In this video I demonstrate the Behringer XR-18 Mixer, the Behringer P16M Personal Monitor Mixer, the Behringer P16-D Distribution Box, and the Xvive U4R Wireless IEM system. You'll learn a little about each piece of equipment and how they all connect together to make a cost-effective and efficient system, both on stage and in the studio, allowing each member of the band to craft a custom, independent in-ear monitor mix. This leads to increased clarity both on stage and front-of-house, which will allow your music to be heard better by your audience.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Hello! Brehnan Miller here, owner of Miller’s AV Rental here in Louisville, Kentucky.
Today I want to talk to you about a package that I offer on my website, rentals.ReadyMusician.com.
It is the XR-18 Mixer by Behringer; the Behringer P16M Monitor Mixer; and the Xvive U4 Wireless Monitor Pack.
This is the Behringer XR-18 stage box mixer. It features 16 combo jacks—xlr, quarter inch—plus stereo quarter inch inputs for iPod or something similar. It has 8 xlr outputs, 6 that are auxiliary and 2 that are your main left and right. It also has a headphone out, which you can set to any channel.
Up at the top here, we’ve got a number of things. We’ve got your ethernet in for a router, which you probably would want to use a separate router. This thing has a built in router, but it’s kind of…shall we say…a budget quality. I recommend something like this: this is a little portable 5G router, and the 5G is important and I’ll explain why in just a second. But, this little thing has got a couple of outputs and you just plug it right in to your network port right here and make sure the switch is set over to ‘ethernet’ and…
The 5G is important because when you’re working with new wireless microphones or even the new wireless monitor packs that I’m going to talk about today, those all work on the 2.4GHz band, which is your Wi-Fi band and you will run in to interference if you’re not careful. So that’s why I recommend using a 5G router, okay?
Back to the mixer! This thing is able to be controlled via tablet or via computer, there’s an app for both. Or your smartphone. And you can control…it’s got tons of built in effects, processing for each channel. You’ve got dynamics, EQ, gate, and limiting, and all the things that you would expect to have in a mixer, it has it, and more.
Back to the connections here. It’s got MIDI IO, which will allow to change scenes and snapshots, and things; trigger effects with a foot pedal, for instance. You’ve got a USB right here for recording to a DAW, which is great. The pre-amps all sound good and you can output to different speakers—subs, for instance, and your main left and right.
This is what I’m really wanting to talk to you about: Ultranet. Ultranet is Behringer’s protocol for sending up to 16 channels of audio over an ethernet stream. And why that’s important is because that’s how we’re going to connect our P16M—our monitor mixer.
Alright, this is the Behringer P16M Personal Monitor Mixer. It’s a very sturdy design; nice metal chassis. The ends are plastic, but that’s okay. It’s ergonomic. The buttons feel pretty nice and the knobs all feel good. It has 16 channel select buttons here at the bottom, so you just push a channel to select the one you want to work on. You can have…you’ve got volume; you’ve got pan; and you’ve got your bass EQ, treble, and a sweepable mid frequency. And you can do that for each channel. You can mute certain channels, you can solo certain channels; You can link channels together, you can group; You can store scenes and then recall them later.
Over here we’ve got our output level and with that it has a limiter, which will allow you to prevent clipping. Let’s look at the back. Here’s our 12V DC power and switch. Right here is the Ultranet in and thru. And using the thru-put you can connect up to eight devices together. Right here we’ve got a midi input, which will allow you to change snapshots or scenes. Right here we’ve got our left and right main outs, so if you want to connect to pair of wedges, or just one, you can. And then you’ve got a headphone output. So, if you don’t want to use a wireless pack you can just go direct, which is perfect for drummers and stationary instrumentalists.
One really cool thing is the Behringer P16D, and this is the Ultranet distributor, okay? It’s like a network switch. Your Ultranet in is right here, so you would connect your mixer direct to here and then you can connect up to directly from here. And the beauty of this is that it’s going to eliminate the need for a power supply coming from the wall. So you don’t have to run an extra line of power to the monitor, it will come right over the ethernet. So it’s just one cable. And you can still connect up to eight from each monitor mixer, so you connect Ultranet to one mixer and then you can run seven more from the thru-puts. And that means—eight times eight is 64—you can connect up to 64 of these mixers. Pretty incredible. Here’s your power switch.
Okay next I want to talk to you about the Xvive U4 Monitor Packs.
These are the Xvive U4 receiver, transmitter. Very compact, sturdy design. It’s got the XLR female right there, built into it. Very ergonomic. You’ve got a power switch right here on top. Okay, volume knob. Right here’s your channel select. There are up to six channels available to choose from. So, the way it works: You set your channel on whichever one you start with…you can start with the receiver or the transmitter. And you just make sure that they’re on the same channel—four here and four there, or whichever channel. And there are two lights: One of them is to indicate that they are in fact connected and the other one is that it’s powered on. Okay, next I want to talk to you about the P16 and the Xvive together, because this means you can craft a personal in-ear mix, okay?
So, with the quarter inch adapter you can connect it directly to the transmitter and then we plug it in to the line out. Okay, mono line out. And you’ll select the line switch on the transmitter and then your pack is ready to go. Dial in your mix and bam, you’ve got yourself your own personal, independent wireless mixer. And the independent part is really important because it’s going to allow you to make your own mix without affect the front-of-house.
Alright, so to recap: We’ve got the Behringer XR-18 Mixer, we’ve got the Behringer P16 Personal Monitor Mixer, and the Xvive U4 Wireless Monitor Packs. And those three things together are going to reduce your stage volume which is going to make for a more intelligible front-of-house sound for your audience, and it’s going to allow you to dial in an in-ear mix for yourself and really be able to hear the band and not go deaf.
Not only is the XR18 great on stage with P16, it’s also great in the studio because you have 16 inputs, and each person in the band can have their own personal mix. It’s affordable, it’s compact, and it’s easy to set up, and easy to control. And it’ll work with pretty much any DAW.
If you’d like to rent this very system, please go to my website at rentals.ReadyMusician.com and reserve it today. And if you have any questions you can email me at brehnan@ReadyMusician.com. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you soon!