(IE) Monitoring in a big band without sound guy

[Elias]

I use two small mixers when playing with bands other than my own.

Mixer One sends keys to FOH and Mixer Two. Mixer Two combines FOH and keys to drive my IEMs. One knob will give you "more me" without affecting performance volumes.

It's clunky, but it works. Strange that no one has made a dedicated product for this role.

I've been using the equivalent of a second mixer in my rig since 2011, for exactly the reasons you state. It has worked flawlessly for me in many different situations and I love the separate FOH IEM mix I can receive in mono or stereo, along with my stereo keyboards (submixed in a Radial mixer), all separately controllable.

I've been using the Shure P4M, which is discontinued, though I believe there is a more recent variant and I think Rolls also makes one. I have two of them, one for my gig rig and one for my rehearsal rig. They are still available on the used market. What I love is that it sits in the rack alongside my Shure PSM900 wireless IEM rack (both are half rack form factor).

https://www.shure.com/en-MEA/products/a ... ariant=P4M

[cgrafx]

You could use two of these stereo mixers.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ount-mixer
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... line-mixer

Or you could do both FOH and your personal mix using a single Zone mixer
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... zone-mixer

Using two mixers one is FOH and One is personal mix, or the more flexible Zone mixer which lets you specifically configure the FOH zone and Personal Mix zone so you don't send the FOH a copy of itself (resulting in instant feedback).

[Elias]

For the past 6 years, I've used a Key Largo keyboard mixer and a Roll PM55P headphone mixer for my IEMs. It has worked perfectly back when I was the only band member with IEMs, up to the present where we all are on IEMs and have our own stage box with a splitter snake, so we have full control of our monitoring regardless of who is running FOH.

Keys go into the Key Largo. Key Largo Main Outs go to FOH. Key Largo Monitor Outs go to the Rolls (via a 2-TS to TRS 1/4" cable). Monitor feed for the rest of the band comes from our stage box (or could come from FOH) into the Rolls and I turn the keys off since I have them direct and in stereo.

I can then use the Rolls to adjust my keys up or down in my mix without affecting the other band members or FOH. I can also adjust the volume of the rest of the band with a single knob rather than fumbling with a phone app. Adjusting individual channels of the other band members requires the app, but I rarely need to do it after sound check.

If you also sing, get the Rolls PM351 which has an additional input for a microphone with a pass-through to FOH that allows you to adjust your vocals to your IEMs without affecting what you're sending to FOH.

[ericL]

For the past 6 years, I've used a Key Largo keyboard mixer and a Roll PM55P headphone mixer for my IEMs. It has worked perfectly back when I was the only band member with IEMs, up to the present where we all are on IEMs and have our own stage box with a splitter snake, so we have full control of our monitoring regardless of who is running FOH.

Keys go into the Key Largo. Key Largo Main Outs go to FOH. Key Largo Monitor Outs go to the Rolls (via a 2-TS to TRS 1/4" cable). Monitor feed for the rest of the band comes from our stage box (or could come from FOH) into the Rolls and I turn the keys off since I have them direct and in stereo.

I can then use the Rolls to adjust my keys up or down in my mix without affecting the other band members or FOH. I can also adjust the volume of the rest of the band with a single knob rather than fumbling with a phone app. Adjusting individual channels of the other band members requires the app, but I rarely need to do it after sound check.

If you also sing, get the Rolls PM351 which has an additional input for a microphone with a pass-through to FOH that allows you to adjust your vocals to your IEMs without affecting what you're sending to FOH.

This is almost exactly how I've been using my Shure P4M for the past 13 years...discrete KNOB control for my stereo key mix sent from my Radial mixer, along with KNOB control of the FOH IEM mix, which I rarely need to adjust in the phone app or by asking the sound engineer for more vocals or whatever.