Help With Monitors

[drummer111]

hi im new to the forum im having trouble with my monitors.

first off im running a psm200 system when im playing drums but my problem is that my mixer does not have enough monitor outs it only has 2 ans they are both being used and they are running me straight out of the mixer headphone jack and now i want to be abel to control my own monitor mix basically have my own mixer next to my kit to control my monitor mix please help me

[Audiodude]

First of all, take a deep breath. Slow down. Explore capitalization and punctuation. They are your friends.

There are a number of ways to accomplish what you are wanting to do. without knowing a little more about your setup (how many channels you use, what your main mixer is, and whether it has direct outputs, specifically), I can't tell you which will work best for you. But for the edification of the whole community, I'll talk a little bit about each possible solution...

Scenario #1) A dedicated mixer with a transformer-isolated mic splitter
With this setup, you'll run all of your stage inputs to a multi-channel mic splitter. Run one snake from the direct outputs of your splitter to your main (front of house) mixer, and a second snake from your splitter to your monitor mixer. You can set up a mixer next to your kit, and mix your own monitors. Depending on your mixer, you could potentially mix monitors for several people.

Scenario #2) A dedicated mixer with direct outputs
With this scenario, you need to get a mixer for your monitors, and make sure that each channel of that mixer has direct outputs. Run all of your stage inputs into your monitor mixer, then take the direct output of each channel through the snake to the line inputs of your front of house mixer.

The down-side to this is that your front-of house mixer will get a signal that is after the pre-amps (and possibly after the EQ) of your monitor mixer, and the person mixing front of house won't be able to change those settings. The positive side is that you will avoid the expense of purchasing a transformer-isolated mic splitter, which can be pretty high.

A variation on this would be to use your front of house mixer's direct outputs, if it has them, and run the stage inputs there first.

Scenario #3) A HearBack system
Hear Technologies makes a cool little system that allows musicians to mix their own monitors on stage. It consists of an input box (http://www.sweetwater.com/HearBackHub/), which you would keep next to your front of house mixer, and one or more personal mixers (http://www.sweetwater.com/HearBackMix/), that the musicians keep on stage. Each mixer has a headphone / in-ear output, or can be connected to a transmitter for a wireless in-ear system or a power amp for floor monitors. You don't need an analog snake to run from the input box to the mixer(s). It uses inexpensive Cat-5 ethernet cable, which can be run hundreds of feet with no signal loss.

You'll need to have a way to get 8 channels out of your front of house mixer and into the input box. For most people, this is a combination of aux outputs, direct outputs, and subgroup outputs. Those 8 channels will then show up on your personal mixer for you to mix any way you like.

The system is sold as individual components, or in a four-pack (http://www.sweetwater.com/HearBack4pk/), which includes the input module, four mixers, and all the required cabling.

Scenario #4) A Hear-back system with a dedicated monitor mixer
Hear Technologies also makes a great monitor mixer called the Mix-Back (http://www.sweetwater.com/MixBack/). It has 16 channels in, and you can mix to 16 seperate analog outputs. It also doubles as an input module for the HearBack personal mixers.

You'll still need to get your channels into this mixer, though. That means either a transformer-isolated splitter, or using direct outputs from your front of house mixer.

Scenario #5) An Aviom monitor system
If you like the idea of the HearBack system described in scenario #3, but 8 inputs isn't enough, then Aviom might be for you. Aviom makes a similar system, with an input module (http://www.sweetwater.com/An16i/) and personal mixers (http://www.sweetwater.com/A16ii/), and all connected via Cat-5 ethernet cable. But their system can accomodate 16 channels, instead of 8.

Their system, aside from the higher channel count, has a lot more flexibility, routing options, and accessories to build a system that is perfect for your situation. You can even use multiple input and output modules (http://www.sweetwater.com/AN16o-DB/) to make a 64-channel digital snake over a single Cat-5 cable. Their boxes are also built to be a bit more "road worthy" with metal chassis instead of plastic.

I hope that helps narrow things down for you. If you have any more information you can share about your system and needs, please post it and we can get more specific. And as always, I'm always available to help out via phone, email, or pm.

[sabianq]

need more information,
what kind of mixer are you using? do you want to buy a new mixer to have as a second one?

what exactly are you doing?

Im assuming the PSM200 you are refering to is the Shure in ear monitor system

Audiodude is always good at giving the paticulars of any system, are any of his solutions close to what you want to do?

[Bops2000]

What I used to do was get a send(effects send, whatever)- but what ever the MAINS OUT are to me and run my own little amp with my own headphones (closed back), that way i would always control my monitor mix throughout the show, the problem will arise where you will definately figure out how bad your board guy is on the mix to the mains...

[GZsound]

Because of the inconsistancy of monitor systems we have encountered when we play festivals, I have started using my own monitor system.

There are several ways to make it work. I can run my vocal mic, my keyboards and my sax into a small format mixer that I use to control my own monitor while giving the sound guys a channel insert out of my mixer into a DI for connection to their system.

That way I have total control over the levels of my equipment in my own monitor, which is small and mounts on my keyboard stand, I know I will be able to hear my vocals and my sax...which is critical, and they can take the various signals and send them to the FOH, the bands monitors, even to a monitor they provide for me that would have the other vocals in it.

I currently use a small Yamaha 4 channel mixer and a small 50 watt amp that is quick to set up and works great.

A powered small monitor like a Galaxy or one of the small Roland units would work good too.

We don't use or need large loud monitors on stage since we keep the stage volume as low as possible.

A lot of drummers use a seperate mixer to sub mix their drums and give the FOH a feed off that mixer. That allows the drummer to have his own monitor control also.

[Deformati]

Hey drummer111,
You might want to check out the Mackie HMX-56. It is an inexpensive headphone/monitor mixer. The features for the price: Main Mix input, 4 other inputs, plus an effects bus. 6 Monitors or Headphones and can be connected. You get 5 knobs to make each headphone/monitor mix.
Nothing in the price range that I found with these abilities.