Re: who controls the mix of the loops?

[Anton Chovit <antonc@earthlink.net>]

Matthias Grob wrote:
> Another way would be to mix on stage, maybe one of the musicians would 
>play
> less and care for this (with headphones maybe) and send the mix in two
> lines.
> 
> Any experiences or sugestions?

My brother Chris and I have developed a looping system based around one
or more mixers.  We run five echoplexs, three jammans and various effect
units off of the effect sends of our mixer.  Usually, the echoplexs and
jammans return to the main inputs.  This allows the looping and
effecting of loops, etc.  We run our instruments into the main inputs. 
We have gravitated to multibus mixers due to the ability to run each bus
to a different amp/speaker/physical location.  We started with a single
16 track alesis mixer.  This allows for up to six separate outputs
(using the monitor bus as channels 5 & 6).  We quickly outgrew the
inputs and moved to a 32 channel makie.  This allowed for up to 10
separate outputs.  This was not a very portable set up though.  Now we
are each using an alesis 16 track mixer.  We each control our own suite
of instruments/loopers/effects/amplification.  This allow for up to 12
separate outputs (six each).  If we run a snake between the mixers we
can process each other's loops and place them in each other's sound
field.  We are primarily playing guitar, bass, keyboards, sequencers. 
The guitars are played through small, high quality guitar combos and
feed a line out into the main mixer inputs.  This adds two or more sound
sources.

This may seem like an unmanigable system, but it is really easy to
control.  By varying the configuration and placement of the different
amp/speakers, a wide range of sonic variety is achieved.  We have mixed
PA speakers, guitar cabinets with 200 watt EV's and 25 watt green backs,
and other monitors with good results.  

We are feeling very comfortable with the current setup and it really
lends itself to real time performance. I can't stand to have to think
about the technology when I want to play.