Split to front of house

[Wadge]

Hi guys,

For those of you who are using their own mixer to control their IEM or wedges, what are you using to send a spit to the frount of house?

Pics would be nice also

[Jerry Ziarko]

I used one of these for years, and it worked quite well. In hindsight, I should have held on to it. It would have come in handy every now and then.
http://www.audiopile.net/products/St...cutsheet.shtml

[guy n. cognito]

I just asked the same question, and that was the best answer I found so far.

[Roadkill]

If you want something rackmount (and with isolation and ground lifts) a couple of these and a 30' 16 channel fan-to-fan XLR snake to go to the house stagebox would be a nice system:
http://artproaudio.com/art_products/...ys/product/s8/

[Wadge]

I like the Art unifs but I'd have to purchase 3 for 24 channels. A quick question regarding the Poor-man-splitter: how do you go about giving phantom power through these - does the front of house do it or do is that given from the monitor board?

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by Wadge

I like the Art unifs but I'd have to purchase 3 for 24 channels. A quick question regarding the Poor-man-splitter: how do you go about giving phantom power through these - does the front of house do it or do is that given from the monitor board?

Read the web page. Phantom power runs through the direct out on each channel.

How big is your band. Do you really need all 24 channels in the monitor mix?

[Roadkill]

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

Read the web page. Phantom power runs through the direct out on each channel.

You're talking about the S8 and the OP is talking about the poor-man's splitter. On the latter, either board can supply the phantom. We had the monitor board do it as that was also our rehearsal setup. As to needing all 24 channels in the monitor mixes the norm these days is IEMs so you do need all channels.

[Wadge]

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

Read the web page. Phantom power runs through the direct out on each channel.

How big is your band. Do you really need all 24 channels in the monitor mix?

My band is a big band - singer, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 4 or 5 saxes, bass, guitar, keyboard (L and R - for stereo). and drums (5 mike setup). I really need all 24 channels.

Typically, we have a wireless in ear monitor for the singer and wired in ear monitors for bass, guitar, drums and keyboards. Each section of the brass (saxes, trombones and trumpets) get their own wedge monitor. That is 8 different monitor mixes. It sounds like it ought to be a nightmare but with the presonus 24.4.2 (10 Aux outs), each member of the rhythm section, the singer and one member of each of the brass section have an ipad or iphone to control their own individual monitor mix.

After setup, monitor sound check typically takes 10 minutes with the ability to change things mid gig on the fly without the need to call upon a monitor engineer. We've got used to this convenience and have it pretty dialed in. I would like to keep the presonus as a monitor mixer for the times when we play big stages and are using a third party's sound system.

Also I was asking regarding the poor man splitter not the Art rack mounted splitters.

[seamonkey]

Off your main board, you can run gear like this:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/sear...=Behringer+p16

You can take the channel sends from each channel or from sub-mixes.
An cat5 cable runs back to the stage and daisy chains to multiple p-16ms, each controlling their own monitor mix.

Consider too mixers like the Mackie DL1608, or Presounus, or Behringer X32, they have multiple monitor mixes built in and can save you $$$ on external gear to do the same, and a lot less set up.

[Wadge]

Thank you. I was curious about this but all the options I've seen are really quite expensive to justify. We use our own PA for 90% of our gigs and we've always got by without the split when we've had to use 3rd party PAs so it is a hard expense to justify.

[Keithwah]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

Off your main board, you can run gear like this:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/sear...=Behringer+p16

You can take the channel sends from each channel or from sub-mixes.
An cat5 cable runs back to the stage and daisy chains to multiple p-16ms, each controlling their own monitor mix.

Consider too mixers like the Mackie DL1608, or Presounus, or Behringer X32, they have multiple monitor mixes built in and can save you $$$ on external gear to do the same, and a lot less set up.

The Behringer Power Play stuff is really decent and if it breaks, its cheap to replace. It's a pretty good way to go and offer great flexibility. It also prevents needing a second monitor console. And you can use inserts or direct outs from your existing console to feed the Power Play network. If a guy wants a wedge instead of IEM, then he can take the line out of his Power Play personal mixer station and plug it into a self powered speaker like an EON or any of the millions of self contained boxes around today.

But if you are splitting between house and a stage consoles, then you really should invest in the Art S8 as a minimum investment. You really do need the ground lifts and you'd be surprised at how having those line pad switches might save you rear one day too. And yes there are much nicer versions of the ART S8 from Whirlwind, Rapco, Proco, etc, but the better investment is to add the transformers and give yourself a ground lift per channel at least.

[Big_Daws]

Originally Posted by Keithwah

The Behringer Power Play stuff is really decent and if it breaks, its cheap to replace. It's a pretty good way to go and offer great flexibility. It also prevents needing a second monitor console. And you can use inserts or direct outs from your existing console to feed the Power Play network. If a guy wants a wedge instead of IEM, then he can take the line out of his Power Play personal mixer station and plug it into a self powered speaker like an EON or any of the millions of self contained boxes around today.

But if you are splitting between house and a stage consoles, then you really should invest in the Art S8 as a minimum investment. You really do need the ground lifts and you'd be surprised at how having those line pad switches might save you rear one day too. And yes there are much nicer versions of the ART S8 from Whirlwind, Rapco, Proco, etc, but the better investment is to add the transformers and give yourself a ground lift per channel at least.

but for the price of how many units that they need to buy (17) the OP could buy a second monitor console AND the split snake.

there are many different options, however due to the amount of people that would require different mixes you are limited in that respect. as much as i hate to recommend it, but the behringer X32 will give you 16 mix outputs. and its digital. and a 3k price tag. the X32 has been getting some great reviews, and i have been starting to hear of people with issues on the console playing up, but behringer has been extremely quick to rectify the situation. if you are looking for an analog console take a look at the Allen and heath ZED 428 (only 6 auxes though but you could also use the subgroups), or the Allen & Heath GL series.

as far as a split snake goes, i don't have the "poor mans" snake. have have the one where you have a snake head that is rack mounted into a case and has 2 mulitpin connectors. one feeds the FOH, the other monitor world. and Rapco Horizon is the brand. these guys have been great to me. i have called them up to get weird and strange requests and they have done it for me and at a really reasonable price!

[musicman7722]

I too use the poor mans splitter snake.

[fokof]

I use a home made isolated splitter.

Got an old , beat up 24/8 snake patch box and just changed a couple of XLR-F and added Neutrik transfos.

Cost me around 300 for a 12X XLR isolated splitter.

[Wadge]

Originally Posted by musicman7722

I too use the poor mans splitter snake.

Have you ever encountered problems with it?

[musicman7722]

No, and my foh recommended it and he has never mentioned any issues. I use it for my IEM split.

[Vege-mity-mite]

If you're just going to use it 10% of the time hire the splitter (or the FOH guys might already have one they use - it is a big gig right?).

[Wadge]

Probably requesting it from the FOH guys would be the easiest solution.

[Jerry Ziarko]

Unfortunately, many engineers will look at you like you have 2 heads. Some have a split and will gladly provide it, many do not. Buy it once and it's yours. I still wish I had held on to mine.

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by Wadge

Probably requesting it from the FOH guys would be the easiest solution.

Probably the hardest actually, especially for those of us playing small to medium venues.