How to separate in-ear monitor mix from audience mix?

Question

I'm totally new to mixing and live environments, but my main concern is having In Ear Monitors for my band so we can hear a metronome. But I don't want the audience to hear it.

This is the mixer I'm looking at (It has 2 Aux Sends and I like that) http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-MG166CX-Mountable-Digital-Effects/dp/B001IYYZO4/ref=pd_sim_sbs_MI_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1MTXZWH9MWNTNJXVZR54

How would I create different mixes for the IEMs and what the audience hears? How would I mute the metronome from the audience? I'm totally new so I have no idea. Would I have the volume knobs turned down on the metronome mix but the Aux 1 and Aux 2's turned up so the IEMs can hear it?

Answer 1

What are you generating your metronome with? You can feed the metronome generator into an empty channel on the mixer. Turn the fader all the way down to -infinity for that channel and use the aux send (pre fader) to send the metronome signal to the Q that you are using to amplify the headphone signal. That way the signal is sent to the aux before it reaches the fader, and the fader is turned down so the signal is not sent to the main bus (audience). You will need your sound engineer to set the tempo for you for each track or you can have whatever you are generating the metronome with on stage so that you can set it yourself between each song. Let me know if this is easy to comprehend as I can draw you a schematic that may easier to understand.

Answer 2

You need to use the Aux sends in a pre-fader configuration. As you inferred, with pre-fader levels being used for Aux sends, you can leave the volume of a channel turned down in the mains, but still can route it to the two aux sends. If you don't use the pre-button on Aux 2 on that board however, it will operate as post-fader which would mean no signal would go to that aux if the fader level is down.

As the names imply, this is because of where the aux pulls the signal. Pre-fader means that the signal is sent to the aux output after the pre-amp gain is applied, but prior to going to the fader (it may or may not happen prior to EQ depending on the board). Post-fader on the other hand is routed to the aux after the fader and almost always includes the EQ adjustments and any other adjustments on the channel (such as inserts).

Generally for monitors you want to use pre-fader because the monitor mix shouldn't be impacted by the level going to the room. As an example, a common use of post-fader sends is for recording or effects (because the levels being worked on should correspond to the levels in the mix for those.)