USING PERSONAL MIXERS - THE BASICS
Guest Post By Van Metschke & Mike Sessler
Van Metschke is the Church Relations guy for CCI Solutions. He has more than 30 years production experience and spent 20 years on church staffs. He’s the co-host of Church Tech Weekly. He also posts to his blog churchtecharts.org. Follow him @thesoundbooth on Twitter.
Mike Sessler has been involved with church sound and live production for more than 25 years, and is the author of the Church Tech Arts blog. Based in Nashville, he serves as project lead for CCI Solutions, which provides design-build production solutions for churches and other facilities. Follow him @mikesessler on Twitter.
This article was originally posted on ChurchTechArts.org and reused by permission.
What is a personal mixer?
Personal mixers give each musician or performer the ability to have an individual monitor mix on stage that they are able to control.
If you are still wrestling with whether or not to use In Ear Monitors, Ultimate Ears has a great set of posts about the way. You can read them here.
Ten years ago, the Personal Mixer landscape was very different. There were only a handful of manufactures led by Aviom. The user landscape was also more limited with mostly mid to large size churches using them on par.
Fast forward to 2016 and both have changed. Multiple manufactures like Digital Audio Labs, Allen-Heath, Roland, Elite Core, DBX, Behringer, MyMix, and others have joined Aviom in the market. The user base has also grown as prices and ease of use has narrowed the gap.
While there is much conjecture on which one to purchase I have some tips on using them that may help once you have them.
So how do most person mixing systems work?
Most (not all) systems are set up in two ways:
For an analog sound console the system has an interface box with a ¼” in send and return for each of 16 channels. These send and return to the inserts on whatever channel/group on the console that you would like to use on that channel of the personal mixer. It is important to remember that what this is interrupting is the signal path of that channel and is affected by every device in front of the insert point (gain, phase, etc.). Checking the owner’s manual should let you know where the insert point is. The interface box converts the 16 channels into a “digital” signal and send a copy of said signal down 8 to 10 cat5e cables to each of the personal mixers.
Digital setup
Digital mixers that do not have remote digital snakes, meaning they have analog inputs right on the back of the console usually have some kind of digital card slot for A-net digital network from Aviom. Both Aviom and Allen-Heath will work with A-net along with Pivitec although theirs is not officially sanctioned.
If the digital console runs on a digital network. Most systems have the ability to work on Dante or MADI and each manufacturer will have their own proprietary network protocol and are usually brand specific;
Digital Audio Labs- Dante (with a Dante card for the MIX-16)
Roland- REAC
DBX- Blu
Beheringer- AES50 (Not exclusive to Behringer)
Aviom-Anet (Although others, as I said will also use this protocol)
Elite Core- Proprietary protocol
MyMix- MyMix protocol (analog/ ADAT)
Allen-Heath- ACE/ dSnake
Digital Audio Labs- Proprietary protocol
Many of the units will also interface with industry standard protocols:
Beheringer- Dante (through the X32 or M32 console only)
Aviom-Dante (with a Dante interface unit)
MyMix- Dante (Focusrite Rednet3) Madi (RME ADI-648)
Allen-Heath- Dante, Madi, SoundGrid, EtherSound (with appropriate card for the ME-U)
Best Practices
So now that you have your system, what are some things you can do to make each mix as good and helpful as possible? Here are some thing to think about when training users.
Make sure the master volume is at unity or “0”
If you crank the individual instruments but have the master volume down, you will cause distortion and discomfort.
Try and keep the main EQ as flat as possible
Like mixing for the PA, EQ should be in small doses.
Pan instruments and vocals to create space
While in a large venue mono may be desirable to make sure everyone hears the same mix, it tends to clutter up an in-ear mix. Use panning to keep things in special perspective.
Add what you NEED not what you WANT
This isn’t the main PA if you have everything in the mix it gets pretty cluttered. This can muddy up the mix and keep the listener from hearing what they NEED to be able to play and sing with the rest of the group.
Use the ambient mic sparingly
Many of the mixers have an onboard ambient mic. This can add great space to the mix, but it can also cause chaos.
Make the over all level as loud as you need, not just LOUD
Remember that the ear-buds are only inches from the eardrum and this can cause hearing damage very fast.
I love what my friend Randy (a world class monitor mixer) says about mixing for musicians and singers. He uses the S. T. P. treatment.
Self
They need to hear their own voice/ instrument.
Time
They need to stay in time so they need to hear the snare/ hi-hat/ whatever is keeping time.
Pitch
They need to stay on pitch so they will need the melody. Everything else is just ear candy.
Earphone Considerations
You can have the best mixer and a well crafted mix but if you don’t have good monitors, it will all be for not. So let's talk earphones. I am going to split this up into three sections, and give you the pros and cons of each.
Generic headphones
If you are on stage once a month, or on a tight budget, these are for you. Entry level pricing and you can replace the earpiece with cleaning for multiple users. Although the more expensive generics may have duel or even triple drivers, the affordable ones are usually single driver units. They are usually a bit more fragile, but the lower cost make replacing them less painful. And they sound much better than iPod earphones or the drugstore brand that makes you look like a pirate.
Custom molded earphones
If you use earphones every week or more, you really need to invest in custom molded earphones. While it is a larger investment, the benefits far out way the sacrifice. They are also better for your hearing and your physical ears. There is no generic that can beat the sound of a good quality set of custom molded IEMs. Prices range from $400 to $1800 plus getting your ears molded at an Audiologist. You can save that money with Ultimate Ears as they have patented a digital ear scanner.
Cheap headphones
DON’T USE THEM for this kind of monitoring. Just Say NO!
Final thoughts
Not everyone should have a Personal Mixer
Training, Training, Training
Patience is key
Know the mixer better than them
About the authors:
Van Metschke is the Church Relations guy for CCI Solutions. He has more than 30 years production experience and spent 20 years on church staffs. He’s the co-host of Church Tech Weekly. He also posts to his blog churchtecharts.org. Follow him @thesoundbooth on Twitter.
Mike Sessler has been involved with church sound and live production for more than 25 years, and is the author of the Church Tech Arts blog. Based in Nashville, he serves as project lead for CCI Solutions, which provides design-build production solutions for churches and other facilities. Follow him @mikesessler on Twitter.
This article was originally posted on ChurchTechArts.org.
