Live Mix in our DJ's headphones

[MakiSupaStar]

Hey Everyone. I'm in a dub reggae rhythm section consisting of drums, bass, and a DJ/Mixer. In rehearsal, he's able to throw in vocal tracks and access his bag of tricks fine, but in live settings he can't hear his stuff, because of volume. I'm thinking the solution is putting a live mix into his headphones. What do we need to do this?

Does this also mean that I'd need to run a line from my head to the P.A. mixer? What about drums? Do we have to mike them every time we play? Would a possible solution be for him to run a mike into his mixer so that he has a rough idea of the sound in his headphones? What has started out as a simple inquiry has suddenly become complicated.

 

[hunta]

Maybe he just needs better headphones? What is he using?

Everything you want to come out of the cans will need to go into the cans. If he really needs a mix of the entire band then you're right it's complicated. If he only needs the bass (because the drums are probably plenty loud anyway), you could work out something simpler, like run a DI to his mixer. You would need some way to make a separate mix for the phones and the PA (which may mean a separate mixer so he can make a headphone mix).

 

[MakiSupaStar]

Maybe he just needs better headphones? What is he using?

Everything you want to come out of the cans will need to go into the cans. If he really needs a mix of the entire band then you're right it's complicated. If he only needs the bass (because the drums are probably plenty loud anyway), you could work out something simpler, like run a DI to his mixer. You would need some way to make a separate mix for the phones and the PA (which may mean a separate mixer so he can make a headphone mix).

Cool. We'll mess around with that tonight in practice. Thanks.