Setting up IEM @ Gigs

[Nathan Ferguson]

I have 5 people in my band. All sing and play an instrument.
When we do our own gigs we use 5 aux channels outputted to 5 iem’s on our Soundcraft Ui24r mixer and then mix them individual with our own iPhones.

How do I go about getting them set up at gigs where we don’t do our own sound and have limited time?

Tell me if you need more clarification.

 

[craigie]

Probably a splitter snake.

 

[s0c9]

You will need a splitter snake, or hope the venue has a stage snake with a splitter leg on it.
Either way, you need to be able to hook up to/from the house and map to the same inputs to your Ui24R as when you run your own sound.
That way your IEM mixes have minimal change/impact.
By map - I mean - take their kick channel (theirs might be 16) and connect to yours (which might be Ch 1).

If you have a splitter snake, then everything connects to your snake. One leg goes to the house and the other goes to the Ui24R.
IF the house has a split, then you can hook it up to the Ui24R and map their channels to yours.

The SAFEST approach that will cover you is every scenario is to have your own splitter.
You could mount the splitter in the same rack as the Ui24R and leave one leg permanently connected to the Ui24R. You then [ALWAYS] connect everything to the splitter snake box, and only use the other split/leg when you need to hook up to the house system.

Whether that is worth doing will depend on how often you gig and you use your own FOH, and whether you feed all channels to the house or give them an L/R mix.

We took that approach (x32R) and still do.. We have our own IEM mix,not matter where we play. So much LESS hassle.. setup time is negligible.

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

As others before me said a split snake should do the trick. I opted for a pair of the Behringer ms8000 rack spliters and I leave my x18 chanels plugged in it in the rack so I just run a fantail out of the rack for front of house.

 

[s0c9]

This is our "layout".

 

[walterw]

How do I go about getting them set up at gigs where we don’t do our own sound and have limited time?

if it's a multi-band bill and you're not the headliners?

you probably don't.

 

[two fingers]

if it's a multi-band bill and you're not the headliners?

you probably don't.

This. If they have put wedges on the stage for multiple bands, you'll likely be using wedges that show.

 

[s0c9]

if it's a multi-band bill and you're not the headliners?

you probably don't.

This. If they have put wedges on the stage for multiple bands, you'll likely be using wedges that show.

I've done SR for shows in that scenario (last one was back in June with 12 bands, and 8 bands back at end of April) where we have bent over backwards to accommodate bands with self-contained IEM systems as well as those who used traditional wedges.
Some had X32 Racks with patch panels on the rear of the case, others had different setups.
Basically we move the mic inputs from our snake to their inputs/patchbay, then take their outputs and map them back to our snake channels. Yes, TWICE the number of hops, but with drop snakes from drums, etc. it's a lot easier.
With technology the way it is today, its not as much of a challenge as it used to be... see my pic above

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

Having your own mixer for iems ran with channel splits, drop snakes and/or fantails for their front of house will be the ideal setup its abit pricey but worth it. You can save all your iem settings on your mixer that way. Running that kind of setup the front of house sound check is usually just a quick gain stage so it makes things really quick and easy.

 

[walterw]

Basically we move the mic inputs from our snake to their inputs/patchbay, then take their outputs and map them back to our snake channels. Yes, TWICE the number of hops, but with drop snakes from drums, etc. it's a lot easier.
With technology the way it is today, its not as much of a challenge as it used to be

true, and if the sound company can be persuaded to go for it it does eliminate an entire layer of effort and time, namely the monitor check; they can get a line check out front and pretty much start.