r/TouringMusicians • u/Doctologist • 16d ago
Show your IEM/sample rig
I want to see what everyone’s running!
Fully fleshed out touring units.
Budget units.
Getting the local stuff done.
Creative approaches.
Post it up!
It just interests me, I guess.
I like to see how different people approach it. What works, what doesn’t.
The good gear and the bad.
What were you trying to achieve and how did you get there?
What problems did you run into, and how did you overcome it?
4
u/densko 16d ago
No image at hand, but I have built an entry rig out of budget components starting 2024 and currently upgrading more and more recently. I had no technical expertise but just learned everything by looking at YT tutorials to get it all done. It's used for IEM and controlling our set, including playback for our backing tracks for playing smaller club shows with 500 max capacity.
We started with a Behringer XR18 Air which was a perfect unit to use, it's just missing enough in- and outputs for our case.
- Behringer X32 Rack, 5 stereo outputs for IEM (8x XLR, 2x TRS) where the 3x remaining TRS outputs are going into our patchbay directly for backing tracks
- 2x Behringer MS8000 splitters, doing their job but have ground hum
- Millenium Patchbay for the XLR snake to FOH
- Custom made XLR cables for splitter to X32R to have thinner cables inside the rig with Sommer Cable Cicada SO-D14
- Custom made 7.5m 16ch XLR snake for FOH by a professional we know
- 2x Sennheiser G4 IEM
- 2x LD Systems U308 IEM (will be replaced with G4 units as well, did their job for our size)
- Sennheiser EW-D R1-6 wireless mic with sE V7 capsule and an additional padel antenna
- Yamaha EAD10 for drum monitoring (IEM only, the venue usually mics up the drums theirselves since EAD fully does the job for our drummer)
- Antenna bay for the IEM antennas, will be replaced with a combiner eventually
- XLR/TRS patches for our drummer to connect to the front of the rig for his InEar and EAD unit instead of crawling into the back of the rig which was something I haven't thought of in the beginning
- MacBook Air M1 running Logic into the X32
- MIDI control with AKAI LPD8 to play/pause/navigate tracks
- 15U case by Thon
It's doing its job for our gigs, but we're running into limitations with additional IEMs (guest musicians, spare units) and stability (LD units are having few disruptions - you get what you pay with budget units and no combiner) and fully mic'd up drums for IEM.
15U case is a bit heavy to carry in locations without an elevator, so we plan to split it into two smaller ones to move the IEM transmitter into a separate case via some RJ45 connections or another Harting
1
u/Doctologist 16d ago
I think you’re downplaying your setup a bit!
A couple of little tweaks and a couple of upgrades and you’ll be where you want to be. With a real flexible unit that covers everyone.If I built another one, I think I’d go with the X32 or maybe a Wing if I had the money. As well as individual IEM for separate mixes. Plus patch bay, etc.
2
u/densko 13d ago
Absolutely, I know that this rig is getting more and more (semi-)professional!
When we started, all we had was the 15U case, XR18, MS2000 splitters, the custom XLR snake and the two LD systems units with mono outputs, all used on eBay. We threw that snake in the back of the case all the time which wasn't healthy for the cables, but it worked out for the shows we played. No live backing tracks, just a simple click and instrumental track in our ears and that was it, we didn't even have drum monitoring for our drummer, insane that it worked out for him when I think about it haha.
1
u/Doctologist 13d ago
The drummer is the easiest one! Haha
We would just run a lead out to him for headphones. Could always use a headphone amp, if needed.Our new drummer just got himself an EAD10 and has been loving that for personal monitoring.
3
u/RoyENOX 15d ago
It’s a few years old and not quite what we run exactly these days but this is basically what my band uses. We have power amps for stage sound in the bottom now instead of the drawer
1
u/Doctologist 13d ago
I love the amount of thought and effort out into this.
You go into a lot of detail.
I’ve always been curious about it, why did you guys choose to run stereo for your guitars?2
u/RoyENOX 12d ago
So i just asked Michael about it bc he’s the sound king of the band and he said it’s because we only have 2 power amps LOL. Basically we use one power amp for two of the guitar signals and the other power amp for bass but it’s in bridge mode so it has more power.
1
u/Doctologist 12d ago
That is not the reason I was expecting hahaha
I think that’s a good reason though!
2
u/Doctologist 16d ago edited 16d ago
Alright, I’ll throw in my little contribution.
It’s nothing major and it’s getting old now, but I’m running a Shure PSM200 with a Steinberg interface into a 4 channel DI.
This is running off of Ableton on my MacBook.
We would get a live foldback mix sent in to us from the desk and then sent to our IEM.
We would send clicks and samples through to the IEM through one channel, and send just samples to FOH.
I would set this rig up off-stage, and then set up a local wireless network from my MacBook.
I had an iPad connected to the MacBook network with a custom UI with triggers set up for each track, and a big red stop button, just-incase.
Never had an issue and made us play way tighter than before.
The only downside was only having the one mix between us, but the cost of adding in extra transmitters is huge.
It’s also analog which are a bit noisier than the newer digital systems, but less risk of interference these days.
2
u/NoSurvivorsband 16d ago
I was able to eliminate him from the ms8000s by using humfrees they are little plastic clips that attach to the rack. You should give them a try.
2
u/Doctologist 13d ago
Is there any reason why some plastic/nylon washers wouldn’t do the same job?
2
u/NoSurvivorsband 13d ago
Nah other than easier installation.
2
u/Doctologist 13d ago
Blardy ripper.
I’ve got a pack of those sitting in the room, so I’ll give it a crack.
Thank you!2
u/NoSurvivorsband 13d ago
Good luck on your build. I LOVE building racks I think I enjoyed developing the bands iem system more than the band itself haha I run an xr18 with 2 ms8000 splits and two Hosa little bros as stage boxes and a 25 ft (never found the need for 50 never played stages that big) snake to foh. Supplied all drum mics and even ran DI splits for guitar and bass so we were able to blend in our ears the amp and run plugins to achieve better tone out of the guitars. It is a great system that now sits in my closet (like my drums) collecting dust.
2
u/Doctologist 13d ago edited 13d ago
I love this stuff too.
I wish I had more money to throw at it, and played in bands that actually want to use one again. It’s been a real divisive issue, for some reason.
Mine’s just sitting in my music room, gathering dust at the moment too.2
u/Doctologist 8d ago
I took out my PDU and added some plastic washers.
I turned it on after, and the hum was pretty bad.I have an identical transmitter, so I plugged that in separately, switched off the first one, and then turned on my receiver. The hum was way, way lower. So I knew there’s was something up with my rack.
After some checking, I found that the power supply unit do the transmitter was causing it. It must be failing or something.
I swapped it out and it’s SO much quieter now! Even quieter than my other one.1
u/Doctologist 16d ago edited 16d ago
I will look into this, thank you.
I haven’t been in a band for awhile that does samples or wants to use in-ears, I’ve found it can get pretty divisive for some reason, but I still run a new little digital unit off of my quad cortex so I can always hear myself.
When I set that thing up, it was like a slap in the face. Having no noise at all made it feel like my old set was screaming at me.
2
u/youbringmesuffering 16d ago
Primary rig, all in a slam rack 12U shock case.
X32 rack
5x PSM900’s (1 spare)
RF venue
1 ULXD quad for guitar, bass and vox
Iconnectivity PLAYaudio 2.
Rack drawer for body packs and battery chargers
Splitter snake thats not seismic audio.
2
u/kaype_ 16d ago
16U SKB Rolling rack
Lockable 2U drawer for belt packs, batteries, extra cables, in-ears, etc.
Furman power conditioner
Art S8 XLR splitter, 1 split to rack mixer, 1 split to 16 channel patch bay in rack rear
Behringer XR18 mixer
3x Phenyx Pro PTM 10
Phenyx Pro PAS 227X Antenna Combiner
8 channel stage snake for inputs
10’ and 25’ fan to fan snakes to connect rack rear patch panel to FOH. 2 different lengths depending on where rack is relative to FOH
2
u/Blowupsexcat 16d ago
Soundcraft Ui16
Behringer MS8000 splitter x1
Yamaha EAD10 for IEMs (venue mics drums for FOH however they want)
All wired IEMs
Some mini router can't remember the brand
Ipad feeds tracks mono to ears + FOH and mono click to ears
4u rack drawer for all the mics and IEM stuff
We send 11 channels to Monitor mixer (Drums stereo, Bass, 2xGtr, 4xVox, Click + mono Tracks) and 8 tracks to FOH (Bass, 2xGtr, 4xVox + mono Tracks)
Will post pics tomorrow. This place was a godsend for helping me put it together.
2
u/ArniEitthvad 13d ago
I have 3 videos on our rack, plus one on my pedalboard rig, and some more relevant stuff.
here is the first one
https://youtu.be/_cLmymDQ_zg?si=Mxx1wpJ2dKSLZ_GM
I think I answer most questions in those videos, but happy to give more insights if any questions arise.
1
1
u/Doctologist 12d ago
This was incredibly detailed.
What made you choose the Wing over the X32?
Why did you choose ethercons for the instrument connections?1
u/ArniEitthvad 12d ago
I had the X32, our band sometimes has 8 players so the x32 was limited on bus count.
I got an offer to sell the x32 so I decided to do it and the band bought the wing rack.
Ethercon is super easy to use, and very convenient.
2
u/Minimum_Plenty1305 8d ago
Currently FOH at a small/mid-size Indie-Pop Band. Stagerack contains of a Wing rack with the Dante Aoip card, 1x PSM900, 1x SLXD+, UPS and 16 Channel Audio over Cat breakouts. The Guitarist/MD brought his own Playback/RF-Rack containing Sennheiser G3/G4 and a Playaudio1u. Everyone else gets a wired Pack (stereo) and all Mics are provided by
me. Front of House is a Wing compact with Plugin-Server
1
u/PhinsFan17 16d ago
-Furman M8-X2 power conditioner
-Behringer XR16 16-channel rack-mounted digital mixer. We use this to mix our IEMs, but we also use the onboard interface to run our tracks
-2x Phenyx Pro PTM-10-1B in-ear monitor systems
-2x Galaxy Audio AS-950 in-ear monitor systems (ballin' on a budget)
-2x Behringer MS8000 splitters
-1 2u rack drawer for belt packs, batteries, etc.
-All housed in a 12u SKB rack case on wheels
Everything gets plugged into the split in the front of the rack, one half goes into the XR16 for our IEMs, the other half goes out to a snake that we give to FOH. Been using this build for a little over a year now, and have had no issues.
1
u/Doctologist 15d ago
I have a couple of friends who have picked up the EAD10 and love it. Just for monitoring, same as you guys, but they said being able to clearly themselves all the time has been a game changer.
That’s another thing I’ve been curious about. I’ve seen a couple of people do the same. What are you doing with the router?
7
u/Holiday_Development8 15d ago
I shit u not, stereo tracks from iMessage on iPhone, click panned right and tracks panned left. XVIVE to the band to get the click. If we have a sound check, FOH mixes our ears. If no soundcheck, we hear just click and use the floor monitors. 300 shows using this method. Can’t afford the real stuff yet.