Basic recording -- Headphone mix

[CelesteMac]

I have a basic home recording system, Scarlett 2i4 and Garageband 11. I use it mainly to get better as a singer and occasionally to share songs with friends. Nothing fancy.

Is there a way I can set up two headphone mixes, one for recording, and one for playback, and switch between them easily?

A typical scenario for me is recording my vocals over music that it is already recorded (I play piano or use backing tracks) and/or recording harmonies for lead vocals that I’ve already tracked.

The Scarlett has a pan for monitoring what’s being recorded versus what’s already recorded, and getting that mix right in the headphones with the right overall volume is key in getting good vocal recordings. But then listening to the playback involves changing that mix and changing the volume, listening, then changing it back, between takes. Meanwhile you’re standing at the mic, fiddling with the dials all the time.

Yes, sometimes, I just record several takes straight through but especially at the beginning of a session, I need to take a listen to what I’m getting.

Is this something that I'd need software plug-ins to do?

Thanks!

 

[gecko zzed]

I have a basic home recording system, Scarlett 2i4 and Garageband 11. I use it mainly to get better as a singer and occasionally to share songs with friends. Nothing fancy.

Is there a way I can set up two headphone mixes, one for recording, and one for playback, and switch between them easily?

A typical scenario for me is recording my vocals over music that it is already recorded (I play piano or use backing tracks) and/or recording harmonies for lead vocals that I’ve already tracked.

The Scarlett has a pan for monitoring what’s being recorded versus what’s already recorded, and getting that mix right in the headphones with the right overall volume is key in getting good vocal recordings. But then listening to the playback involves changing that mix and changing the volume, listening, then changing it back, between takes. Meanwhile you’re standing at the mic, fiddling with the dials all the time.

Yes, sometimes, I just record several takes straight through but especially at the beginning of a session, I need to take a listen to what I’m getting.

Is this something that I'd need software plug-ins to do?

Thanks!

It ought not to be too complicated.

The method you describe is widely used, i.e. use the mix control ('input playback') to determine the relative level of playing back recorded material and new material being recorded. Generally, the mix position is about halfway between the two. I do the same, but I often have a bit more on the input side than on the playback side so that I get a better idea of what I'm recording. When I've done a take, I simply go back to the start and play. There's no need to change any levels on the 2i4. You may, however, need to adjust the newly-recorded track playback level in the DAW so that it fits with what you've previously recorded. Once you've got that sorted, it becomes very easy . . . no extra adjustments are needed.

However, if you want to listen to what you've recorded without headphones, then it does get a little more messy . . . to the extent that you have to turn the mix dial to 'playback' then turn up the monitor level, and get this in the right order to prevent feedback. Then reverse everything when you want to do a new take. Because of this, I tend not to listen to playbacks via monitors until I've done significant chunks of the tracking, and just use headphones if I want to listen back to something.

 

[CelesteMac]

I usually have a bit more on the input side too, for recording.

Thanks for your reply. But here's the problem. When you adjust the playback level inside GB, you're adjusting the recording level. That is to say, Garageband doesn't seem to have separate levels for recording and playback of individual tracks (though it does have volume automation for mix down). So you're in the same boat of having to change levels constantly, whether it's in the DAW of after the DAW.

Also, with the Scarlett, keeping the playback volume the same as the recording volume is problematic. I need to be able to pan the volume I'm hearing. But using the master volume in Garageband, turning it up will just cause clipping coming out of the DAW. I'd love to be able to have a solution that would allow me to set recording levels and not have to change recording levels or recording headphone mix when I want to hear playback. I've done some recording in professional studios, and I don't think the engineer was constantly changing levels to let me hear what we tracked. But of course, my little playpen is a far cry from that setup.