Splitting up a monitor Feed

RedStone

Member
Hope this is ok for the Mastering section. It's a gear/signal flow question, but it's related to mastering.

I want to split up a monitor feed. For the purists out there, this might make you shake your head in disgust. Sorry :facepalm:

I'm sending mixes to a digital EQ unit for room correction. Did all the soundproofing etc and there are still nasty resonances at 100hz, 400hz and then a bunch of weird stuff happening between 3khz and 10khz. I'm pretty sure it's the speakers, which I plan to replace. Until then, a Friend gave me an old Roland 31 band EQ. I used a sonaworks plugin demo to analyze the room, and I used REW to verify.

I think I have the speakers sounding not half bad now. When I turn off the EQ I notice the natural sound of them is severely scooped ... which explains why every time I mixed through the speakers alone, my mixes sounded thin and dull. I always had to reference between monitors, headphones and car. None were super reliable, which made it exceedingly difficult to mix let alone master.

Here's what I want to do:

I've got a pair of DT900 headphones, which are great but are also hyped sounding (well, thin is a better description -- they've got bass, but not even bass, and the highs are boosted insanely). I've got a printout of an adjustment curve that I think I'll be able to approximate with the 31 band EQ. It won't get me all the way there, but I'm thinking it will get me close. I can have 4 different EQ patches on the Roland, which is cool. Problem is, I have no way of switching between monitors and headphones if I use the EQ. I'd also like to send the Stereo output of a focusrite virtual room box to the EQ.

My first thought was to get a couple of little Mackie VL4 mixers ... the point is something with a really clean throughput that won't colour the sound (much) more. I'm more or less wanting to try things to see what will work. When it's all said and done, what matters is if I am getting reliable mixes, even if the set up is a bit frankenstien and doesn't follow the rules of pristine audio.

I figure the sound was already coloured in a way that made it tough to get translatable mixes (At least not without a LOT of referencing and head-banging-against-wall). Bottom line: couldn't trust my setup. So I'm attempting to re-colour the sound in a way that will tilt the odds the other way.

The idea ...
Mini Mixer 1
Audio Interface (2 line outs) ---> Stereo input on mixer
Headphone out of vbox (1/4 TRS) ----> splitter ---> Stereo input 2 on mixer
Mains outs on mixer ---> Roland EQ

Mini Mixer 2
L/R outputs on Roland ---> Stereo input on mixer 2
Main Mixer outs to Monitors
Headphone out on mixer 2 to Headphones

Use mute buttons on mixer 1 to control which signal gets played.

Done?

Is there something other than a mixer I can use for this?

Thoughts/Suggestions?
 
I don't think I can help with the routing of that gear, but maybe a monitor controller would be a better option, something like a Mackie Big Knob.

Graphic eq is pretty much useless for the kind of correction you're trying to do. What you need is parametric eq. One cheap option is the Behringer DSP1124P. It's called the Feedback Destroyer but it can be used as a manually controlled 12-band parametric eq, with plenty of storage for user settings. With some careful shopping you should be able to get two of them for $100 or less. Use one for your speakers and one for your headphones.

The DSP1124P has MIDI I/O/Through for transferring filter settings between units. I believe REW can be used to set the filters for (theoretically) optimum response based on measurements. Ideally you would use an actual reference mic, not just any old mic. Keeping with the budget approach you could pick up a Behringer ECM8000 for $60. If your interface doesn't have MIDI you'll need to get something for that as well, so REW can transfer the filter parameters.
 
It's true... the Graphic EQ isn't ideal. It would be much better to have 31 bands in a parametric linear phase EQ. Unfortunately, I need to settle for now on what I've got and will try to make it work.

There are enough bands that I was able to dial in pretty close. It made a noticeably good difference.

The Mackie big knob is definitely more along the lines what I need. Except I also need a headphone output as well as the line outputs.
 
The Mackie big knob is definitely more along the lines what I need. Except I also need a headphone output as well as the line outputs.
Get the one with headphone outputs. :) It's a little more expensive.

I use a plain old headphone amp. Speakers get one of the outputs. Other speakers on another. Headphones in other remaining holes as necessary.
 
I wish Mackie would do a passive with three - A/B/C switching options.
All the other models include interfaces...which is kind stupid. I mean, why not just have a pure monitor controller, with all the bells-n-whistles, headphone outputs...etc....but without the interface/preamp shit.

I can work with the Bog Knob Passive, and will probably get one, as I do have a mixing console and patch bays, etc...so my routing options are still pretty good...but a three-way would be better for me.
I know there are some others out there, but they either have unnecessary options that I don't kneed...or if they have more than two monitor options, they are priced kinda crazy for a basic monitor switcher.
 
There are a number of perfectly acceptable four output headphone amps out there for under $100. I use an 8 channel Behringer myself because it allows me to select between two different sources for each output, and the channel insert overrides both so that I can link channels and control the subs along with the mains, but that's kind of special to my circumstance. The OP would do fine with something like the ART HeadAmp 4
 
I was talking about a monitor switcher, not headphone amp...and I think I found one from Behringer...the Monitor2usb.
Has the 3 monitor connections...plus 2 headphone connections if needed...and the big knob.
I little more than the Mackie Big Knob Passive...but it's got more features, and no interface crap.

$150...can be had for about $120 on Amazon.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MONITOR2USB
 
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