Getting volume loud enough while recording.

Bugz McNair

New member
I've had a few people complain that they can't hear themselves and/or the music loud enough in their headphones while recording. I'll have the levels in my DAW set so no clipping takes place, my computer volume is all the way up, and the volume knob on my audio interface is up all the way as well. I've been looking at purchasing the Art Headamp4 Headphone Amplifier. It seems to do exactly what I need. I just wanted to ask if anyone knows of another solution. Or maybe there is something I'm missing, or doing incorrectly.

What do you guys think?
 
Well, what can't they hear specifically? The music? Or themselves? These two problems are very different and if you're experiencing complaints because of both, chances are it's a gain staging (user) error.

The fact that your volume controls are all the way up concerns me, too. This just shouldn't be the case unless your recording is VERY soft, which is also not good practice. In the case that the recording is that soft, I don't see how it would be difficult to enable performers to hear themselves. You would merely turn up the gain until it is a suitable level. On the other hand, if the recording is quite loud, this would be the case as you would be battling for headroom. However, this would mean that you would run into extremely loud levels and if your volume knob is all the way up, you would notice the problem, I'm sure.

So I'm a little unclear as to the nature of your problem and it's subsequent solution. Could you be more specific?

Cheers :)
 
Well, if you have multiple headphones all plugged into one output jack, that could be the problem (and a headphone amp would help). If its one set, then look at your set up or the headphones as the culprit.
 
In my experience, it depends on what you want to record. As I stated in my introduction post, my understanding is basic, but hopefully I can offer some advice.

If you're not laying down the loudest tracks to a recording first, this can often be a problem. It took me awhile to figure out that even if I had perfect timing and knew where everything went, it was really hard to record an acoustic drum set and hear guitars in headphones.

A headphone amp is a great idea, and you can find certain models for relatively inexpensive prices at a lot of retailers, which can be good for some one on a low budget. You could also try isolation headphones that they usually make for people to record drums so that they can hear everything inside of them while blocking out any other noise. Make sure that if you buy isolation headphones, though, you buy the kind that have speakers in them and not the kind people wear for gun shooting practice.

I'm trying not to ramble here, hopefully this has something useful in it (I'm having a hard time expressing myself, today.)
 
They can hear both the music and themselves at a decent volume, but a lot of times they want it to be louder. Not everyone complains about it, but even I agree a bit that I wish I could get it a little louder as well.

The Mix knob on my audio interface(FTP) is set in the center so you can hear both the vocals coming in and the music coming out evenly.
The volume of the vocals coming in are set to where they won't clip (After a good mic check)
The music is also set as high as I can get it with out clipping in my DAW(Reaper)
The volume knob for the output is set as high as it can get as well
The master knob in my DAW is set to 0db.
I've also switched out headphones, and it's been the same issue, so I don't think it's the headphones.

Is there anything you need me to be more specific about? Can you be more specific about how you want me to be specific? (Lol, bad joke, no disrespect) :D

Well, if you have multiple headphones all plugged into one output jack, that could be the problem (and a headphone amp would help).

This definitely affects it, and I've noticed it before too. But even when I record myself, I find myself wishing I could turn everything up louder, and I'm using a single 1/4'' jack in those instances. So, while it does make matters worse in my situation, they were still not as good as I would have liked them to be originally.

If you're not laying down the loudest tracks to a recording first, this can often be a problem. It took me awhile to figure out that even if I had perfect timing and knew where everything went, it was really hard to record an acoustic drum set and hear guitars in headphones.

A headphone amp is a great idea, and you can find certain models for relatively inexpensive prices at a lot of retailers, which can be good for some one on a low budget. You could also try isolation headphones that they usually make for people to record drums so that they can hear everything inside of them while blocking out any other noise. Make sure that if you buy isolation headphones, though, you buy the kind that have speakers in them and not the kind people wear for gun shooting practice.

I'm trying not to ramble here, hopefully this has something useful in it (I'm having a hard time expressing myself, today.)

In my case, the music is already recorded and I'm trying to record the vocals. The truth is, I've been looking at getting a headphone amp for a while now. I'm leaning towards the one I linked above, but there is also another one for about half the price of this one. I'm a college student, and very frugal, so I like to save money when I can. Right now I'm just debating with myself on which to get. The cheaper one is Amazon.com: Behringer HA400-MICROAMP 4 Channel headphone amplifier: Electronics

If anyone has any experience with either of these feel free to chime in :D
 
The volume of the vocals coming in are set to where they won't clip (After a good mic check)
The music is also set as high as I can get it with out clipping in my DAW(Reaper)

Neither of these is a good idea. I know this doesn't address the specific problem you're posting about. But as a side note, you should not be recording anything "as loud as possible without clipping". Your levels shouldn't get anywhere near 0db. You should be going for peak levels of -6 to -12db.

Like I said, it doesn't address the problem you're posting about. But you're recording way too hot.

The old "record as loud as possible without clipping" is an old analog "rule" and doesn't apply to digital recording. If your gain staging is good, then your levels should naturally fall into the range I mentioned above. If not, you're over-loading the input or output of something in your chain on your way to getting it into your computer.
 
Have you set up an individual headphone mix (not just the monitor mix)? This would help you to fine tune the mix per the artist's taste. A headphone amp is a good investment if extra volume is your only concern.
 
a) Using a headphone amplifier with several outputs is a good idea if you have more than one headphone set in use. I would not normally recommend anything by Behringer as I don't like 90% of their gear, but in this case I would suggest their headphone amps as good inexpensive gear that will do the job adequately.
b) If you need to feed a louder signal to a singer of their own voice you could try adding a limiter plug in like the Waves L2 to their track. Even though you are not actually recording the sound of the L2 you can use it as a level booster for them in the phones.
c) Never try to record loudly so that things are close to clipping but not hitting zero. Proper gain staging is very important to maintain headroom for mixing. Recording with levels (as stated in a previous poster's reply) of around -12 with peaks of -6 is a good idea. I have explained the concept of why we do this in a tutorial on gain staging which it sounds to me like you may well benefit from reading.
 
a) Using a headphone amplifier with several outputs is a good idea if you have more than one headphone set in use. I would not normally recommend anything by Behringer as I don't like 90% of their gear, but in this case I would suggest their headphone amps as good inexpensive gear that will do the job adequately.
b) If you need to feed a louder signal to a singer of their own voice you could try adding a limiter plug in like the Waves L2 to their track. Even though you are not actually recording the sound of the L2 you can use it as a level booster for them in the phones.
c) Never try to record loudly so that things are close to clipping but not hitting zero. Proper gain staging is very important to maintain headroom for mixing. Recording with levels (as stated in a previous poster's reply) of around -12 with peaks of -6 is a good idea. I have explained the concept of why we do this in a tutorial on gain staging which it sounds to me like you may well benefit from reading.

Yeah, the Behringer made me a little weary, but it doesn't seem like a bad investment. I do have adequate headroom while recording though. But what you were saying in point b was interesting. I'm going to have to look into that.
 
There's your problem right there. Search this forum for "gain staging".
Yup. That was brought up in 2 previous posts. But he doesn't think there's anything wrong with the way he's doing things. So much for trying to help. :eek:
you should not be recording anything "as loud as possible without clipping". If your gain staging is good, then your levels should naturally fall into the range I mentioned above. If not, you're over-loading the input or output of something in your chain on your way to getting it into your computer.

rocksure;3835207[/quote said:
c) Never try to record loudly so that things are close to clipping but not hitting zero. Proper gain staging is very important to maintain headroom for mixing.
 
At the ripe old age of 62 I sometimes need a little extra boost for my long-ago fried ears, and sometimes the recording interface just doesn't have enough ooomph so I use a headphone amp.

And the four-channel Behringer and some ART headphone amps have a neat feature known as "more me". The way it works...you feed a stereo mix to the "main" inputs on the headphone amp, and a separate output from the artist's mic into a separate input on each headphone channel. You can then make the artist as loud as necessary...
 
Yeah, the Behringer made me a little weary, but it doesn't seem like a bad investment. I do have adequate headroom while recording though. But what you were saying in point b was interesting. I'm going to have to look into that.

I bought this guy a while back:

Behringer MICROAMP HA400 Headphone Amp | Musician's Friend

I would recommend spending slightly more on a headphone amp. This thing does the job, but even after pretty light use, the pots are scratchy and cut out sometimes. You get what you pay for...
 
I bought this guy a while back:

Behringer MICROAMP HA400 Headphone Amp | Musician's Friend

I would recommend spending slightly more on a headphone amp. This thing does the job, but even after pretty light use, the pots are scratchy and cut out sometimes. You get what you pay for...

I don't like most Behringer gear. Quality is a bit hit and miss, and some products are cheap and nasty. Having said that, I do have a 4 channel mini-amp headphone amp which has done fine for the time I have had it, and I know of someone who has had one of their other models of headphone amps that has served him well for a few years.
 
Yup. That was brought up in 2 previous posts. But he doesn't think there's anything wrong with the way he's doing things. So much for trying to help. :eek:


c) Never try to record loudly so that things are close to clipping but not hitting zero. Proper gain staging is very important to maintain headroom for mixing.
[/QUOTE]

I don't think it's a problem because I'm not doing that. I know how to gain stage, and I leave an adequate amount of head room. The thing is, that doesn't help my volume issue at all. So what I did was turn the levels up until everything was almost clipping but not, and the volume was still not up to par for my tastes. That's what I meant, sorry for the confusion lol
 
. I know how to gain stage, and I leave an adequate amount of head room. .........what I did was turn the levels up until everything was almost clipping but not,
Sorry man, I'm just going on what you're saying.

:cool:
 
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