IEM Rig Diagrams for a Duo, a Four-Piece and a Worship Team

Every in-ear rig follows the same path: mics into preamps, preamps into a mixer, one mix per performer out to a transmitter, and a bodypack on each belt. What changes with band size is how many mixes you need and where the preamps live. Here are three rigs, from a duo to a worship team, each drawn as a rack.

The short answer

• Duo: a Behringer XR18 makes both mixes, and two half-rack transmitters share one rack space.
• Four-piece: an X32 Rack makes four stereo mixes for four transmitters, joined by one combiner and one antenna.
• Worship team: an X32 Rack with a stage box, wireless in-ears for the singers, and personal mixers for the band.

A duo: one mixer, two mixes

Two performers, each with a vocal and an instrument, plus click and tracks from a laptop.

1. Mics and DIs go into the XR18, which has 16 Midas preamps.
2. The XR18 builds two stereo mixes. That uses four of its six aux outputs.
3. Each mix feeds one Shure P3T. They are half rack wide, so both share one rack space.
4. Each performer wears a bodypack tuned to their transmitter.

With only two transmitters, the antennas that come in the box are fine. The rack is small enough to carry in one hand.

A four-piece: four mixes and a combiner

Drums, bass, guitar and keys, three of them singing, each wanting a stereo mix.

1. Mics and DIs go into the X32 Rack’s 16 preamps.
2. Four stereo mixes use all eight of its XLR outputs, one pair per performer.
3. Four P3T transmitters take two rack spaces.
4. Their antenna outputs go into a Shure PA421B, a 4-to-1 combiner that also powers four transmitters. One antenna replaces four.
5. A power conditioner and a UPS at the bottom. The UPS keeps the mixer running through a power dropout.

That is eight rack spaces exactly. For why three or more transmitters want a combiner, see combiner vs distribution.

A worship team: stage box and personal mixers

A band of five or six plus several singers, run by volunteers, with a stage that changes every week.

1. A Behringer S16 on stage adds 16 preamps and talks to the X32 Rack over one AES50 cable. That makes 32 preamps without a snake.
2. The singers move around, so they get wireless in-ears: two Sennheiser SR IEM G4 transmitters, half rack each, in one space.
3. The band stays put, so each player gets a Behringer personal mixer fed from the X32 Rack’s Ultranet port. Ultranet carries 16 channels, and a P16-D distributor feeds and powers the mixers.
4. Players set their own mix, so the volunteer at the console only builds the singers’ mixes.

How to read any IEM diagram

Follow one performer’s ear back to the stage. Every rig diagram answers the same four questions in order: where their sources meet a preamp, which mix bus builds their mix, which output sends it, and which transmitter and bodypack carry it. If any link in that chain is missing or shared by two people, the diagram has a gap.

For the full signal path, see how audio flows through an IEM rack.

Sources

• Behringer XR18 listing: 16 Midas preamps, 6 aux outputs, Ultranet
• Shure P3T listing: half-rack transmitter with rack kit
• Behringer X32 Rack quick start guide, specifications: 16 preamps, 8 XLR outputs
• Behringer X32 Rack quick start guide, rear panel: AES50 ports, Ultranet
• Shure PSM1000 spec sheet: PA421B 4-to-1 combiner that powers four transmitters
• Behringer S16 product page: 16 preamps, two AES50 ports
• Sennheiser SR IEM G4 product specification: half-rack stereo transmitter
• Behringer P16-M product page: 16 channels over Ultranet
• Behringer P16-M quick start guide: power from a P16-D over the cable