Headphones for live recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter EasyKill
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EasyKill

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My band is currently in the process of recording songs to get an EP of some sort out there. I want to preserve band chemistry and live energy, so the way I want to do this is to have us record live together with all of the separate components in different rooms to cut down on mic bleed. I would possibly overdub vocals and lead parts later, but I want to have the live, energetic core as the basis of it all. I'm using an analog mixer for all of this. My question is, what is the best way for all of us to have headphones as monitors while we play? The best way I could figure out how to do it was by plugging the headphones into the aux sends so that I could mix however much of each signal each member wanted to each set of cans, but using the aux sends causes sounds to only come from one side of the headphones. The other method I used was to just route the channels to the main mix and use the standard stereo headphone output, but that way I'm not able to mix the levels of each signal to each members liking. Is there a better way to do this? Or a way I can convert the signal from the mono sends into stereo for the headphones? Thanks guys.
 
EasyKill said:
My band is currently in the process of recording songs to get an EP of some sort out there. I want to preserve band chemistry and live energy, so the way I want to do this is to have us record live together with all of the separate components in different rooms to cut down on mic bleed. I would possibly overdub vocals and lead parts later, but I want to have the live, energetic core as the basis of it all. I'm using an analog mixer for all of this. My question is, what is the best way for all of us to have headphones as monitors while we play? The best way I could figure out how to do it was by plugging the headphones into the aux sends so that I could mix however much of each signal each member wanted to each set of cans, but using the aux sends causes sounds to only come from one side of the headphones. The other method I used was to just route the channels to the main mix and use the standard stereo headphone output, but that way I'm not able to mix the levels of each signal to each members liking. Is there a better way to do this? Or a way I can convert the signal from the mono sends into stereo for the headphones? Thanks guys.
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If you are wanting an independent mix for each person and an individual send for each channel, you are talking a setup like a stage monitor system. You would need a separate send on each channel, such as an aux buss, as well as a separate headphone mix for each person. This gets expensive. So if you have 5 people, that would be 5 aux sends in order to have independent control over what is sent to the headphone for each mix, as well as a separate headphone amp/output for each mix. You could go with a multi-channel headphone amp. You would still only have one mix, but each person would have individual control over volume, EQ, ETC. You are only getting one side out of the aux send because it is a mono (T/S) connection. You could still use the aux as a send to the headphone amp, most have ways to switch the headphones to mono for each channel. This is the one I have.:D This unit can give you 6 separate mixes by using the direct input for each channel. if you had 6 aux sends, you could run one to each channel input, this would give you what you want. Thanks

ART HeadAmp6Pro | Sweetwater.com
 
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Headphone amplifiers take line in and make headphone out. You can get cheap ones for $15-25 each. Buy one for each out that you are using.

Edit:
example
 
BroKen_H said:
I'm sorry, did I squash your bee? :eek:
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LOL, just messing with ya man. That was good advice, I just like rack mount stuff. The ART unit does really well, the band I play in uses it for practice, no amps. I need to set mine up for separate mixes but I'm lazy.:D
 
What :confused:
$25 will kill you?
How would a stereo to stereo (1 in 1 out) adapter double your signal, exactly.
And how would doubling the signal you have get you different mixes to different people in different rooms?
 
I would have to buy 4 of them, and we're short on outlet space already. Those little things were mono to stereo adapters. I was hoping using them would cause the signal to be sent to both sides of the headphones instead of just one.
 
Ah, yes I see. That would solve the problem of headphones in one ear. Yes. Mono signal to both ears. Good solution...I'm overthinking (and post #9 was a joke, btw, but it would solve your problems if you had an extra $500 laying about.) :)
 
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