XR18 - Want to mute things but only in the mains

[Jack]

Hey guys,

 

Quick question. I want to be able to mute most of the signals (but crucially not the set break music on channel 17/18) to the mains but the mains only. Most of the band are on IEMs and might want to widdle/tune/test a new guitar etc during a set break. However, I don't want the audience to hear this. Is putting everything apart from the backing tracks in a DCA and then using that mute the way forward here? Is there a neater way?

 

• I can't just press the 'mute LR' button as that will stop the break music.
• I can't seem to do it on either the channel sends or the aux taps (screenshots below)

[nilebodgers]

Set up mute group 1 to be everything but the break music channels.

 

Assuming the iems are all pre-fade then they will remain live when mute group 1 is selected, but will not be in the main LR.

 

*** correction - use a DCA group and mute that instead.

Edited April 15 by nilebodgers
Correction

[Jack]

That is sadly not the case. Can you confirm that definitely works for you? 

 

In other bands where we've used wedges that's exactly what I've always done, everything apart from the music in a mute group and then pressed that to mute everything at once. However, that also mutes those channels in the wedges. 

Edited April 15 by Jack

[nilebodgers]

I’m only looking in the xair simulator, but that is the standard way mute groups function so I’d be surprised if it doesn’t work. Are the little red squares corresponding to mute group 1 showing on each channel and do they change when the mute group 1 button is selected?

 

*** correction, the xr18 doesn’t have the flexibility to set where the mute is applied. The DCA method is the way to go.

Edited April 15 by nilebodgers
Correction

[nilebodgers]

… just assign all band channels to a DCA and mute the DCA instead.

Edited April 15 by nilebodgers
Mute kills all on the XRs

[AxelF]

Could you not just soundcheck and save that as a scene, then pull all your FoH faders to zero bar 17/18 and save that as another scene?

[BigRedX]

2 minutes ago, AxelF said:

Could you not just soundcheck and save that as a scene, then pull all your FoH faders to zero bar 17/18 and save that as another scene?

 

That's what I was about to suggest.

[Jack]

2 hours ago, AxelF said:

Could you not just soundcheck and save that as a scene, then pull all your FoH faders to zero bar 17/18 and save that as another scene?

 

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

That's what I was about to suggest.

 

That's a pretty cracking idea actually. However, would that mean that any tweaks that were done on the 'faders down' scene wouldn't carry across once we went back to the 'faders up'? Because the whole point is we might want to make changes to IEM mixes or something.

[nilebodgers]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

 

 

That's a pretty cracking idea actually. However, would that mean that any tweaks that were done on the 'faders down' scene wouldn't carry across once we went back to the 'faders up'? Because the whole point is we might want to make changes to IEM mixes or something.

Yes, that is the big problem with using scenes that way.

 

Higher end desks often allow what is being saved as part of a scene to be customised so recalls don’t overwrite certain control changes, but it is still possible to accidentally land in a mess unless you are very careful.

 

When I was doing corporate sound gigs that had an entertainment element we’d usually have separate desks for the band and conference. That meant the band desk was under full control of the band engineer and saves/recalls there wouldn’t affect the rest of the event or the system config. (E.g. zones off a matrix etc.)

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Jack said:

 

 

That's a pretty cracking idea actually. However, would that mean that any tweaks that were done on the 'faders down' scene wouldn't carry across once we went back to the 'faders up'? Because the whole point is we might want to make changes to IEM mixes or something.

 

I haven't got the app to hand, but doesn't it allow partial saving of snapshots, or snapshots of a subset of parameters? I've only ever saved complete snapshots but I'm sure the snapshot screen has much more than that on it.

[Jack]

It does allow partial scene savings actually, although I'm already terrified I'll forget something. I've only been using this desk for like 8 years....

[nilebodgers]

52 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

I haven't got the app to hand, but doesn't it allow partial saving of snapshots, or snapshots of a subset of parameters? I've only ever saved complete snapshots but I'm sure the snapshot screen has much more than that on it.

Never looked at that - yes you can limit the scope. I’d want to do a lot of careful experimenting before using that feature though!

[ratman]

On my SQ5 I send the whole band (except the break music) to a DCA. Instead of muting the DCA which would mute the band, I just take the DCA fader down which takes us all out of the FOH and allows everyone to hear their IEMs. Doing it this way does kill the vocal FX though but only until the DCA fader is back up to 0db again.

If I know there will be a speech or announcement on the main vocal mic, I'll assign that to a second DCA so I can bring that up independently of rest of the band.