Mini Mixer for Drummers IEM

[UMT]

3 piece band working on a budget. Running sound on stage. Using a wired IEM setup and it works great. Bass player and myself have absolutely no problem setting levels thru aux sends but drummer seems to have issues with wanting different levels up/down, etc. thruout the nite. I'm tired of adjusting his 'ears' multiple times during the evening so I'm thinking about getting him a 'mini mixer' so he can adjust his own levels...

 

I looking for a recommendation for one of the newer 'mini' mixers. Probably would want a minimum of 6 inputs. Any recommendations and/or other ideas for this solution are appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[dennis a]

http://www.aviom.com/Product-Categories-1/Mixers-1/A-16II-Personal-Mixer

 

This isn't exactly what you are looking for but it is worth a look.

 

Dennis

[samkokajko]

Just to add control for one person an aviom rig is going to be way to expensive. That is the concept though.

 

I'll let others find a good bang for the buck mixer. Just look out for you wiring scheme. Sounds like it may be challenging.

[lifeloverwg]

If you're running sound from stage, you could just put your current mixer where he can reach it and let him adjust his own mix.

 

Does your current mixer have direct outs you can run to another board? Otherwise your new mini mixer will need direct outs to pass the signal on to the main board. Shure used to have a product called the Auxpander that connected through the insert points I think. Otherwise you will have to get into splitting inputs between the two boards.

 

Others will probably have other ideas. Winston

[UMT]

Current mixer has direct outs and aux sends so I think I'm looking at one of the 'mini format' mixers by either Behringer, Peavey, Yamaha, Mackie, etc.. I just don't know anyone who owns one and had any experience with them.

[formula428]

Actually, I do something similar. Being a drummer who sings, I often find that getting my vocals to balance in my monitor mix is a real task. I also find that *most* soundmen do not pay attention to the drummer for monitor mixes. They go by the "set it and forget it" method. Meanwhile, I can't hear my own voice when singing backups.

 

This is what I did for my specific situation, which gave me a 2 "instrument" monitor mix (1 vocal mic + 1 "general band mix")

 

Run vocals into "mini" mixer CH1. Since I supplied my own wedge, the mixer was powered and I had all the appropriate cables to do such. Obviously, you wouldn't need that because of the IEMs for your drummer.

 

I had the soundman give me a mix (typically rhythm guitar and lead vox) using one of his auxiliaries from FOH. Run that line into CH2.

 

From there, I could adjust the levels in my wedge accordingly. I'd usually put the mixer right beneath my low suspended rack tom, so it was out of the way. Then, to give the soundman a feed from my vocal mic, I'd just give him a direct out/insert out (1/2 way plugged in). The key there is to make sure that your drummer would not change his gain...or else that would change the signal going to the FOH mixing console and could result in some nasty feedback.

 

----option 1----

 

Now, I realize that's probably not the situation. So, I guess you'd first need to figure out how your going to connect the "mini" console and FOH console. If you have direct outs or have insert outs (and never use them for comps, gates, etc), then you could just send a direct out for every instrument he wants in his own personal mix. You'd need 1/4" cables for each "instrument" he wants in his mix. This would be a good solution if you do not need the direct outs / insert outs for anything else...because the "mini" mixer wouldn't even need XLR inputs...just 1/4". I say this because many small mixers will be a "12" channel but only have 4 or 6 XLR inputs. But, every channel will have 1/4" inputs (or two if it's a stereo channel). I think case, I think ANY "mini" mixer would do fine, even a Behringer despite my very strong "dislike" for their products. Your total cost would be the 1/4" cables and the console...a total cost of something like the 1202 Behringer ($70) and then $10-15 or so for each 1/4" cable.

 

----option 2----

If you needed those direct outs / insert outs, you could go the other way and run all the mics/channels into the "mini/drum" mixer first and then direct out into your FOH console. However, you'd then need a "mini" console that provided (for all intents and purposes) the same number of channels that your FOH console did so that you'd never "bottleneck" your FOH mixer. However, I'd not advise this as the console alone would be ALOT more expensive than option #1, plus add in the cost of the cables.

 

----option 3----

A third option would be to buy a splitter snake and treat your drummers "mini" mixer as a monitor board for only him. It's kind of a waste though, and splitter snakes are also not very cheap. Not to mention, you'd still have the issue of getting a "mini/drum" mixer that had enough XLR inputs. I guess the only advantages of this would be that you wouldn't need to send all the channels from the drummer console to the FOH via direct outs / insert outs, and could use the inserts/direct outs for comps, gates, etc. Plus you wouldn't have to worry about something getting bumped while your drummer was adjusting his monitor mix.

 

----option 4----

A fourth option, which I would recommend, would be to do a variation of option 1.

 

If there are certain instruments that he may never adjust (or at least not the entire night), why route them as separate channels into his mix? Instead, I'd bus them (if you have subgroup outs and are not using them) or route them together via auxiliaries. For the channels that he does adjust all the time, then you could just send them individually to the "mini" mixer via direct out / insert out. An example would be if he put the drum kit through his IEM mix. Why route each individual drum channel when you could group them all and send them via 1 auxiliary? If the bass also never gets adjusted, throw that in with the drums and "pre-mix" them both and all those individual tracks (kick, snare, 3 toms, 1 overhead, bass guitar) would just be one 1/4" to the "mini" mixer and only take up 1 channel of that mixer. Then add the guitar and 3 vocals to the "mini" mixer, each with it's own line (coming from the direct out / insert out of the FOH console).

 

The end result would be 5 lines to the drum mixer, instead of 11. Again, just a hypothetical example which is the same as option 1, but would save a little $$$ in additional cables and setup/tear-down time and potentially a smaller "mini" mixer.

 

good luck!

[UMT]

#1 method is the one that is going to work best for me. I really only need to send him 4 signals and have seperate sends for all so I'll just make up a 4 channel 'snake' and take it from there.

 

I've just never talked to anybody who's used one of the new line of 'mini mixers' and don't know anything about them. And, of course, none of the local music stores have {censored} anymore.