Setting up an in ear click track on Yamaha Mixer

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hi all,

I know this isn't really DAW related but everyone here ( not me!) is so knowledgeable I thought I'd give it a try.

I've recorded backing tracks using CW as my DAW , export to MP3 for my iPad, and panned the click track over to the left, all other tracks ( stems) to the right.

So when I play my in ear monitors need to here the click and the track but not the front of house audience.

I can do this on my Peavey Mixer as it has a monitor mix for every input. So faders off for the front of house stops the click track being hear front of house. Monitor for the click track to in ears can only be heard by me. Its usually channel 5 , using a splitter lead out.

But my little Yamaha MG82 just has a single monitor knob which controls everything.

I attach a pic.

How do I get the monitor output to play click and backing track but NOT the front of house speakers?

 

As I said not specifically Cakewalk related really but I know someone out there in CW land can help!

[msmcleod]

Not 100% sure about this mixer and how its connected... but it looks like you've got both L&R connected to your stereo out.  If you want only your backing track to FOH, only connect the right output to your FOH. 

If you want both click & backing in the monitor, connect both L&R monitor outputs to your monitor.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hi

thanks for replying it’s appreciated ! I’ll try this this afternoon 

 

[John Vere]

Im afraid that mixer is missing a few options that allow what you are trying to do. 
It doesn’t even have a monitor send on each channel.  

Then if it did, you would want that to be pre fader which a lot of simple mixers also don’t have. 
I have a Zoom L8 which allows 3 individual monitor mixes. 
My Soundcraft has 2. 

I see one option would be to use the effects send.  In the screenshot it doesn’t look like you are using it. I used to own a very similar model and the effects were pretty bad. That’s why I bought my Voice Live pedal. 

Here’s another option that we used I just thought of. 
We played a bluegrass gig and drums would be a tabu. 
I took the backing tracks and split them with bass and a very quiet piano in the left and the drums in the right. I have a 6’ long 1/8” to 2x1/4” split cable so I connected one side to my bass amp and the other to a small powered speaker. 
But you could do something similar with yours were you don’t plug the click track into that mixer. Do you have a second small mixer? You would use that for your in ears. 
 

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Thanks John, I was coming to that conclusion, i.e. new mixer with a monitor send on each channel. My setup is very modest ( as are my fees!) so I was hoping to avoid buying a new mixer but I reckon its needed.

For a simple 1 guitar, 1 mike, 1 keyboard setup and a monitor out to in ears do you have a recommendation? Years of being in bands and leaving it to the sound man have ended up with me sadly lacking in knowledge. Another lesson learnt too late!

[sjoens]

For that mixer John's advice to use EFFECT sends sounds like your best option.  Use the RETURN knob to control output. 

23 hours ago, RICHARD HUTCHINS said:

But my little Yamaha MG82 just has a single monitor knob which controls everything.

My Yamaha MG166c is the same .  Monitor outs have no circuitry of their own but piggyback off the phones output saving $$.  Yamaha ingenuity. 

[John Vere]

I realized one thing I missed is that the effects send is Post Fader. In other words nothing will be send out the effects output is the fader is turned off. And of course that will be required otherwise the click track goes out the mains. 

I love my Zoom L8 for many reasons they also make the L6 https://zoomcorp.com/en/ca/digital-mixer-multi-track-recorders/digital-mixer-recorder/livetrak-l6-final/

I'm not dead sure about the Zoom L6 but I think it works exactly like my L8 but just has fewer channels and XLR inputs. But it looks like it has the same system so you can make a custom headphone mix for your in ears. And the effects are the same they are by far the best I've ever used in a small mixer. My quest for the perfect little mixer had me using a few Yamaha's similar to yours as well as I owned a Mackie Mix 8 and a Pro FX 8. But all of those had terrible effects. So I started using the TC Voice live harmony pedal. 

For you possibly the only thing you might not like is the Zoom's are digital mixers. This takes a bit more of a learning curve but the very cool thing is it can do everything a way bigger ( heavier) mixer can do in a very small package.  And you can set it up at home and you can save those settings as a Scene. 

Here's the features I now can't be without. 

I can play with up to 3 other musicians and we each get 2 Combi inputs. We each can have our own in ear or floor monito mix. 

It's a first class 12x 4 ASIO audio interface that I love the way every control is right there in front of me and I can leave stuff plugged in. And once again I could use it to record  a whole band and have 4 different headphone mixes.  

There is at least 4 options  for connection my Laptop for my backing tracks. 4 channel ASIO USB, 2 Channel USB ASIO,  1/8" jack and 2 x1/4" jacks. If you are using Cakewalk playlist for your tracks you can have a stereo full mix and then send a click track to outputs 3/4 so have total control over that. 

I keep my phone plugged in to the 1/8 jack and I can flip to that at the push of a button to play background break music. 

And it has a built in multi track recorder so I record my gigs at the press of a button. 

It is truly a Swiss army knife of mixers and it is super light and small.  It can run off USB power or Batteries. 

I looked at all the options and this was what I chose. I'm tempted to order a L6 just for my solo gigs as it is even smaller.