IEM Problem....any suggestions?

Roysterdoyster

We switched to IEM's a while back and have played a good number of gigs using them, and generally speaking all is good with them. However, I use a Fischer Amps IEM pack which is connected to the AUX send from our Soundcraft Digital Mixer and has worked well. Recently however we played a gig at a bigger venue that had pro desk/PA and pro sound guy who definitely knew his onions. However when I connected to his xlr I could hear nothing through my IEMS's. Sound guy tested everything, ie: different XLR cable, different In Ears, different pack, etc, and narrowed it down to a problem with my Fischer pack. Oh well I thought, stage monitors were fine, and I'll just have to get a new one. However at our next rehearsal, it worked absolutely fine (and it worked fine s week prior to this gig I'm talking about). So I'm wondering, is there a glitch with my IEM pack, or could that pro rig have been running something that was just not compatible with my gear. Just curious so as to try to not run into the same problem somewhere else. And given how good/slick the sound guy was, Id find it hard to believe that he had made some schoolboy error at his end. Any ideas?  

Danny1969

Roysterdoyster said:

We switched to IEM's a while back and have played a good number of gigs using them, and generally speaking all is good with them. However, I use a Fischer Amps IEM pack which is connected to the AUX send from our Soundcraft Digital Mixer and has worked well. Recently however we played a gig at a bigger venue that had pro desk/PA and pro sound guy who definitely knew his onions. However when I connected to his xlr I could hear nothing through my IEMS's. Sound guy tested everything, ie: different XLR cable, different In Ears, different pack, etc, and narrowed it down to a problem with my Fischer pack. Oh well I thought, stage monitors were fine, and I'll just have to get a new one. However at our next rehearsal, it worked absolutely fine (and it worked fine s week prior to this gig I'm talking about). So I'm wondering, is there a glitch with my IEM pack, or could that pro rig have been running something that was just not compatible with my gear. Just curious so as to try to not run into the same problem somewhere else. And given how good/slick the sound guy was, Id find it hard to believe that he had made some schoolboy error at his end. Any ideas?  

Generally, with the better quality IEM transmitters there's a headphone socket on the front ... so first thing I do is check that if there's a problem and I think I'm sending it level from the aux sends. 

Cable conversion can throw some engineers ... some try to split a balanced signal from the desk into a left and right but don't realize they need to first convert that into 2 x single ended outputs .. otherwise the IEM's receive 2 signals 180 degrees out of phase which will just cancel out to nothing pretty much in IEM's. 

Hidden mute groups is another trip up ... if the aux sends are included in another mute group then that will mute it but not be obvious 

Stratavarious

Are you using a stereo or mono IEM setup? 

  If a different pack worked that might suggest there was a signal.

shufflebeat

Roysterdoyster said:

…I use a Fischer Amps IEM pack which is connected to the AUX send from our Soundcraft Digital Mixer and has worked well. 

When you use it with your Soundcraft - which output do you take the signal from?

Roysterdoyster

Stratavarious said:

Are you using a stereo or mono IEM setup? 

  If a different pack worked that might suggest there was a signal.

Mono

Roysterdoyster

shufflebeat said:

Roysterdoyster said:

…I use a Fischer Amps IEM pack which is connected to the AUX send from our Soundcraft Digital Mixer and has worked well. 

When you use it with your Soundcraft - which output do you take the signal from?

From one of the Aux sends. 

Roysterdoyster

Thanks for the replies guys by the way

maltingsaudio

I had this on a recent gig I did. If it was a fairly big desk and the stage box has a large number of returns ,it is very easy in the heat of the moment, to plug the lead from your iem pack into the wrong output of the rack and not realise. Especially if you have a mix of wedges and IEMs to sort out. 

shufflebeat

Roysterdoyster said:

shufflebeat said:

Roysterdoyster said:

…I use a Fischer Amps IEM pack which is connected to the AUX send from our Soundcraft Digital Mixer and has worked well. 

When you use it with your Soundcraft - which output do you take the signal from?

From one of the Aux sends. 

Doh!!!

Ok, there are different ways to balance an output signal. Extrapolating from my limited knowledge on the subject I’d suggest that IF your receiver was set to unbalanced L/R input, which I think it can be and IF the Soundcraft was one kind of balanced output and the big desk was the other then that would result in what you observed - maybe.

Explore your receiver and see if there’s an internal switch you can play with.

[edit] just had a look, if it’s the FA mini body pack 2 or similar then it does have that switch, very similar to the Behringer P2 and PM1, which can also cause some confusion.

Roysterdoyster

shufflebeat said:

Roysterdoyster said:

shufflebeat said:

Roysterdoyster said:

…I use a Fischer Amps IEM pack which is connected to the AUX send from our Soundcraft Digital Mixer and has worked well. 

When you use it with your Soundcraft - which output do you take the signal from?

From one of the Aux sends. 

Doh!!!

Ok, there are different ways to balance an output signal. Extrapolating from my limited knowledge on the subject I’d suggest that IF your receiver was set to unbalanced L/R input, which I think it can be and IF the Soundcraft was one kind of balanced output and the big desk was the other then that would result in what you observed - maybe.

Explore your receiver and see if there’s an internal switch you can play with.

[edit] just had a look, if it’s the FA mini body pack 2 or similar then it does have that switch, very similar to the Behringer P2 and PM1, which can also cause some confusion.

Thanks, that makes sense. Yes there is an internal switch inside the IEM pack….perhaps that would have solved it. Without boring you with unnecessarily boring drivel, I’m guessing that’s probably what it was (based on something that has happened since). Every days a school day! 

shufflebeat

Roysterdoyster said:

Every days a school day! 

And for that we are thankful