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[Stephen Kirby]

The biggest thing is to have the band manage their own mix.  In a Dead type thing this can be an issue as often everyone is playing at once and the result turns to mud.  Even with a FOH mixer they have to constantly watch for cues as people take the lead back and forth.  This is the set and forget aspect.

How much of things are being run through the PA?  Given that you're currently using an integrated mixer/amp and SOS, I presume that it's mostly vocals and maybe a keyboard is going through the PA.  When you start running guitars and everything else through the PA it's much harder to tell what is going on out front.  A long cable or cordless at soundcheck helps.  Being near the mains as opposed to the middle of the stage makes it easier to step forward a bit and hear the mix coming out of them and then back up a step and listen to the reflection coming from the room.  People who play constantly several times a week in the same rooms can get the knack of this.  For once every other month bands coming out of the garage it will be much harder.

Try to have someone knowledgeable about the music in the audience to give you cues or hand signals.

Having done this for years I will go against the grain and advise against tablet based solutions.  Mixing from the stage means that the primary activity is playing.  Maybe the keyboard has their left hand available.  But to wake up a tablet, scroll to the right thing, and move a virtual touch control with a fingertip is very distracting at best while playing.  Having also tried to use a QSC Touchmix on stage it is similarly hard to quickly access needed controls.  In one group that I play drums with I can either use my Soundcraft Gigrack with real knobs or the iPad connected to my Expression.  The Gigrack I can quickly reach over a tweak something.  With the iPad I'm restricted to muting mics between songs and maybe a monitor level adjustment if someone MCs long enough for me to get to it.  When I play guitar with the Expression next to me, the layout and physical encoders is pretty quick to find things and tweak while playing.  So, outside of an Expression 1 or Qu16 readily at hand, I wouldn't recommend a digital board for your situation.

Back to Brian's question.  What needs to improve?  You can improve sound quality and clarity with better speakers.  A fancy mixer won't necessarily have markedly better sound quality than a recent XR head.  Especially if you're running through JRX, Peavey or Club Series speakers.  And getting wrapped around the axle dealing with all the features of a digital board (have played with people who went there) will actually make the band sound worse.

[Kevin Tracy]

Kevin, first of all, make sure when you "quote" or "reply" to other's posts, put YOUR response *outside* of the quote brackets-- like this:
[quote]
(other person's response)
[/quote]
YOUR response

That way we can see your response easily!

As for cheaper iPad-controllable mixers- the Mackie DL1608 is a good option. Myself and any of the other Mackie dealers on here will certainly get you a better price then what you find online, but it's an easy "slide the iPad onto the docking station" mixer- you get your "surface" that way, and you can remove the iPad to go mobile with it.

What Justin was suggesting is that you take the iPad out front and do the sound check-- since you have the iPad next to you on stage, you can adjust YOUR monitor mix as needed. Have someone else "tap the keys" for you to make sure it's loud enough in the house.

Bonus points is saving your setup as a preset on the mixer to save time at subsequent events.

-RayC

Can I use an iPad mini ?

[Kevin Tracy]

Get a a mixer with wireless (ipad) control and sound check with you out front. 

We get as good of results as we can with an X32 producer and me out front mixing on my ipad that is mounted to a mic stand.  I just set it where FOH would be and play from there for a couple songs during sound check.  I will also walk the room during each set to hear if anything needs changing once people get in the room.  Obviously and drummer cant do this.

What's the dif between all the X32 models original,mini , producer etc.

[Kevin Tracy]

Gear is the least of your concerns, for that just state a budget and you will have everyone tell you there idea of a great system at that price.

But what you really need to do is step back and figure out what you are trying to do and how best to accomplish it.

Nobody here knows what your definition of a small room is, start with clearly stating the largest area you will need to provide sound for.

Then, how loud do you want to be?

Do the instrument amplifiers provide sufficient volume? 

Do you only need to amplify the vocals?

If you are trying to mix the whole band from stage it's hard to get a good result, a sound guy is really needed.

Keys and voc in foh .vox in mons .

Biggest Room is 40x50 ft most smaller . This is NW NJ closer to poconos PA than NYC.
Lots of restaurants were music is an after thought.

[Ray Aberle]

What's the dif between all the X32 models original,mini , producer etc.

Here, let me Google that for you.

[Scott Holtzman]

What's the dif between all the X32 models original,mini , producer etc.

http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Mixers/Digital-Mixers/X32/p/P0ASF

Number of knobs.   You may also be able to have enough with the XR series.  A watered down version of the x32 line.

[Luke Geis]

Here are two truths to help you get on your way......

1. When the band does their own sound there is usually only 1 person who is happy with it.

2. It's not easy to get good sound when your doing it from the stage.

What you have will do what your doing quite well. Vocal and un-amplified instrument support is a little easier to do than a full band with drums and guitars ETC..... For what it would cost to get a system that most of us would consider good, you could hire a guy to do sound for you for a few years with what you currently have.

Budget is the huge thing. How GOOD do you really want it? The range for new gear can be anywhere between 1k and 5k for a basic system. I don't know about you, but 4k is quite a spread. The difference in quality within that spread isn't all that great though. I would shoot for simple and by simple I mean self powered and digital.

A pair of EV ZXA-1's are really potent 8" self powered speakers that sound great, are light and get plenty loud for vocal support. I would then follow up with a Behringer XR-12 digital mixer. This mixer will give you no excuse to not have a decent sound and has the router built in. It has a little bit of room for growth and can be controlled via your phone or any other connectable devise that can run the app. A mixer and two speakers, done...... Your monitors can stay as they are, or you can go with more self powered units. Self powered is the only way to go these days. It takes 99% of the guess work out of things and they all sound pretty decent. This rig can be had for right around the 1k mark. If you want bigger, you can certainly go there. Cost is your only limitation.

[John Chiara]

Need more than an XR12 with 2 drummers. PLEASE mic the drums! A pro sounding drum mix can have as much effect in listeners as crystal clear vocals!

[Stephen Kirby]

Need more than an XR12 with 2 drummers. PLEASE mic the drums! A pro sounding drum mix can have as much effect in listeners as crystal clear vocals!

You would mic drums in a 40x50' room?  For a Dead tribute band that's probably playing guitars through Hot Rod Deluxes?  Agree that in a larger situation the impact of well mic'd and eq'd drums can help move the music.  But I suspect the drums are probably the loudest part of that band.

[Steve M Smith]

Having done this for years I will go against the grain and advise against tablet based solutions.  Mixing from the stage means that the primary activity is playing.  Maybe the keyboard has their left hand available.  But to wake up a tablet, scroll to the right thing, and move a virtual touch control with a fingertip is very distracting at best while playing.

I agree.  Sometimes the best solution is a MixWizard or similar.
 
 
Steve.

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