"Band in a Box" Axe FX In Ear Rig

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spanny

spanny

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My band is looking into moving into an in-ear system and looking into building a rig where everything is housed in 1 road case (mixer, receivers, splitter snake, Axe Fx, etc) to make setup/load in simple and have a quiet stage.

Anyone on here doing that? If so, how's your experience with it and any photos of your rig to share?
 
Im not but I will say that will be a tall, heavy rack; better not be any stairs into a venue...
 
While we do not have everything in a single rack space...we do all run direct and use IEM's. We pretty much all have our own rigs in a separate rack. Set up is fairly quick (full pa/lights, instruments, soundcheck can be done in an hour if we push it, usually closer to 90 minutes on average though with the mandatory union beer breaks, lol) however there are some things that I've noticed the 4 years we have been doing this.

1) it makes for a very 'clean' FOH sound...sound guys love it...I think the 'atmostphere' of the gig suffers as a result though. The PA sound is so clear (our sound guy is a audio nut and runs a pretty good mix/sound), that there is no vibe/atmosphere or feel when you get within a certain distance of the stage. There is no amp sound, only drums and vocals...I think that reduces the feel for the audience, especially those that wanna dance. Now we get dancing crowds and they dont come within 20 feet of the stage and I think its a subconscious decision because of the sound is and where it sounds best. Years ago before IEM's in previous bands we would have people right up front as there was guitar/bass/drums and wedges to carry the sound.

2) to combat #1...you can have a sound guy run a fill monitor or such on stage to help with that...however, depending on your sound situation that isn't always feasible...which leads to #3

3) we have our own dedicated sound guy that we have used for the 4 years this band has been around. Uses the Behringer X32 board so all mixes, monitor and FOH, are saved. I've resorted to running IEM's with a floor wedge and controlling the mix of both. My IEM's have my vocals and a touch of guitar, the wedge has the rest of the stuff...and I pull my left/inside ear bud out and work off both. This works great for me.
 
don't have any photos handy, but this is similar to we do it in my main band. Currently, we're using a Behringer X-18 Air for the monitor board. It's so easy because we all run our own mix from our phones/tablets with the X-air apps. all we need are sends from the house and we're good to go!

We keep our receivers separate though, because we each play in several other situations (fill ins, etc.) where we are not together, so keeping all our receivers in the same rack would be a hassle. Our singers is the only one in the rack with the mixer. But, if you will never need your IEMs in any other situations, then all in one rack is the way to go I think.

I know this is not very detailed info, but we're still getting used to it ourselves, so I don't have much else to tell you. But I wouldn't go back to wedges if you paid me.
 
Yes, we use the X-Air apps I believe as well for the x32 mixer. It is nice to just walk back to my rack and adjust my own mix during sound check. It can be a bit cumbersome as rotating the phone gives you access to different sliders and such...but being able to assign sub groups and create a sub mix allows you to really tailor your sound...its a great solution.
 
The Behringer x32 or x18 mixers, with the p16 monitoring units. They screw on to a mic or music or drum stand, are 200 a piece and connect via network cable. They're a breeze to program and use.
 
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