Communicating into the vocal booth

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Canobliss

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I finally got my vocal booth setup and working well. The one thing I forgot to anticipate was how i was going to communicate into the vocal booth from the engineer seat im running through a digi 002.
Right now I am using a couple of dynamic mics running into my 002 one for me and one for whoever else needs it. Works but it is a pain in the ass. I was also thinking about hanging a condenser and just throwing on a compressor.

Are there any other solutions im not thinking about? (Keeping the door open is not an option in many cases) What do you guys do for this?
 
Doesn't the person in the booth listen to backing tracks on headphones???? Don't you use a mixer? Why not just plug a mic in to the mixer at the console and assign it to the buss that feeds the headphones, only turning the channel on when you want to communicate?
 
Yeah thats essentially what i have been doing. My 002 is my mixer so im running a mic through it. The only problem i guess is that 1) it takes up an input 2) i have to use one of the 32 voices 3) the track has to be in record mode to talk so i have to switch it on and off (i guess pressing a button for it is no different than for any other setup)

Is there any easy way of converting XLR to RCA , then I could use the RCA inputs which can be routed directly to the monitors/headphones thus eliminating those problems?
 
Why don't you use a completely seperate talk back system? For example, when my recording setup was more ideal, I used a set of RadioShack room monitors to communicate between rooms. It's a simple install and it works quite well.
 
invisiblenemies said:
Why don't you use a completely seperate talk back system? For example, when my recording setup was more ideal, I used a set of RadioShack room monitors to communicate between rooms. It's a simple install and it works quite well.
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea i will look into that.
The only problem i can think of is that i use headphones with a lot of isolation so they might have to remove them to hear.
 
Canobliss said:
Thats a good idea i will look into that.
The only problem i can think of is that i use headphones with a lot of isolation so they might have to remove them to hear.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you'd have to take off the headphones.
 
I have seen studios set up both ways, Most voiceover work is done without headphones and sometimes you need to talk back when they don't have the headphones on, such as to say 'Put on the frigging headphones!'. You could even consider a small wireless speaker to do the job.
 
Well uh... if you don't want to take up an input, learn sign language. :D haha. Ok, sorry.

There are always other methods. Go to Radio Shack and look at inexpensive wirless intercoms. Or even a baby monitor. It only goes one way, but the guy in the booth already has a mic you can hear.

There are ways.
 
Heres what I do:
Set up an AUX INPUT channel. Assign its input to a mic input and its output to your cue outputs. This is your Talk Back channel. I use a mic with a switch on it for this purpose.

My cue outs are setup in the SENDS area in PT:
1&2 are my main outs, not a cue send.
3&4 go to the booth via a headphone amp
5&6 go to the drum booth via a headphone amp

This is only if you can deal with any latency issues, but I never have a problem. just dont add plugins until you're ready to mix.

Make sense?
 
I would get a cheapo mixer, and run the headphone mix through that. add in talkback.
 
Presonus Control station... is one of the many that A- Controls your different sets of monitors and B - has TALK BACK :D and it goes straight into the headphones! There are many smaller units like this too!
 
applejax said:
Presonus Control station... is one of the many that A- Controls your different sets of monitors and B - has TALK BACK :D and it goes straight into the headphones! There are many smaller units like this too!
Click to expand...
Absolutely! The Central Station does so many nice things, this included.

I use the remote, mainly for the talkback.
 
Cheapo Mixer - - - Right On

I use a Bear*Ring*Her mixer for my headphone/monitoring situation.

I can use the 'tape in' on the mixer from my main assigned outputs on my interface. Mixer headphone jack out into a headphone splitter. Watch your headroom doing this, easy to overdrive the mixer/headphone amp...

To keep it distortion free I use -
Interface Main Out: @70%
Mixer headphone out: @50-60%
Headphones out: @50-75& depending on how deaf everyone is. I have the headphone splitter on a rack in the band room so everyone can control their levels.

Plug a mic into the mixer and *Presto" you have talkback through the cans. It'd be easy enough to send a monitor out of that same board if you wanted room monitor sound too... Good for playback of a track... Got my main outs of the B*Rn*Grrr mixer going into a reference amplifier in the control room.

Put the mic on a stand next to you or on your desk so you can talk and sip your coffee at the same time.

I don't recommend balancing your coffee cup on the knobs of your mixer like I do though - :eek:
 
Deepwater, I was trying to think of that one's name but i couldnt lol... thanks for the post! I'm gonna but The PSCS when I get enough money lol
 
What about people without an analog mixer?

I use a PreSonus HP4 as my headphone/monitor control.

I recently built a vocal booth in a different room, and have no way to communicate with the vocalist other then screaming.

Ive been looking to get something inline between my PreSonus and the vocalists' cans, so they can hear me.

Any Ideas?
 
Yo Canobliss! Use a headphone distribution amp. I use a Rolls RA62HA, which works just fine. Then you assign a preamp (not the Digi002) to the headphone amp. Anything will work, including an Audiobuddy. You're not recording it! When I'm hard up for channels, I use a dynamic mic (a cheap one with a switch is ideal- Fender P51 works just fine) jacked into my Korg PXR4 Pandora, but any 4 tracker, cheap preamp, or mixer will work fine. The headphone jack of the 002 is patched to the main in on the headphone preamp, and the line out of the talkback pre is jacked into the aux in on the headphone amp. Nothing from the headphone amp gets recorded, there's no bleed to or from the talkback mic, and everybody's happy. Just remember to turn off the switch on the talkback mic when you are tracking, or you'll hear some pretty strange stuff in your headphones, as will the guy who's tracking-Richie
 
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