Going to put it to use soon and I can't wait! We're getting the X32 as well. What's the sound quality like with that unit?
Hi Scott, Wonderful video, I do have a question however. I have gone ahead and purchased the componants. But they didnt have any splitter snakes available so I have purchased a Behringer SD8, i thought perhaps the digital signal through the single Cat5 to the x32 digital mixer and then the physical XLR outputs to the FOH could be an advantage. Have you got any experience with this? Would it work or would they not be split signals?
Hey man, I wish something would work like that. I personally don’t think it would. Although I guess it depends on how many inputs/outputs you have. You could send out the outputs and the aux outs if that worked for your setup, but that’s very limited and it means it still goes into your mixer. Usually the FOH wants a dry split, so it doesn’t touch your rack at all
Noob question: if the musicians plug in their instruments directly into the splitter box, does this mean that you don't need a standalone guitar or bass amp on the stage?
If you always are the one in control of your sound (you guys provide PA, and you are never sending the signal to FOH to be mixed) then yes, you do not need the splitter. I'd say 95% of the shows I do, we do not need a splitter. But there are 5% of shows where we do need one. So it's up to you for sure!
Scott this a great video! It really helped bridge the gaps for me in putting my IEM system together. Out of curiosity, if you want to run a stereo mix to your wireless monitor system, I’m using the Sennheiser G4 and the X32 rack, do you have to run to XLR cables out of the X32 and into the G4? If so, can that be done out of outputs 1 & 2?
These videos are super helpful! Is it typical to send strictly a dry split to FOH? Is there a way to send over a split with the vocal effects/EQ mix or is that not really done? Thanks
What would you suggest if you're playing a show with multiple bands, but you are the only band running clicks/tracks? Stage is already set up with mics, DI boxes, etc. into a cable snake box. Do you unplug from their snake box into your splitter? I'm sure most sound techs wouldn't care for that.
Let the venue know ahead of time your plans. Send a stage plot and all that stuff. It truly depends on the venue and the set changeover time. A lot of venues do this stuff all the time, other times engineers get upset about it. It just depends on
Yes you’ll need a router. But you supply the router and connect it to your mixer. The venue doesn’t need the router. The router is for you to mix your ears. The FOH gets a separate mix because of the splitter. They don’t need access to the router for their mixing 👍
@@ScottUhlMusic We aren't playing shows now (obviously, thanks Covid19) but the next step for me would be figuring out the splitter situation. I thought I needed something different than what was recommended in your video but the seismic stuff seems to be the ticket. The only thing with these setups that seems troublesome to me is, gigs vary wildly, and you might roll up to a gig and the sound system/guy/person is not capable of working with the setup for whatever reason....
Yeah, like I mention in the video if they already ran the cables, they can get upset. Or just the general grump sound guy that we’ve all dealt with at some point. But they shouldn’t have to run cables using the splitter... they just plug direct into their board using their side of the splitter. Assuming they have the proper inputs. That’s why I always say let them know ahead of time. Always let them know and always bring a stage plot with an input list
@@DavidMacVicar There's a difference between the sound guy CAN'T work with your splitter and when the sound guy simply doesn't want to because he's a crusty old grumpy dude. Thats where your skills as a diplomat come in. As Scott says, Make it super easy. Send a stage plot with an input list ahead of time. Make sure the stage plot is clear that your bringing your own self contained IEM rig and you'll be giving them a labeled snake tail. If he can plug in cables, He can plug in the cables from your snake tail instead. There shouldn't be any systems out there that can't accept your XLR connectors from the snake tail. Especially if you've brought ALL of your own drum mics, direct boxes and other needed gear, you make his life WAY easier. Assuming that your mics aren't junk quality. Try to bring good stuff that they shouldn't be able to complain about. That cheap Radio Shack mic from 1978 probably won't sound great on your Kick Drum. Why would a sound guy complain that he only needs to plug in a well labeled snake tail? ... Since the band already plugged everything else in otherwise. Trick for quick changeovers in a festival situation. Sound guys usually LOVE THIS. They usually have a set of drum mics set up for all the bands to use. It takes time to move the stands around or attach the clip to the drum rims during the changeover. So... When you set up your drum kit offstage while the previous band is playing, Pre-attach YOUR drum mics using the clips that go onto the drum rims. No drum mic stands needed. (we even used a clamp with a gooseneck to attach the hi hat mic pointing up from below the hi hat) Pre-attach cables and leave them coiled up around the mics. During changeover, when you plop the drums onto the stage, it takes 3 seconds to grab the cables and plug in the other end into your snake box. Then you probably only have about 3-4 other cables that need to be run to your snake box from the vocals and guitars. The sound check is now just a line check to see that something didn't get forgotten to be plugged in. The mix is probably REALLY close in the monitors. You won't need to play 3 songs and keep asking the sound guy to fix monitor mixes for 5 guys in front of 3000 people. He just mixes the band and half a song in it sounds great out front.
So I wanted to ask you if we all had DIs/splitters individually, as well as modelers like for guitar/bass etc, could we just run our mix as a group on stage, and FOH use their normal lines like if we didn't have an IEMs at all? Some of our gigs have very limited PAs and we have DIs possible from bass, gtrs, and snare/triggers from the drums. Could we just split individually like normal to the FOH and do our own thing? Or is that not recommended? Very informative and great video that made me understand a lot of things
I guess you could do it that way. You would just have to run multiple outputs either way. With the splitter, all the cables/splits are in one location which usual makes things MUCH easier to setup
I am hoping to get an in ear setup I can use with a variety of styles. All loud: Concert band, Jazz ensembles, small groups, Dixie bands going hard lol. Only my rock gigs have an in ear setup. All other gigs I usually wear the beige plugs and play by smell. Assuming no PA I do it all for myself, Would I need a small mixer with mic to hear the group and some in ears?
@@ScottUhlMusic yeah there's no sound guy giving a mix. There's me i .e. next to 3 tubas splitting-open-the-earth loud. So this problem exists for players gigging away from the "band on stage with monitors and a sound guy" luxury. How to devise a way to protect ourselves and also hear wtf is going on. I could use my zoom f3 and adjust a mic level to myself and monitor that way. Idk, maybe someone here will have an idea. So a freelancer, always playing in different formats that are also too loud but no sound guy to count on for a feed. Thanks.
Hi Scott…just subscribed and late to the party. Preguntas: I wanted to use a personal mixer (I play the guitar/bass guitar/bass synth/sax or use a cardioid mic - a lot sh*t, I know), and I wanted to buy a Boss Gigcaster. The idea is to use one auxiliary input for me and select channels for different instruments. Can I still use just one IEM, send to my mixer, use one aux in the splitter, and switch channels for different instruments? Or do you recommend plugging in all my instruments into splitters w/o a mixer for myself? Thank you
Thanks for the sub! I’m not familiar with the GigCaster, but as for splitting, you only need the splitter if you are sending a signal separate to FOH. If you control the FOH sound, you won’t need the split and can do whatever you need. Hopefully this video helps: th-cam.com/video/E8DIBUAZvP8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Ti89yXN43EtPg53J
A little. I wish to use an IEM and send a separate ‘bundled’ signal to FOH. If you know, can I use the same IEM (same as the band) for a personal digital mixer (which will hopefully bundle all my instruments). Other words, can I use one IEM to switch btw different instruments connected to a personal mixer, and still send a signal to the FOH? Or is it’s best to get a bigger personal mixer just for the bands’ IEM and send the personal mixer signal to the FOH? Thank you for response.
Thanks for checking out the video, and I'm glad to see so many people have found it helpful! If you are interested in an IEM hack, I made a video on a way to get a DIY wireless IEM system for only $100-$120! Check it out here: th-cam.com/video/AoykGJRcPPw/w-d-xo.html
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that this walk through would give the musicians a mono mix only with how you're describing the setup.
Cannot stress how incredibly helpful this is.
Thank you 🙏
This is as the best video I found on building your own monitoring system. I appreciate your time for making this video.
No problem, glad to help out 🤘
Every time I feel a bit lost with this kinda stuff, I go back and watch your videos and all is right with the world!
Thanks dude!
Thanks Chuck!
This video was so well done. The humor and meme clips were great too. 🙏🏻 thank you
Come for the information, stay for the memes 🤘
Scott. This is a really well laid out video series. Great information and I absolutely love that all the information is pertinent.
Thanks Ray, glad to help!
Great video! This is so helpful in a world where easy to follow/ learn EIM vids are scarce.
Thanks for this video ! Great video and very informative.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Scott. I just wanted to tell you thanks so much for your informative videos, as ive used as bunch of your videos to set up my IEM system, with a Behringer XR12 second hand with 4 outputs as per your video on how to do that, with all the band with wired P2’s, with your recommended CCA C12 earphones. My band mates are so stoked with how it sounds, with the defining point for me being able to hear the little bass licks my bassist puts into the verses, that ive never heard before! Rather than a splitter snake we are using DI boxes on the end of all the gat pedalboards, and individual XLR splitter cables on all the mics as that was significantly cheaper.
For all the watchers out there this is legit and a game changing way to set up your band. All up, to buy all the cables to connect the band, the XR12 second hand it cost 600 NZD. Each band member brought their own Behringer P2 and earphones. We used cable crap to wrap an IEM cable and the DI cable together, so that their is still only one cable from the mixer to your pedalboard, then the same for the cable to your guitar/P2.
Highly recommend you do this as well!
This IEM series is 🔥! Thought I had a plan before me, now I know there are Sooo many options!
Thanks Brian, glad you like the series. IEMs probably were the best investment I’ve done for music gear in my opinion. It helps so much
This is an excellent full guide vid for setting these type of rigs up, thanks and great job
This guide is a literal lifesaver, amazing work!
I cardinally appreciate your work sir, your one channel teaches me a lot than any others, Thank you
Thank you 😊
Thank you for the reply! I know this video is a couple years old, so awesome that you still responded.
I actually found and watched that video right after posting my question. Still slightly confused, but I will rewatch, and most likely skip the DI Box for now and see how it goes.
Thank you again!
Thanks for this video! The XR18 is a workhorse. I use it for home recording and started using it for in ear monitoring right before lock down happened. it really made a difference. Can't wait to see your next posts. thanks again!
The fact that they can double as a recording interface makes them extremely useful
BEST VIDEO by far of setting up a system. Thank you.
Thank you! 😊
Wow. Great series. This IEM series was so helpful.
IEM ADVICE NEEDED:
Band has been using IEMs for about a few months with our XR16 but our bass player hated them. He wants to use a wedge on stage. The rest of us want to continue to use IEMs.
1) What pitfalls (if any) will we encounter using a hybrid of wedges and IEMs as monitors?
2) What adjustments should we make on stage and in the Xair app to adjust for the addition of a wedge to our set up?
Thanks. I want our bass player to hear what he wants and how he wants, I just don’t want to compromise those of us still using IEMs.
Yeah, there is always SOMEONE in the band haha. It’s a pain, and I prefer in ears for sure. You can always use a wedge if you want, just realize it’s more likely to get feedback. That’s just something you’ll have to accept. If he just wants to hear his bass, try using inears but also having his amp loud on stage behind him. That might make him happy for a compromise. In ears also take a few shows to get used to. Or he also might have ones that are way too cheap and do not sound good. They are all possibilities
very good worth the watch, organized well and good tips at end of video
Thank you 🤘
TYSM! the only tutorial that actually explained everything easily
Thanks! Glad it helped you out
Video series is so helpful. Thanks so much!
Glad it was helpful!
wow, i rarely comment on videos but this video is worth the comment! This was super super helpful, been trying to find an explanation like this for a while and finally here it is! Thank you so much man! Cheers from México xx
Thank you! Glad to help 🤘
Great video ! Thanks so much for the info / education .
Glad to help 😊
All of these videos have been extremely helpful! Really appreciate you putting all this together. Quick question: do you have a video that shows how to set up the two separate mixes for a stereo transmitter within the x32 program?
Thanks! And it's the same idea, you just have to LINK two of the auxes togther (1+2 or 3+4, etc). Then they will be in stereo
Hey,
Heres the (annoying) guy from the 1st video of this series. Just wanted to let you know that I think I figured it out and I just realised how funny your vids are. And now actually also understand what you explain in this video. Thanks for the advice. And I can't see how old this video right now but keep it up, it's actually really good explained in a, atleast my opinion really funny way!
Come for the info, stay for the memes 🤘 thanks, glad to help!
Amazing...great job Scott👏👏👏
This is an amazingly indepth video.. that helps so many get I to in ear monitoring. I had a similar set up with splitters and snakes and surprisingly every place we play the sound guy looks confused when we hand him a bunch of tails...
"But I already have all my cables run" is usually the comment.. like disconnecting and reconnecting will ruin his life..
So we use radial cat5 junctions for our vocals and instruments. (We use modelers and not real amps but this will still work just the same) our cables go in and we plug in their lines out the back so we get our signal to our IEM and they get a direct signal for FOH now drums we normally are in smaller clubs so we can hear them just fine but we do use an xlr y cable to split the kick mic and a proximity mic under the drummer to capture everything else. But I also use those patch pays at the back to bring the main L&R to the edge so I'm not poking around trying to plug in cables. Great video
Thanks! And yeah, some sound guys are dicks about it for sure. I always let them know ahead of time. I’ve heard the “I’ve already ran my cables” line before too lol. Always from a grumpy sound guy
@@ScottUhlMusic yup far too many time. Plus our rig allows for quick on and off if we aren't the headliners.. so it functions as a opener and closer rig for us anyway.. still trying to get midi control to function 100% to run the backing tracks without having to have someone start each track from the laptop.. so far each controller has only been 50% effective.
I have quite a few midi tutorial if you do need help 🤘
Thanks for you help. I’ve used your advice for years but things have changed. I used to play gigs with the same band and the same pa. Easy peasy. Now, I play festival stuff with a 10 min setup between bands! Plugging in a 16 channel splitter box is NOT an option. I’d love to just mix my own mix on my tablet but it never works out. Lost wifi password is the most common excuse but really the lack of time is the issue.
Sooooo, here’s the plan:
1) Velcro a Rolls PM 351 Personal Monitor System to my keyboard,
2) Vocal Mic and keys into the Rolls PM351 and thru to the PA,
3) Split off the stage wedge monitor line and plug it into the Rolls Monitor LINE IN,
4) Ask sound guy to copy and paste the main mix to my wedge, and
5) mix a combo of MIC, INST, and MONITOR on the Rolls to my IEMs
If I can’t tap into the monitor mix my back up plan is to run a LINE OUT from my Zoom recorder into the LINE IN on the Rolls and point the Zoom in the least offensive sounding direction.
Splitting off the monitor line is probably going to sound the best but I’m not sure what gear I would need depending on whether I’m dealing with powered, unpowered, bi amped and the varied connectors involved. Suggestions would be appreciated.
Man, the number of times I’ve updated my IEM setup to fit my needs. Haha, I couldn’t even count. It really all depends on what you are trying to do, accepting that it will never be perfect, and communicate with sound guys ahead of time. That’s the best advice I’ve found
@@ScottUhlMusic Will do.
This video is amazing! So detailed and helpful .. plus I love the memes along the way .. noice!
Come for the tech, stay for the memes :)
@@ScottUhlMusic Right?!?! lol .. get a 2-for-1
OMG this is going to be awesome ! 🎉
It's 3 am I should sleep but this video is so GOLD, I re-watch it at any hour 👍
Haha thanks!
@@ScottUhlMusicfrom what I see, the X32 Rack is pretty heavy compared to others, 6.5 kg, is it annoying while touring? It's twice the X air 16
Hello, Everyone. 👋
New subscriber here, just want to thank for this guide as I found it very informative and well explained, like other videos in this channel.
One aspect to point out is the benefits of using a splitter to separate the signal and have total control in your own mixer, so this should be a standard for bands of any kind, some performers just bring their instruments and no more personal gear, based on my experience there’s still some people that are used to just step in stage without any kind of extra equipment and just hope for the best, I know is not easy to invest in a separate mixer for monitoring specially if you play in different venues, like private events, small spaces or even on places that doesn’t have any kind of PA.
In other hand personal monitoring can be done without the need of a splitter, it’s just a ideal scenario where the band affords to have a separate mixer just for monitors, but if you don’t have a splitter it can be done just fine if the band knows how to use their phone/tablet apps and let the sound engineer control the main mix to the PA.
Exactly what I was looking for! Very helpful video!
Glad to help 🤘
Great video thanks Scott
Very clear and helpful, thank you!
Hey! Jim from Jimmy’s Music in Durango. Great videos!
Thanks!
This is incredibly helpful.
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing! Incredible detail and knowledge here and very useful. The explanations are on point where folks should feel like walking away near experts after viewing this! (I know I do 😃)
Thank you 🙏
This is amazing content!!! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is a great in depth tutorial! Thanks dude!
Thanks!
Subscribed. Great info.
Thanks!
Funny...this is just 2 years ago and at 15:28, the X32 Rack is suggested at $1200. These things have ballooned in price and are currently $1700 (7/2023)!!
Yeah it definitely went up in price a lot!
I'm about to buy one and it's only $899 at sweetwater. Great video btw Scott!
Thank you for this!!
Thanks for watching!
Very informative!
Great way to show us tips. Loved it
very helpful! Thank you
🤘🤘
Great video!
Thanks Zach!
Hello Scott, loved the video. It is very informative. I had a question, we have a 6 piece band and I was wondering how many in ears I can hook up to a single receiver? Or do I have to purchase 6 different in ear and receiver sets? I’m totally new to in ears and how they work so I have been watching your video to learn as much as I can.
Yeah you can all share a mix for sure 👍 It might lead to arguing lol but its a great way to save money on your IEM rack
Awesome Video. It helped me a lot. Thank you! You have a new subscriber.
Thank you for subscribing, and glad you found the video helpful 🤘
So helpful 🙏
Very informative ma bro...thumbs up.
🤘🤘
I use the soundcraft 24r so you think it’s possible to use one mixer foh and iems. My thought is can I split 4 mics into channels 1,2,3,4 and then bus 5,6,7,8 to the aux.
If you have enough outputs to send to FOH as a split, but most people need more than 4 outputs
@@ScottUhlMusic thank you very much
Great video!!!!. Very well explained and it is a good guide to build one of these systems. I am Argentine and seeing a reference to an Argentine actor (called Francella 19:06) added even more value to this video. Greetings and thanks for the information
Thanks! I appreciate it
Incredible vid, thank you very much
Thanks, glad you found it useful
Extremely valuable info! If you only have a usb audio interface, like the UMC404HD that I use, you can use Reaper with its web interface controls to accomplish this on an even tighter budget (
You're awesome thanks
Thanks!
This video has aged like wine 🥂
If you are just recording music covers and don't need to perform live, is a splitter still necessary? I want an in ear setup and as I understand it, splitters are only for if you are going live. I am just doing vocal covers at my home. Can I make do with everything except the splitter?
You do not need a splitter if you are not performing live 👍
@@ScottUhlMusic great, thank you so much. The video was great for guiding me through
Hi Scott,
do you have any issues/solution with mic-bleed and In Ears?
I m a Singer in a Metalband and I can hear the cymbals of the drums basically anytime. I use just my microphone Shure SM58 and 2 guitars (D.I.) and the click in my mix (Behringer XR18). It's still way too loud for me because of the cymbals. My ears hurt and I have to lower the mic signal in my mix. Therefore I have to rely on a floor monitor for some extra vocal volume.
Do you have any solution/suggestion here?
Thanks for your awesome work!
Yeah that’s a tough part. We have four singers in the front of the stage (all in front of the drummer) in one of my bands. I have them in my ears and there is always bleed from drums. I turn the drum mics off in my ears. Scooping out some high end can help for sure, but I haven’t figured that out yet. That’s part of the problem with drums and how loud they are by design
Awesome video Scott! Can the Behringer digital mixers (or the Soundcast ones for that matter) double as both an IEM and FOH mixer?
Just saw this was answered in a comment below.
The answer is yes for anyone else looking for this answer 😊
Love it. Which router would you recommend?
Thanks! I got this one now and I love it: th-cam.com/video/9E5m-VYvoa0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=aTsl7kBNz_9d4dcl
This is the best guide that I found so far! It is not require to use the Ultranet setup although the Ultranet still make a lot more sense but it will be whole lot more expensive 😂
Currently my stage snake does not have the 2-ways split therefore I am thinking to use the ART S8 to split the outputs of the stage snake. Maybe I will get at least 2 of em which total of 16 channels. Or simply, I will get the exactly the same stage snake like yours 😁
Just wondering, is there any better alternative for this?
Yup, I have a video about this that I use for Ultranet: A Device to SIMPLIFY Your IN-EAR MONITOR Setup - MIDAS 4816-O Splitter
th-cam.com/video/vhKOkp4Ives/w-d-xo.html
Just bought a bunch of this gear and looking forward to setting it all up. One question...If the X32 doubles as both FOH and IEM, is the splitter necessary? Do you have a video on how to run your own FOH AND IEMs with the X32?
Nope, it’s only if you need to split: In Ear Monitor Rack SPLITTERS - Your Questions Answered
th-cam.com/video/E8DIBUAZvP8/w-d-xo.html
Hey Scott great video. Can you link the cable you used for HX Stomp to the splitter? Thanks
Link the cable? I’m sure I understand what you mean
The most common method for these stompboxes is a quarter-inch cable from the stompbox into a DI box, then an XLR cable from the DI Box to the mixer (or splitter in your case). If the pedal has an XLR output, you can skip the DI box and go straight from the stompbox to the splitter.
The best video tutorial I could find about this subject. Very enlightening! Thank you very much! Question: if the band is also the front house, i assume you don’t need a split cable and you can run the the main right and left speakers in a similar ways as you do for the IEM, right?
Yup that’s correct, if you do FOH sound yourself you will not need the splitter 👍
I have a question...the band manager for one of the artists I play for asked me to pull down some of my drum cam videos because they had click and guide in them. He didn't want me posting videos that "give away the secrets" of how the show works. What do you suggest I do so I can send an audio source to my camera that doesn't have the click and guide? I use a 12 channel mixer and have the monitor in channel one and go out of the mains into the camera. I don't have separate auxes on the mixer. There's an FX send but it only goes mono which would make my videos sound funny having only the left channel producing sound. I thought maybe using a Rolls Amp with 2 headphone jacks and sending one to my mixer for my monitor and the other to the camera and asking for a 2nd line exclusively for click? We're talking about getting our own monitor system like what you demonstrated here as well.
Without separate auxs or sends, I do not believe you will be able to. You need to be able to chose what to send. Even a smaller mixer should have an aux send or something like that and then you can chose which channels go to your camera 👍
Does that mean you have click coming out the main PA speakers? Definitely not a good scenario.
Just had a few different questions. 1) What exactly is the patch bay being used for and would it be necessary for me to get one? 2) Me and my band don't usually run our own sound we've been playing at venues that have a house PA and board, how would this concept work in that sense, would they have to unplug their cables and plug our snake cables into their mixer? Just trying to get an idea on how the whole process would work when we got to a venue that has their own house PA and mixer. Other than that your video has been extremely helpful!!
1) patch bay was just to get the cables into the mixer, I’ve updated it since then
2) that’s what the splitter is for. And yes they would plug your splits into their snake or however they get the signal
My updated video on my rack might help: th-cam.com/video/ZVWjseFbmQQ/w-d-xo.html
Thanks a bunch!!
@ScottUhlMusic amazing video. Maybe a dumb few questions here but: 1) Do you ever receive any resistance from sound engineers having to re-patch everything when using a splitter?
2) My band plays small club shows. What if instead of using a splitter we used Y-splitters for the vocal mic's and cabinet mic's, and just left the drums alone and relied on ambient drum sound?
Sorry if this comes across as naive, as I'm new to all of this!
You can get resistance from grumpy sound guys with anything haha, that’s all a part of sometimes. Just be sure to tell them ahead of time so they aren’t surprised when you get there for load in.
Y cables can work but they won’t be as easy as with a splitter. With the split, everything is in one location and it makes it much much easier and cleaner to do the split. Y cables sometimes can get cross talk as well
Amazing video, quick question what are the benefits and downsides to using a splitter? Why not just use the outs on the X32?
Thanks! You need the splitter if you are sending signal to front of house to be mixed. If you are doing a show where you are running sound, you do not need a splitter 👍
@@ScottUhlMusic Thanks for the response! Do you think I could use 6 of the XLRs outs to send each instrument out to front of house instead of the splitter?
@@kevinmundarain7572 Front of House usually really prefers to have a clean split so they can do their own EQ,Comp,Verb,Gain, etc. So if you are coming out of the outputs you would just make sure it's set to pre-eq/comp/etc so you are sending a completely dry signal to them so they can mix it for what sounds best in their system.
@@ScottUhlMusic great advice thank you so much!
Awesome. I imagine I could do this (without needing the splitter) directly out of my midas 32r board. Probably have to plug it into an external router (bus).
If you don’t need to split to FOH and run the sound yourself, then you are correct, you do not need a splitter
@@ScottUhlMusic thanks! I have some Sony earbuds I like. I’m just trying to figure out the cheapest way to run two mixes without extra hardware. For now I’ll run a monitor mix out of the headphone jack into a headphone splitter. I guess.
@@ScottUhlMusic I need a video for that, I just bought an XR18 with the belief that musicians can mix their own monitors.
Great video Scott.
Couple extra tips gained from experience...
1) use a label maker to label each of the inputs on the snake box and the plugs on the FOH end of the split snake with the name of what’s plugged into that channel. This makes it WAY quicker for the FOH sound guy to connect to his system. He shouldn’t necessarily be matching up the channel numbers. Instead he’s matching the vocal or guitar to the channel he uses for that in his system that might be a different number than the channel number that the bands mixer uses.
I’ve had it happen too often that the band uses channel 1 for vocals and the FOH guy uses his channel one for kick drum. The stage hand matched up the numbers (instead of the names) and the vocals are coming through the FOH kick drum channel. Oops.
Also consider calling things by generic names when labeling. “Center vocal” instead of “Steve vocal”. The sound guy doesn’t always know the guys names but he does know who’s standing center stage.
2) another good choice for digital mixers is the somewhat older school digital mixers with actual moving faders. Examples are Yamaha O1V96 or the Behringer X32 (there are versions that fit a slant top rack).
Advantages are that you don’t need to mess with WiFi and possible interference. Also some of these can be picked up used these days really cheap.
Disadvantage is that to adjust you need to walk over and push the faders around since you’re not using the phone or iPad apps. (Put it in a slant top rack placed in the Backline on the stage by the guitar amps or drums ... it’s now similar to adjusting a guitar amp.)
Get out the label maker and label the aux buttons with the band members name. When Steve wants to change his mix he needs to make sure the aux button with his name is lit up first. If not, push it so It lights up. The faders snap to his settings and he can move them around.
Great advice for sure! And yeah I should have said use a label maker and label the NAMES of the cables... like "cable 1 - Kick" "cable 2 - Snare" etc. Thanks for sharing, great advice!
Great video and very informative. Is it possible to use an analog mixer in an IEM setup? Something like the Yamaha MGP32X
Yup, you can do this with an analog mixer as well 👍 Just make sure you have enough aux/send channels and it’s the same process
@@ScottUhlMusic Alright. Thanks.
Excellent as always! The splitter is just if your sound man is actually at the so called FOH right? If you’re doing everything yourself on stage you wouldn’t need it correct?
Thanks dude.
Yup, that’s correct!
Hey Scott, I'm a big fan. Your in ear videos are all very helpful and easy to understand even to someone with very little knowledge of the subject.
I know you probably won't see this comment but I might as well try asking... Are DI boxes necessary in this setup? If I have back vocal tracks, synths (that are played) and playback samples coming out of my Scarlett 18i20. Do I need to first plug them into a DI box then go into a splitter, or can I just get 1/4 TRS - XLR cables and just go straight from my Scarlett outputs into the splitter (art s8) inputs with those tracks?
Thanks for the videos!
You don’t always need a direct box, no. 👍 but they are helpful!
@@ScottUhlMusic Haha wow, you truly are amazing man, answering my comment on such an old video. Thanks! So you're saying I'd be fine just going straight into the art s8 splitter from my Scarlett outputs (for tracks/click/synths)?
Should be fine 🤘
Hi there Scott. Question 🙋♂️. I have a very small band with my two sons. Drums, bass and elect guit. With 3 vocals.
We don’t do any live gigs, just home rehearsals... I was wondering if there’s a way to use our iPods pro as ear monitors. That would be an interesting video tutorial 😅.
Great video btw.
Hi JC, glad you are enjoying the IEM videos. I'm not sure I'm understanding your question. You want to use your iPOD (iPOD correct, not iPhone or iPad) for in-ear monitors? You said iPod "Pro" so do you mean iPad Pro?
I think he believes the iPod can be used for a monitor amp, of sorts. NO! That WILL give you latency if you even get it to work. You’ll all be out of time with each other.
Also do you need to have internet going to the router ? Or does it just need to have power to connect to the phones
@@Cage_is_in_a_cage the router doesn’t connect to “the internet,” but you can connect to the router to control the mixer
@@ScottUhlMusic thank you!
Will phantom power pass through the splitter you are using?
Some do and some don’t. I don’t have that splitter anymore. But if yours doesn’t, I have this little device that works amazing; th-cam.com/video/cFqnYsloQc8/w-d-xo.html
@@ScottUhlMusic Thanks for the info! We use 2 Blue encore 300s and a KSM 105 on stage plus overheads so I’m searching for a splitter that passes phantom. The Behringer MS8000 does but I would rather have a snake similar to the one in your video. Seismic audio have them but I can’t find any info on whether they pass phantom or not.Thanks for the reply!
@@joesalyers, yes. The Seismic does pass phantom power. The splitter at 9:12 does this exactly. I know, it’s mine. Lol.
@@DaleChristenson Thanks for the info!!! This really helped me out. I'll pick one up now!! Thanks again!
Great video!
I’m only looking to to have wired monitoring for band rehearsals
3 Hx Stomps
3 vocals.
Everyone using headphones.
Would I still need the split snake for this?
I just want to be able for everyone to have their own mix.
Nope, no split snake is required! You only need a split snake if you are going to send the signal separately to front of house. If you do shows with your own PA (you guys mix the FOH), or for just rehearsal, you do not need a splitter.
@@ScottUhlMusic Thanks. I tried plugging my Hx stomps into a Behringer mixer and using a headphone amp to send to everyone. But it was so crackly and distorted it was impossible to play. On the Behringer Air series this isn’t a problem?
That sounds like a gain staging problem. Your gain was too high. You can also set the output to different levels (mic/line/instrument). That’s under your global settings. I did a video on global settings here: th-cam.com/video/pg2VdBX7tBo/w-d-xo.html
But that sounds very much like a gain or impedance issue
Question about routing cables on stage.
We have a rack splitter and we'll generally be using the venue's mics for vocals.
Would we unplug the mic on stage, run that cable to our splitter, then run our own cable back to the mic?
Yup 👍
Hi! Very useful your video ! Thanks.
I want to buy the splitter.
Do you recommend the floor siesmic splitter or a Behringer ms8000 or art S8 ?
Thanks.
I use the Art S8 personally and I love it 🤘 I go over my exact setup in this video: th-cam.com/video/ZVWjseFbmQQ/w-d-xo.html
Do you need the DI boxes? Couldn't you just plug the IEM signal right into the digital mixer, and the one with the backing tracks into a 1/4" to XLR adapter? Everything here totally makes sense to me except that. Thank you!!
I have a video that answers that question here:
Do You NEED A DIRECT BOX? Simply Explained w/ Audio Examples
th-cam.com/video/9aS976GdBMI/w-d-xo.html
Great video. Do you know how this would work if you only have 1 mixer? as in the mixer for FOH is also used to control IEM. we’re in a church setting so we never move our setup unless we play live somewhere. we’re currently running the X32 Behringer (not the rack, it’s the other one…don’t know the name…)
Yup, you do not need the splitter if you are always going to control FOH sound as well 👍
Great job. Thanks. We are a four piece band, running p16m. I’m wanting to run my Beat buddy out so it only goes to the P16M’s. And run a second cable out of the beat buddy direct to the PA. THE beat buddy has two 1.4 inch outs and I’m running both through a A B switch. I can’t seem to get the routing correct. No matter what do, I get both out the PA . Any suggestions appreciated.
TR
Which mixer are you using for going to the PA?
this is awesome man.. thanks a lot. I have a question, what if the musician want stereo mix? do we have to use 2 aux output?
Yup that’s correct. In the x32 you can pair channel 1&2 or 3&4 etc to be run in stereo, or you can set it mono and have channel 1 be it’s own mix, channel 2 be it’s own mix, etc
@@ScottUhlMusic thanks a lot for the explanation!
What’s a good length for the snake that goes to FoH from the splitter? 15’? 30’? Thanks for the video
Most of the time the IEM rack is near the stage Input snake on stage, so I don’t think you need more than 5 ft for FOH
You can also use your behringer output plug directly to foh to save time and energy yet you can still use your in ear monitors without the snake cables. The downside is the sound guys can't mix individually.
We’ve done that and we’ve given them our router password and let them mix our output. It works well if we are like the opener or something 👍
Great video mate! 15ft splitter seems quite short though to reach the front of house mixer. Do you link the XLRs to additional XLRS to reach it?
Most of the time, they have a snake on the stage or to the side of the stage, so you have the in ear rack live near their snake. I don’t think I’ve ever ran into a situation where I needed to run more than 15 ft 👍
@@ScottUhlMusic I'll keep that in mind! Looking at doing this soon. Your video helped loads! I've got the sennheiser I.e.m e300 G3 system. It'll be good to finally put it to use
Can’t go wrong with those ew300s 🤘 they’re so good
@@ScottUhlMusic I've had it for about 10 years and I've never used it as the band that I was in called it a day. Going to put it to use soon and I can't wait! We're getting the X32 as well. What's the sound quality like with that unit?
Love the x32 rack. Can’t beat it imo. Although to be fair, I haven’t used too many other ones. But I love it
Hi Scott,
Wonderful video, I do have a question however. I have gone ahead and purchased the componants. But they didnt have any splitter snakes available so I have purchased a Behringer SD8, i thought perhaps the digital signal through the single Cat5 to the x32 digital mixer and then the physical XLR outputs to the FOH could be an advantage. Have you got any experience with this? Would it work or would they not be split signals?
Hey man, I wish something would work like that. I personally don’t think it would. Although I guess it depends on how many inputs/outputs you have. You could send out the outputs and the aux outs if that worked for your setup, but that’s very limited and it means it still goes into your mixer. Usually the FOH wants a dry split, so it doesn’t touch your rack at all
Noob question: if the musicians plug in their instruments directly into the splitter box, does this mean that you don't need a standalone guitar or bass amp on the stage?
Hey bud do you absolutely need a patch bay and a splitter? It seems like you should just be able to manage with the aux outs.
If you always are the one in control of your sound (you guys provide PA, and you are never sending the signal to FOH to be mixed) then yes, you do not need the splitter. I'd say 95% of the shows I do, we do not need a splitter. But there are 5% of shows where we do need one. So it's up to you for sure!
Do you need to mixers then ? One for the busses and then one for FOH ? Also, will the routers conflict ?
You do not need two mixers. You get control over the buses and the FOH separately.
Scott this a great video! It really helped bridge the gaps for me in putting my IEM system together. Out of curiosity, if you want to run a stereo mix to your wireless monitor system, I’m using the Sennheiser G4 and the X32 rack, do you have to run to XLR cables out of the X32 and into the G4? If so, can that be done out of outputs 1 & 2?
Glad it helped you! And yes for a stereo out you need 2 outputs from the x32 into 2 inputs of the G4 systems 🤘
@@ScottUhlMusic thanks!
These videos are super helpful! Is it typical to send strictly a dry split to FOH? Is there a way to send over a split with the vocal effects/EQ mix or is that not really done? Thanks
Usually the FOH guy wants a completely dry signal in order to mix it themselves for what’s best for the room 👍
I run backing tracks and click through my Roland SPD-SX which I route everything to whoever via my aux`s to whoever needs click or backing tracks
No stereo ears in this setup though right? Would need twice the outputs?
Correct, you would need two outputs per stereo ears 👍
What would you suggest if you're playing a show with multiple bands, but you are the only band running clicks/tracks? Stage is already set up with mics, DI boxes, etc. into a cable snake box. Do you unplug from their snake box into your splitter? I'm sure most sound techs wouldn't care for that.
Let the venue know ahead of time your plans. Send a stage plot and all that stuff. It truly depends on the venue and the set changeover time. A lot of venues do this stuff all the time, other times engineers get upset about it. It just depends on
Do you have to have a router to link up the app and the system? Just thinking that some venues prob won't route an ethernet cable for a tiny band...
Yes you’ll need a router. But you supply the router and connect it to your mixer. The venue doesn’t need the router. The router is for you to mix your ears. The FOH gets a separate mix because of the splitter. They don’t need access to the router for their mixing 👍
Our band bought an XR18 and looking to get into something similar!
Good choice! That was the first system I used that first made me aware of this type of setup. My drummer bought one, and got me hooked 🤘
@@ScottUhlMusic We aren't playing shows now (obviously, thanks Covid19) but the next step for me would be figuring out the splitter situation. I thought I needed something different than what was recommended in your video but the seismic stuff seems to be the ticket. The only thing with these setups that seems troublesome to me is, gigs vary wildly, and you might roll up to a gig and the sound system/guy/person is not capable of working with the setup for whatever reason....
Yeah, like I mention in the video if they already ran the cables, they can get upset. Or just the general grump sound guy that we’ve all dealt with at some point. But they shouldn’t have to run cables using the splitter... they just plug direct into their board using their side of the splitter. Assuming they have the proper inputs. That’s why I always say let them know ahead of time. Always let them know and always bring a stage plot with an input list
@@DavidMacVicar There's a difference between the sound guy CAN'T work with your splitter and when the sound guy simply doesn't want to because he's a crusty old grumpy dude. Thats where your skills as a diplomat come in. As Scott says, Make it super easy. Send a stage plot with an input list ahead of time. Make sure the stage plot is clear that your bringing your own self contained IEM rig and you'll be giving them a labeled snake tail.
If he can plug in cables, He can plug in the cables from your snake tail instead. There shouldn't be any systems out there that can't accept your XLR connectors from the snake tail. Especially if you've brought ALL of your own drum mics, direct boxes and other needed gear, you make his life WAY easier. Assuming that your mics aren't junk quality. Try to bring good stuff that they shouldn't be able to complain about. That cheap Radio Shack mic from 1978 probably won't sound great on your Kick Drum.
Why would a sound guy complain that he only needs to plug in a well labeled snake tail? ... Since the band already plugged everything else in otherwise.
Trick for quick changeovers in a festival situation. Sound guys usually LOVE THIS. They usually have a set of drum mics set up for all the bands to use. It takes time to move the stands around or attach the clip to the drum rims during the changeover. So... When you set up your drum kit offstage while the previous band is playing, Pre-attach YOUR drum mics using the clips that go onto the drum rims. No drum mic stands needed. (we even used a clamp with a gooseneck to attach the hi hat mic pointing up from below the hi hat) Pre-attach cables and leave them coiled up around the mics. During changeover, when you plop the drums onto the stage, it takes 3 seconds to grab the cables and plug in the other end into your snake box. Then you probably only have about 3-4 other cables that need to be run to your snake box from the vocals and guitars. The sound check is now just a line check to see that something didn't get forgotten to be plugged in. The mix is probably REALLY close in the monitors. You won't need to play 3 songs and keep asking the sound guy to fix monitor mixes for 5 guys in front of 3000 people. He just mixes the band and half a song in it sounds great out front.
So I wanted to ask you if we all had DIs/splitters individually, as well as modelers like for guitar/bass etc, could we just run our mix as a group on stage, and FOH use their normal lines like if we didn't have an IEMs at all? Some of our gigs have very limited PAs and we have DIs possible from bass, gtrs, and snare/triggers from the drums. Could we just split individually like normal to the FOH and do our own thing? Or is that not recommended? Very informative and great video that made me understand a lot of things
I guess you could do it that way. You would just have to run multiple outputs either way. With the splitter, all the cables/splits are in one location which usual makes things MUCH easier to setup
@@ScottUhlMusic Fair enough and that's a good point. I just wanted to ask if it were possible if need be. Thank you 😊
I am hoping to get an in ear setup I can use with a variety of styles. All loud: Concert band, Jazz ensembles, small groups, Dixie bands going hard lol. Only my rock gigs have an in ear setup. All other gigs I usually wear the beige plugs and play by smell. Assuming no PA I do it all for myself, Would I need a small mixer with mic to hear the group and some in ears?
You can always do a diy IEM setup, or just ask for a mix from the board as well. Or ask the sound guy to send you an IEM mix instead of a wedge mix
@@ScottUhlMusic yeah there's no sound guy giving a mix. There's me i .e. next to 3 tubas splitting-open-the-earth loud. So this problem exists for players gigging away from the "band on stage with monitors and a sound guy" luxury. How to devise a way to protect ourselves and also hear wtf is going on. I could use my zoom f3 and adjust a mic level to myself and monitor that way. Idk, maybe someone here will have an idea. So a freelancer, always playing in different formats that are also too loud but no sound guy to count on for a feed. Thanks.
You could try something like this: th-cam.com/video/5I6wwFV3ETg/w-d-xo.html
Hi Scott…just subscribed and late to the party. Preguntas: I wanted to use a personal mixer (I play the guitar/bass guitar/bass synth/sax or use a cardioid mic - a lot sh*t, I know), and I wanted to buy a Boss Gigcaster. The idea is to use one auxiliary input for me and select channels for different instruments. Can I still use just one IEM, send to my mixer, use one aux in the splitter, and switch channels for different instruments? Or do you recommend plugging in all my instruments into splitters w/o a mixer for myself? Thank you
Also, I’m buying a Behringer 18X, Sennheiser 300, rack, splitter, and external router. Thanks for the advice
Thanks for the sub! I’m not familiar with the GigCaster, but as for splitting, you only need the splitter if you are sending a signal separate to FOH. If you control the FOH sound, you won’t need the split and can do whatever you need. Hopefully this video helps: th-cam.com/video/E8DIBUAZvP8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Ti89yXN43EtPg53J
A little. I wish to use an IEM and send a separate ‘bundled’ signal to FOH. If you know, can I use the same IEM (same as the band) for a personal digital mixer (which will hopefully bundle all my instruments). Other words, can I use one IEM to switch btw different instruments connected to a personal mixer, and still send a signal to the FOH? Or is it’s best to get a bigger personal mixer just for the bands’ IEM and send the personal mixer signal to the FOH?
Thank you for response.