Personal monitor mixing from your smartphone
Effective stage monitoring is essential for confident musical performance. When musicians struggle to hear their own vocals, pitch and timing suffer, while excessive stage volume frequently bleeds into front-of-house microphones. Rather than relying on hand signals during a performance, Live Mix allows musicians to adjust their own monitor balance directly from their smartphone or tablet.
Quick Takeaway
Live Mix enables each performer to dial in their personal floor wedge or wireless in-ear mix in real time using the third-party Mixing Station app. Connected via our dedicated offline stage router, each device is strictly locked to its designated monitor bus, leaving front-of-house levels protected while giving musicians complete control.
Dedicated stage Wi-Fi with zero venue dependence
Reliable digital control requires isolated network infrastructure. We supply a private, high-grade stage router as an integral part of our digital mixing rack.
Musicians connect directly to our private network, completely bypassing the venue’s guest Wi-Fi. Because our network does not use the internet, there are no captive portals, dropped connections, or interference from audience mobile phones. The connection is direct, private, and functional anywhere from small pub stages to remote marquee fields.
The Mixing Station app and licensing
Musicians control their mixes using Mixing Station, the industry-standard remote control application available on iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows.
To use the app with our Behringer X32 digital mixing console, the developer requires a one-time in-app licence purchase, which costs approximately £5. Once unlocked on your app store account, the licence is permanently tied to your device and can be used on any future gig running compatible digital consoles.
The app provides clean, intuitive faders for each channel on stage. Performers can adjust their own vocal level, balance backing tracks, or bring up more bass without needing to catch the sound engineer’s attention between songs.
Bus locking and accidental adjustment protection
A common concern among musicians is the risk of accidentally changing someone else’s mix or altering the main front-of-house sound.
Our console routing protocol prevents this completely. Before soundcheck begins, our engineer restricts each connected smartphone or tablet to its designated auxiliary output bus. A singer on Mix 1 cannot adjust the drummer’s wedge on Mix 3, nor can any connected device adjust master volume, channel gain, or front-of-house equalisation.
Furthermore, the engineer retains complete supervisory control at the mixing console. If a phone battery runs out or a performer prefers traditional engineering, we can dial in and balance any monitor mix from the desk immediately.
Configurable mixes: floor wedges, wireless in-ears, or hybrid
Every act has different monitoring preferences. Our instant quote builder allows bands to configure their exact monitoring requirements rather than forcing a rigid one-size-fits-all package:
- Active Floor Wedges: High-output 12-inch active stage monitors positioned for clear vocal projection and acoustic isolation.
- Wireless In-Ear Monitors (IEMs): Professional UHF transmitters and bodypack receivers providing clean stereo or mono feeds with zero stage noise.
- Hybrid Configurations: Any combination of wedges and in-ears to suit your lineup, such as lead vocalists on wireless in-ears while guitarists and drummers listen to floor wedges.
Our quote builder lets you select up to six dedicated monitor mixes and toggle each route between a floor wedge or a wireless beltpack with transparent pricing.
| Stage Monitoring Method | Hand Signals to Engineer | Personal Smartphone Control |
|---|---|---|
| Speed of Adjustment | Delayed until a gap between songs | Immediate, mid-song or between songs |
| Soundcheck Efficiency | Iterative round-robin adjustments | Performers balance levels simultaneously |
| Bus Security | Manual desk changes only | Strictly locked to individual performer bus |
| Stage Volume Spill | Wedges often pushed louder to compensate | Fine control reduces unnecessary stage spill |
| Musician Confidence | Dependent on sound engineer responsiveness | Complete personal control over hearing |
Earphone guidelines for wireless in-ears
Where in-ear monitoring is selected, Live Mix provides the rack-mounted UHF transmitters, aerial distribution, and personal bodypack receivers.
Performers must supply their own wired earphones with a standard 3.5 mm stereo jack. This ensures an optimal acoustic seal and proper personal fit.
Consumer wireless Bluetooth earphones, such as Apple AirPods, cannot be used with live in-ear monitoring. Professional bodypack receivers output an analogue signal through a 3.5 mm jack, and Bluetooth audio transmission introduces substantial digital latency that makes playing in time impossible. Any standard wired earphones or dedicated moulded in-ear monitors will plug directly into our bodypacks and deliver instant, zero-latency monitoring.
Playing a venue with strict noise limits or difficult acoustics?
We manage room physics, position the PA, and dial in monitor mixes so your performance cuts through without power cuts. Every Live Mix booking includes a dedicated on-site sound engineer.