How to set up a Talk Back mic with fast track ultra

J

jpb123

New member
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me the best way to set up a " talkback mic " for when I'm recording vocals.
I have an M-Audio fast track ultra interface and would really like to be able to talk to the vocalist from a mic rather than run through to my tracking room or as we call it in our house the spare bedroom !!!

Any pointers would be most appreciated

John
 
I am using Cubase ( 5 ) and I use one of the headphone outs for me and 1 for the performer.
I've also got a headphone amp as the outputs on the Fast Track ultra seem a little low for my headphones ( Superlux 668B ) but the sennheiser HD25SP's I have are a little louder.
I was going to leave the connecting headphone amp up for another question but if anyone would like to chime in that would be great.

I'm not so bad with recording but , as I'm getting more and more into it I'm realising that a great performance relies heavily on a great headphone mix !!

Thanks for any answers in advance
 
The easiest way to do a talkback mic would be to just plug it into one of the fast track's mic inputs and add a track for it in Cubase. I don't use Cubase any more, but there must be a mode to monitor the input of a track regardless of whether you're recording or playing back. Use that. Even if you end up recording the talkback mic, it's not that big of a deal.
 
Thanks very much. I will give ut a try. I have also just got presonus studio one and i will check that also. I am going to find out how to connect a headphone amp to the fast track to beef up the headphone outs.........so everybody. Expect more questions !! Ha ha
many thanks once again
john
 
Yeah, I have one set up in the studio I work at like that since I don't have a dedicated outboard headphone monitoring system.

I just set up a track in Pro Tools called "TB" (talkback), set it to record enable and solo safe it, then send it to my Line Out 7-8 (which is the first of two headphone outputs on my Liquid Saffire 56) to get it to go to them.

Easy peasy.
 
Not being "software cute" like the previous contributors! I would go for a purely hardware solution.

Bit more money I know but a cheap mixer would solve the issue. The mic your end goes into that plus a mix from the AI to the muso.

It is also convention to have TB mics on a "push to talk" button so that it is not left live and the drummer does not get to hear discussions about what a cnut he can be or what X did with his GF last week.

Dave.
 
ecc83 beat me too it.

Call me paranoid but I'm scared of any solution that involves a spare open mic running through the DAW. I'm too much of a screw up to trust myself not to accidentally ruin a good take by having my voice turn up in a once in a lifetime performance.

Feeding the vocalist's headphone mix via the cheapest second hand small mixer you can get and adding you crappiest mic to that mix gets around this problem. It's not quite push to talk but teaching yourself to turn off the mic except when talking is a good idea.
 
Now, I KNOW I am always banging on about peeps getting some DIY 'tronics know how but this is a perfect example!

Building a Push 2 Talk box, XLR in/out is beer into water. If the crap mixer has spook juice (and almost all have at least 12volts these days) it is easy to rig a flashing LED.

If you need to run an extra cable to carry TB signal Network 4 pr is cheap as chips (in fact a network guy will probably throw 100mtrs of used CAT5/5e at you!)

Perfectly good for "2nd grade" signals* and in fact shielded CAT 5 (FTP) is easily good enough for microphones.

*You do not want to run TB or other "control" signals in a snake with clean feeds. You probably won't notice the crosstalk till days later at mix down!
Dave.
 
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DIY push-to-talk button works just as well into an interface preamp as one on a mixer. Likewise, the hardware approach leaves all of the same oppurtunities to fuck up the session. Why should the OP buy hardware that he apparently needs for nothing else when he can accomplish his goal RTFN for free?
 
Thanks Guys,

Ecc83 that's a great way of working. In actual fact I have tried it both ways. I have fed the headphone out to my soundcraft compact 4 , this has 2 headphone outs on it and they are way way louder than the fast tracks weedy outputs and I have put a switched sennheiser e825s mic on an input that I can just switch on to talk and then switch off. The little desk has a record enabled button so I could use that if I want also,
In all fairness it's been years since I used the little soundcraft desk but.......It really is great and the preamps are quite nice indeed. It makes a difference to use something with buttons and knobs as opposed to software to get this kind of job done.
I am thinking of upgrading my interface but.....it's very hard to find one that can do everything !!

John

Many thanks everyone.
 
John!
Do not mention the Compact Four in my presence!!

For years it was reckoned to be the Dog's Whatsits for home recording (pretty unique routing?) but I had blown my stash on other, less useful things. Then, when I was solvent again the mixers had all fekkin' gone!

Dave.
 
I better not mention that I went through several Soundcraft mixers before going digital then....

(It helped being able to buy the leftovers from work when things got upgraded there...especially as I also set the price! :) )
 
Doesnt the fasttrack have hardware monitoring? Just pluc the TB into the other input and turn it up in the headphones. you dont need to have a track in cubase for it because you dont intend to record it.
 
I'm sorry to hear that ecc83. I have to say that since playing with the compact4 it's pre's are great , far better than the Fast Track ultra and the headphone outs go super loud and that's with my superlux headphones and they NEVER get loud enough with usb interfaces !!

---------- Update ----------

It also has many knobs and buttons.........that's a bonus !!:)
 
Bobbsy said:
I better not mention that I went through several Soundcraft mixers before going digital then....

(It helped being able to buy the leftovers from work when things got upgraded there...especially as I also set the price! :) )
Click to expand...

I have read that some Soundcraft mixers had rather feeble SM Power supplies*? What were the reliability issues with the Compact series?

*Often an area where bean counters intrude. Maybe they think they "understand" them ?! The Behringer ADA 8000 come to mind. I would just replace with an overengineered, outboard 50Hz unit.

Jpb123: Which model of cans?

Dave.
 
I never used a Soundcraft Compact. I went through a little Spirit Folio notepad, a 200B and a Live 4-2.

Power supplies WERE an issue with both the 200B and the Live 4-2. I think part of the problem was that they produced more frame sizes than power supplies so you could end up with a P/S that was nearly underspecced. You could obviously fight this issue by just specifying one of the larger supplies.

The other issue which kept happening was the dreaded drying electrolytics which would send the power supply our of regulation and cause noise issues. It was an easy but annoying fix (that I did more than once) if you could handle a soldering iron.

I really enjoyed the features and quality of the mixers though.
 
Hmm, sounds like the "ha'poth of tar" syndrome so common in British electronics!

Just checked Ebay and there are a few 4' and 10's about. Going though another "fiscal dip" atmo but will probably have a shufty again in a few months.

Dave.
 
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