Setting up Aux Subs

M

Matt Vivlamore

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Jan 11, 2011
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Southern MD, USA
www.meerkatsound.com
I would like to give Aux Subs a whirl and I'll be using my LS9-32 and ITech amps.

I am going to be using Aux 12 on the desk and plugging it directly into the Sub Amp (internally Y patch). I am sending Kick, Floor Tom, Bass Guitar and Sample Pad through the Aux Channel.

other stuff:
- Aux 12 will be Post Fader
- run crossover points as I would normally

Anything else I am forgetting or not thinking about to do?
 
Re: Setting up Aux Subs

Matt Vivlamore said:
I would like to give Aux Subs a whirl and I'll be using my LS9-32 and ITech amps.

I am going to be using Aux 12 on the desk and plugging it directly into the Sub Amp (internally Y patch). I am sending Kick, Floor Tom, Bass Guitar and Sample Pad through the Aux Channel.

other stuff:
- Aux 12 will be Post Fader
- run crossover points as I would normally

Anything else I am forgetting or not thinking about to do?
Click to expand...


Not familiar with an LS9 or what you normally plug into it but make sure that if you have an iPod or CD player that they are plugged into a channel or some input that has access to your Aux sub or your iPod will be thin.
 
Re: Setting up Aux Subs

Matt Vivlamore said:
Gene good point about the CD/Playback source.

What about keyboards? any other possible sources to put in?

I know I leave out Vocals and Horns
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It kinda depends on your speaker rig - as I recall you have a bunch of big JBL stuff. I've got a few different rigs and the little one that I've just started using is that little column of 5" speakers and I always add a little Aux sub to them for my voice 'cause they cross kinda high around 111 hz or so. As for keyboards - a piano might not need as much as some synth thing with bass and then there's the Southern Soul keyboard guys that do left hand bass. Just came from Ruby's downtown St. Pete and my buddy Shawn Brown was killing 'em with 2 double 18's in a very small room!
 
Re: Setting up Aux Subs

I use Aux fed subs on my O1v96.
I find its best to have them in a mute group and a fader group. Should you have the need to bring the main mix up or down the subs will track with the main fader. Of course same with muting.
Just handy to have.

Also with Aux subs there are all kinds of tricks you can try.
With bass guitar I like to split it or assign it to 2 channels. 1 channel I'll setup and have the normal eq/sound for the guitar just slightly on the thin side. Assign this to the subs or not depending on what your looking for.
The second channel I'll compress quite a bit and not assign it to the L/R mains but only have it go to the subs. I layer this over the normal channel. This gives a thick sound to the bass on lower notes but still gives that dynamic sound to the pops and higher freq content. I use this channel to check polarity between the subs and bass player rig in smaller rooms as well.
Should there be a slow song that requires that thick,fat bass line you can bring the compressed channel up. A song with lots of popping and where a more clean sound is needed you can back the compressed channel down some.

For the bass drum I like to do the reverse.
Have a normal channel setup with lots of bottom. Then have the 2nd channel compressed hard to bring the "click" out. This
gives the drummer a stead foot sound yet keeps the dynamics of the bottom thump.
Of course as always compress/mix to taste and try the polarity button on one of these channels to see which you like best depending on if your mains are sitting on top of your subs or if they are centered in the room.
Douglas R. Allen
 
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Re: Setting up Aux Subs

Steve Anderson said:
Try sending Aux 12 to the Mono out and then tie mono to L-R... then your FOH volume is just one fader.
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Im personally not a fan of aux subs. We have all of our systems set up for subs off of a matrix or subs off the mono buss. I just think it makes more sense, but thats just me. That being said when I have visiting engineers come in I route the subs to where ever they want them. 90% of the time we have a visiting engineer on our consoles, 50% of the time they want them on a aux the other 50% want them on a matrix....
 
Re: Setting up Aux Subs

Only thing I've found that's a little funky is running stereo inputs with aux subs. When I tune my systems, I am usually running a stereo input for music, which essentially means, I have two inputs, each with the same bass signal sent to the subwoofer aux. You could think of this as being twice the power, and seems to cause my sub send to be +3dB hotter than it would be if using a regular single input. So, I often have to adjust my subwoofer balance again during soundcheck.

I do not know how or even if different mixers handle aux sends for 'linked' or dedicated 'stereo' inputs differently than 'dual mono' inputs.

On my systems, when possible, I use a group for subs so the individual channel subwoofer level cannot be adjusted relative to the others. This keeps my crossover point where I want it to be. (This would only be a problem if the subs/tops were phase aligned over a very small range, and moving the crossover point up or down significantly affected alignment. In most cases, it won't matter.)
 
Re: Setting up Aux Subs

Silas Pradetto said:
On my systems, when possible, I use a group for subs so the individual channel subwoofer level cannot be adjusted relative to the others. This keeps my crossover point where I want it to be. (This would only be a problem if the subs/tops were phase aligned over a very small range, and moving the crossover point up or down significantly affected alignment. In most cases, it won't matter.)
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The stereo issue is a good reason to use an aux instead of a group. With an aux you can make the sub send from the stereo sources be down 3dB-6dB to compensate for the summing of the similar signals on the sub bus.

Mac
 
Re: Setting up Aux Subs

Matt Vivlamore said:
I would like to give Aux Subs a whirl and I'll be using my LS9-32 and ITech amps.

I am going to be using Aux 12 on the desk and plugging it directly into the Sub Amp (internally Y patch). I am sending Kick, Floor Tom, Bass Guitar and Sample Pad through the Aux Channel.

other stuff:
- Aux 12 will be Post Fader
- run crossover points as I would normally

Anything else I am forgetting or not thinking about to do?
Click to expand...

I think aux fed subs are awesome! I don't know how low you generally run your mains, but I'll generally run them a bit lower than normal when using aux fed subs.
 
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