Performer Self Monitoring

[MC_Tuppz]

Here is one I haven't been able to crack.

The couple of times I've dropped in to a studio, I have a rack in front of me that lets me alter the mix I hear thru the cans. So pretty much how loud I want the music, and how loud I want myself....though the final mix down is not effected.

How do I acheive this sorta thing at home? While someone is in my booth, I want them to be able to modify the mix of the sound going to their headphones (more mic or more music), but at the same time their changes are not recorded? I know its something along the lines of personal monitoring but have no idea what I'm really looking for and how to jack it up to my studio?

I looked at the behringer micromon MA400 and just bought it to see how it works. turns out this thing must be constructed for dynamics and stage performances.

Anyone able to help?

[nampas91]

The system you've seen in studios is probably the Furman headphone distribution system. This will cost quite a bit of money though.
There are units you can buy, such as the Stage Buddy by SMPro. Also, some interfaces come with software that will do what you're looking for. The Firestudio, for example, has dedicated mixer software which can create up to 4 different mixes of playback from DAW and inputs.
You can also do this with Cubase's auxiliary sends.
So there are quite a few solutions, depending on your setup. What kind of equipment are you using?

Mark

[MC_Tuppz]

Originally Posted by nampas91

The system you've seen in studios is probably the Furman headphone distribution system. This will cost quite a bit of money though.
There are units you can buy, such as the Stage Buddy by SMPro. Also, some interfaces come with software that will do what you're looking for. The Firestudio, for example, has dedicated mixer software which can create up to 4 different mixes of playback from DAW and inputs.
You can also do this with Cubase's auxiliary sends.
So there are quite a few solutions, depending on your setup. What kind of equipment are you using?

Mark

Thanks for the quick reply

At the moment, I am using a toneport UX2, but Im dumping that for a new interface due to a few upgrades. I'm actually looking at either the Profire 610, the Mackie Satellite or the Focustire Saffire. I've seen the software mixers that can do what I'm after, but I'm looking for that physical feel of an interface for the artist to avoid that constant "can you turn me up a bit? can you turn up the music a bit?" when they could do it themselves. Haven't used cubase yet, but thats my goal to start using when I replace the toneport, or possibly pro tools if I manage to get the profire.

I will look in to the stage buddy or similar. The Minimon i got from Behringer actually work completely fine with a dynamic, but a condensor just gave a constant hum. Is the phantom power meant to run between the two or something?

[magno]

What you could use is a small mixer in your booth, something with say at least 4 inputs. Now set up some aux groups or sends with whatever the artist needs to hear(in your DAW). Of course you are limited to 2 outputs with your interface now, but theoretically you could send out a mono mix of the instruments on one channel and say the vocals on the other one. So your singer can control at least that much. You may have less issues with latency if you decide to get an audio interface that has routing features built in to it's mixer software, but you will still need some kind of mixer in your booth.

[MC_Tuppz]

Originally Posted by magno

What you could use is a small mixer in your booth, something with say at least 4 inputs. Now set up some aux groups or sends with whatever the artist needs to hear(in your DAW). Of course you are limited to 2 outputs with your interface now, but theoretically you could send out a mono mix of the instruments on one channel and say the vocals on the other one. So your singer can control at least that much. You may have less issues with latency if you decide to get an audio interface that has routing features built in to it's mixer software, but you will still need some kind of mixer in your booth.

I currently have a UB802 mixer I was using for recording up till about a year ago. Reckon that would do the job?

[magno]

Originally Posted by MC_Tuppz

I currently have a UB802 mixer I was using for recording up till about a year ago. Reckon that would do the job?

Exactly what I had in mind, you're ahead of the game now.

[Audio~Geek]

It's called a Cue mix, headphone mix or Foldback.


It's not simple to set up and not worth the effort when recording yourself. Worth it for recording bands though.

You need an interface with several outputs, (8) then a mixer with several line inputs (6 needed), and a TRS cable for each.

Plug output 3 of the interface into input 1 of the mixer.
Pan it left
plug output 4 of the interface into input 2 of the mixer.
Pan it right
etc.


interface output 1-2 is for your monitors in the control room
All your tracks by default go to output 1-2

In the software you make a PRE-FADER send on every track going to the interface outputs 3-8.
Choose groups of tracks to be controlled by each pair of faders.

Following along?

so lets say output 7-8 from the interface (faders 5-6) will carry your FX returns (reverb, delay whatever you need in the cans)
output 5-6 (faders 3-4) is drums and bass
output 3-4 (faders 1-2) is guitars
and shit we're out of options for where the vocals go I told you it's complicated.

[MC_Tuppz]

complicated is a euphamism for what you just wrote haha

Nah yeah, it makes sense in theory. I guess I will have to wait till I actually get the gear set up and have a few plays around with it to get it working. I'm liking the mixer option, because it means at least my old mixer dont just become a paper weight.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

So basically, whatever is coming out of the DAW should be routed to the channels in the mixer (via outputs in the interface). From the mixer, the performer can control what they want to hear?

So for turning up their own vocal performance on the fly, that would be the signal heading back out the DAW through the mixer (via another output) as well???

[magno]

Originally Posted by MC_Tuppz

So for turning up their own vocal performance on the fly, that would be the signal heading back out the DAW through the mixer (via another output) as well???

You got it.

[nampas91]

You could also do this with a headphone amp. Many of them have auxiliary inputs in addition to the main input. This makes it possible to mix in a raw channel.
This is basically the same concept as the mixer one being discussed.