Microphone splitter questions

K

Kevin James

Freshman
Apr 8, 2014
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Worthington, Massachusetts, United States
I have a situation here. I play shows with my band and there is a sound guy who does the sound. Imagine that? Well out front it sounds great, but behind the monitor, I can never hear myself, the monitors sound DEAD.

So here's what I want to do. I want to bring my own monitor. I would like to use a couple splitters. I have a Line6 L2T with 2 inputs and essentially 2 mixers on board. I would like to do the following, but don't know about impedance and all of that.

I want to take the microphone and split it so I plug the mic into a box and one output goes to FOH and one output goes to my Line6 monitor

I want to take my LR Baggs Venue DI and have the 1/4" out go into a box and one output goes to FOH and one output goes to my Line6 Monitor

I realize the LR Baggs has an XLR out but prefer to use the 1/4" so I can control the volume as I use different guitars without volume control.

I also would use the 2nd 1/4" splitter box for another tube amp that has a 1/4" DI out. So I'd have to unplug and plug in the LR Baggs Venue or the Tube amp into the 1/4" box depending on what I'm using (tube amp or LR Baggs Venue preamp)

I've posted this in a couple other places and nobody seems to understand what I'm trying to do here. I'm simply trying to supply my own monitor mix with 2 Splitter boxes, one splitter box with XLR in > 2 XLR out and one splitter box with 1/4" in and 2 1/4" out.

Thanks
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Radial makes a rackmount splitter, as do ProCo and others. Convert 1/4" to XLR with DI box(es).


Typed on a virtual keyboard.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Split your balanced XLR after the DI, and you'll make more sense. Many products exist for that, usually under mic/line splitter.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Max Warasila said:
Split your balanced XLR after the DI, and you'll make more sense. Many products exist for that, usually under mic/line splitter.
Click to expand...


Not sure what you mean Split your balanced XLR after the DI. You are talking to a guy here who doesn't know much about this stuff.

Also, I am not finding any splitters for the 1/4" output of my guitar preamp.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Kevin James said:
Not sure what you mean Split your balanced XLR after the DI. You are talking to a guy here who doesn't know much about this stuff.

Also, I am not finding any splitters for the 1/4" output of my guitar preamp.
Click to expand...

Max is suggesting a signal chain that goes Guitar Preamp>DI>Splitter.
Doing the split after the DI gives you more options of splitter to use and may help reduce noise and thus improve sound quality in some circumstances.
Radial Engineering is one well regarded maker of products that will do what you need.
HTH,
David.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

David Morison said:
Max is suggesting a signal chain that goes Guitar Preamp>DI>Splitter.
Doing the split after the DI gives you more options of splitter to use and may help reduce noise and thus improve sound quality in some circumstances.
Radial Engineering is one well regarded maker of products that will do what you need.
HTH,
David.
Click to expand...

So I would need to purchase a DI and a splitter?

What about this?

Lehle P-Split II | Sweetwater.com
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

You don't need to spend that kind of money to accomplish your goal. Something as simple as this could do the trick:

Avid Audio Splitter XLR Line Monitor 0180 03048 01 Rev A | eBay

Or, http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YXM121-Female-Dual-Cable/dp/B000068O59

Now, these are NOT transformer isolated, but in most cases, that's all you really need unless there is a ground loop situation from your line6 mixer and the FOH mixer. Sourcing power for both from the same source usually is enough that it's not a problem.

Or, as another solution, you could talk to the sound guy and have him adjust the monitors more to your liking. Long term, that's a better solution for you.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Tim Padrick said:
Are you sure there's not a spare aux on the mixer so you can have your own mix?
Click to expand...

Which mixer are you referring to? The mixer on my L2T or the mixer for FOH?

The point is, whenever I play somewhere it's always an issue with monitoring.

So for my guitar, I'm thinking of getting the Lehe P-split 2 for guitar. Preamp into the P-psplit and one output into my monitor, one into FOH
Then for Vocals, mic into ART SPLITCom Pro | Sweetwater.com (ART SplitComPro) and one output to monitor and one into FOH

My Line6 L2T has 2 inputs both with a mixer on them.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

So how are you going to hear the other sources? You seem to be working from the assumption that all you need to hear is your own voice and instrument.

Having each band member independently controlling their monitors is the fast track to volume wars and out of control stage volumes.

The professional approach is to think in terms of zones, and what needs to be heard in each of those zones, and considering all the sources that contribute to the TOTAL sound field in that zone.

Two quick edits- an instrument level splitter is labeled a aby box like the Morley or radial. They can be used either direction.

You line 6 may be a better monitor than what you are usually offered. I would still send the signals to the foh tech to mix. What you are missing is that dull or unclear monitors probably are not going to be fixed just by more level.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD
 
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Re: Microphone splitter questions

Jay Barracato said:
So how are you going to hear the other sources? You seem to be working from the assumption that all you need to hear is your own voice and instrument.

Having each band member independently controlling their monitors is the fast track to volume wars and out of control stage volumes.

The professional approach is to think in terms of zones, and what needs to be heard in each of those zones, and considering all the sources that contribute to the TOTAL sound field in that zone.

Two quick edits- an instrument level splitter is labeled a aby box like the Morley or radial. They can be used either direction.

You line 6 may be a better monitor than what you are usually offered. I would still send the signals to the foh tech to mix. What you are missing is that dull or unclear monitors probably are not going to be fixed just by more level.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD
Click to expand...

I never have a problem hearing the drums. I have the opposite problem. The drummer is loud, so it's never an issue. We're talking about small places here. The issue is the sound guy first and foremost. He's a nice guy, but his monitor mix is horrible. There's always other bands playing and there's not much time for a sound check. He does not EQ the monitors at all.

I used my system last weekend. I have all the Line6 gear. M20D mixer 5 L3T's, 2 L2T's, 2 subs. Well I left the mixer at home. Too much to worry about messing with that. I used guitar an vocals into 1 L3T, ran L6 link to my L2T monitor and then L6 link to another L3T.

It was the best we ever sounded. People commended us on the sound quality too.

This sound guy, has a rack that looks like the space shuttle cockpit, but the monitors are terrible, or they sound terrible. He's a nice guy, he always invites us to outdoor things in the summer time, which is great. But if I can't hear what I'm doing, it's miserable.

This setup, I'm contemplating is the same as bands that use their own Monitor Rack with an Art S8 or something like that. Except, I'm doing it with 2 individual boxes and feeding them into a Line6 L2T monitor instead of a monitor mixing station and using the speaker instead of IEM's. This way, I control the mix that I hear and the other sends (isolated) go to the monitor.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Sounds like spending some quality time with the sound guy to help him EQ the monitors might be time well spent.

What speakers is he using for monitors?

It is pretty common for monitors to get dull after many shows of pulling this then that frequency out to fix feedback or musician desires. Small spaced are the hardest.


Sent from my iPad HD
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Rob Spence said:
Sounds like spending some quality time with the sound guy to help him EQ the monitors might be time well spent.

What speakers is he using for monitors?

It is pretty common for monitors to get dull after many shows of pulling this then that frequency out to fix feedback or musician desires. Small spaced are the hardest.


Sent from my iPad HD
Click to expand...

There's no talking to this guy. Once he's in sound mode, he's a stress case. JBL's is what he used. I use to have them too, for 1 month, then I got rid of them. They absolutely suck. They are the most lifeless speakers I've ever used.

JBL_EON15.jpg
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Here is an alternative:

Buy a split snake (a poor mans hard split like EWI is fine).

Use your board to run monitors from on stage. You can eq as necessary for just the monitors.

Run the splits to the FOH snake and let the sound guy just worry about what he can hear.

One way or the other, the more sound sources that are mixed and managed as one, the happier you will be.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Kevin James said:
There's no talking to this guy. Once he's in sound mode, he's a stress case. JBL's is what he used. I use to have them too, for 1 month, then I got rid of them. They absolutely suck. They are the most lifeless speakers I've ever used.

JBL_EON15.jpg
Click to expand...

What does a "speaker with life" sound like? I'm curious because after 30 years in the biz it's not something I can related to as an audible phenomena.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Tim McCulloch said:
What does a "speaker with life" sound like? I'm curious because after 30 years in the biz it's not something I can related to as an audible phenomena.
Click to expand...

Probably like several thousand screaming children.

For the record, though, those don't sound too good at all and EQ does nothing but makes it worse in my brief experience with them. Seems like the only thing they can accurately reproduce is flatulence.
 
Re: Microphone splitter questions

Max Warasila said:
Probably like several thousand screaming children.

For the record, though, those don't sound too good at all and EQ does nothing but makes it worse in my brief experience with them. Seems like the only thing they can accurately reproduce is flatulence.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying the Eon (particularly that version) is anything special, but that calling it "lifeless" doesn't do a damn thing to help us help him.
 
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