click live

Have any of you guys got any suggestions for how to play with a click live? As a band we use in ear monitors or though I don't, I prefer to monitor in the tradtional way with an amp set up to my left. If I start using them can I take a click into my ear monitors and not the rest of the band.....any one done this?

Also any suggestions on hand held tempo devices I can use when playing the set just to get an accurate count off tempo? I have a crappy little Seiko that only goes up in 4 BPS groups.

The band had a little....ahem...tempo "discussion" last night...

Hey Gary....Others certainly know more about this than me but the answer is yes. Any click generating device...Alessis, Rhythm Watch...whatever could be used I think. I intend to plug my Alessis into my Oz HM6 headphone amp (once it arrives) then use my In ears. With the HM6 I can input any mix I want including the click.

yes it can be done, by using a sub mixer you can pan the click to one side and the music/band to the other.

So, Randy does my method above seem like it will work? will I have to settle for a panned effect? Alternatively maybe you can tell me how you would set up the following from a drum chair perspective. Powered mixer, unpowered submixer, In ears, Oz HM6 headphone amp, Alessis-16

I assume the headphone amp is self powered so having a powered mixer is overkill, a standard mixer will do fine.
Panning is not necessary unless there is only 1 mix available to both you and the band, then you would have to pan to one side.
So, if the band sends you a feed into your sub mixer, then the click (whatever it may be) can be on another channel, then send the mix to your headphone amp and out to your ears.

1 more thing, if your using a Mackie for a 'main' mixer, it has 4 pre/post aux sends, if your using a bigger board, it will have aux sends, plus having both group sends and matrix sends.
More then enough capability for sending a mix to yourself of the band.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 12, 2005 10:12 AM: Message edited by: Randy Walker ]</font>

Thanks once again Randy...Yes HP amp is powered. The Oz can take 6 different inputs so then this set up should work fine. In your experience how often might performers use a click while gigging....can I expect it to be helpful or not

I don't what type of gig you are doing or trying for, I mean the average 'club' gig band won't use it unless they are sequenced, but on the other hand, if the time is important to you, then you could map out tempos of tunes and just play to it on the gig and the band would only know that the time is solid.
Same can be said for a touring gig, I know a few country guys whom do this type of setup.

Using a click for practicing is always helpful, if you feel uncomfortable on the gig about tempos doing the up and down, then using it in this way would be great.

So Randy....

Assuming I can get an individual mix from the board....what equipment do I need in order to get a mix into my headphones that includes a click.

I have a yamaha clickstation.

Do I understand correctly that I need a headphone amp and a mixer?

Actually, the headphone is more of an extra item, since most boards like the Mackie have an amped headphone out.
A small 2-4 channel board such as Mackie/Behrenger will do fine.
I can't imagine the average gig would use more then 2 auxs for monitors, which would mean you would have an aux just dedicated to your own mix.

We seem to be in a situation where not everything goes into the Mackie. Voice and one guitar and my drums from a submixer (sending a stereo feed) is going there while Bass and 2 other guitars are using their amps solely and not micing into the main mixer. I would love to hear your comment on this arrangement. I chose the HM6 so I could choose who and what comes to me and to be able to adjust it accordingly. The Powered Mackie has 8 XLR in puts I believe...tell me how you'd set this up with regards to all players!