Do it on the X32 · Step 11
Sends (monitors, in-ears & FX)
A send is a copy of a channel going somewhere else — a musician's monitor mix, or an effect like reverb. It's how the same vocal reaches the room, the singer's in-ears, and a reverb all at once, each at its own level. The full explanation → Guide, Step 11
The short version
- SELECT the channel · HOME → Sends tab
- Dial each bus's send level with the encoders
- Monitors = pre-fader. FX = post-fader.
- Click and guide vocal → in-ears only, never the main mix
- Save the scene
The one concept that matters
Everything about sends comes down to a single choice per bus: pre-fader or post-fader.
Pre-fader ignores the channel fader. The send stays exactly where you set it no matter what your hand does out front.
→ This is what monitors and in-ears need. When you ride the vocal down in the room, the singer's in-ear mix shouldn't lurch. Their world stays stable while you mix yours.
Post-fader follows the channel fader. Pull the channel down in the room and its send drops with it.
→ This is what effects need. You want the reverb to scale with how present the vocal is — quieter vocal, proportionally less reverb. Post-fader keeps that relationship automatic.
Get this one thing right and sends make sense. Get it wrong and monitors jump around every time you touch a fader.
Monitor buses: pre-fader. FX buses: post-fader.
Step by step — a monitor / in-ear mix
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Select the channel and open the Sends tab.
Press SELECT, then HOME, then the Sends tab. This shows that channel's level to all 16 mix buses at once.
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Confirm the monitor buses are pre-fader.
The send tap point is set per bus. Monitor and in-ear buses should be pre-fader. This is usually configured once when the desk is set up — you're confirming, not rebuilding. Our Setup should say which buses are which.
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Set the send level.
Turn up this channel's send to the bus for the musician who wants it. How much? Whatever they ask for — monitor levels are the performer's preference, not yours. Your job is to give them what helps them play, even if you'd never mix it that way.
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Work bus by bus, or channel by channel.
Two ways to think about it: pick a channel and set its level into every mix (what the Sends tab shows), or use Sends on Fader to pick a bus and set every channel's level into it using the physical faders — often faster for building one person's whole mix. Press the bus's SELECT with Sends on Fader active and the faders become that monitor mix.
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Save the scene.
Step by step — an effect (reverb / delay)
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Confirm the FX bus is post-fader.
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On the Sends tab, turn up this channel's send to the FX bus.
More send = more of that channel in the effect.
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Listen in the room.
Effects are taste. A little reverb on a vocal adds space; too much turns it to mush and hurts intelligibility — which, in this room, is the thing you're protecting above all. Start subtle.
Click and guide vocal go to the band's in-ears only. Never the mains.
If the band plays to a click track, that click — and any guide vocal — must reach the musicians' in-ears and nothing else. Send those channels to the monitor/in-ear buses, and make sure they are not assigned to the main mix. Main assignment →
Then check it every single week. A click bleeding into the room is the most recognizable worship-sound mistake there is, and the congregation clocks it instantly. Two seconds of verification beats the alternative.
About in-ears in a worship room
In-ears are just monitor buses — the same pre-fader rule applies. A few things that come with the territory:
- Musicians often run their own mixes from a phone or tablet app. You set up the bus structure once; they take it from there. Your job becomes making sure the channels are clean and the sends exist.
- Remember the shared preamp. If someone's adjusting gains from the stage app, that's the head amp you set for the room. One person owns gain; everyone else uses sends and trim. Gain vs. trim →
- A stable in-ear mix is a gift. Pre-fader keeps it stable. Don't undo that.
What good looks like
| Check | Should be |
|---|---|
| Monitor / in-ear buses | pre-fader |
| FX buses | post-fader |
| Click & guide vocal | in-ears only, off the mains |
| Monitor levels | what the musician asked for |
| Reverb in the room | present but not swamping |
| Scene | saved |
If it goes wrong
- The monitor mix jumps every time I move a fader.
- That bus is post-fader when it should be pre. Switch its tap point.
- A musician can't hear enough of themselves.
- Turn up their channel in their bus — not the whole mix. One channel, one bus.
- There's a click in the house mix.
- Stop and fix it now. The click channel is assigned to the mains — un-assign it. Main assignment →
- Reverb is muddying everything.
- Too much send, or too long a reverb. Pull the sends back first.
- I turned a channel down in the room and it vanished from the in-ears too.
- That monitor bus is post-fader. It needs to be pre.
- Feedback in a wedge.
- A monitor sending a mic's own voice back at it can ring. Pull that mic down in that wedge. Feedback →