Recording with Monitors on

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TheNightman77

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Hi All,

Hopefully this is the right place for all stupid/obvious questions! I know that the general consensus is that recording should be done without your monitors on if you do not have your control room separate from your live room, for obvious reasons such as the monitor output sound bleeding into the mics. My question is, do you not find yourselves constantly turning your monitors off and on while tracking? I find that after I have tracked an instrument and I am listening back to see if any punch ins are necessary or if the take was any good, I need to do so through the monitors to really fully hear everything that I need to hear. Same goes for when I'm trying to find a useable tone...I need to have the monitors on to really hear how it sounds, rather than using a pair of tracking headphones which do not have decent sound quality.

This isn't really a big issue, rather a small nuisance and I was wondering what others did as I'm probably not the only one who experiences this. I do not have my interface linked to a hardware mixer, so I dont have a slider for the main output that I can just turn down. I could just turn the interface output volume down each time, but again kinda a nuisance if I'm doing so constantly? Perhaps I need a better pair of tracking headphones?

Feel free to let me know if I'm just being an idiot and that you all just turn down the master output volume of the main out each time, or if I need a better pair of headphones ;)
 
On the cheap; plug your monitors into a $6 power strip with switch.

Better; buy my A Designs Audio ATTY for $25+shipping (probably $6-8 to Jersey). It has volume control as well as a mute button. :)

Best; buy a monitor controller like the Mackie Big Knob. $299.00
 
I have a Presonus headphone amp that has a kill switch for the monitors. Yes, you should listen to every track after you record it, but it doesn't have to be a hassle...
 
There are two points here.

1 Switching monitors on and off. It is desirable to be able to do this easily. I have a switch that does this.

2 Tracking with monitors on. This generally not a good idea (bleed, feedback etc.), however, I have done it on quite a few occasions, and it works ok.
 
I have a hobby horse that I ride out of the stable at every concievable opportunity...

GET SOME BASIC ELECTRONICS SKILLS!!!

A monitor kill switch is beer into water to make, even for a balanced feed.

Box, 4pole switch (2 poles if unbalanced) TRS jacks in and out. You will need a drill, bits and a round file (unless you have a big mother!!! drill) and soldering kit and some wire, strip some mic or mains cable.

Making a passive monitor volume control is little harder but for a balanced feed the 4 gang pots are hard to source.

Also a vital bit of kit in the recording muso's armoury IMHO is a modest (20quid) digital multimeter.

Of course, "back in the day" with all hardware mixers and tape we had clever relay interlocks to prevent howl round. They were not call recording ENGINEERS for nowt you know!

Dave.
 
sixer2007 said:
No joke! 全然分からなかった!

Hehe, had to. If you think it's Chinese, go back to school!
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Indeed! Surely they still teach "metalwork" (soldering) and Physics? Shoot, you don't even need Ohms Law to do what I just descibed!

You cannot have "art" without "technology". Think about it.
If you are VERY rich you can get some other fool to do the technology (I am one such "fool") but otherwise you have to get your hands and "brain" dirty!

Dave.
 
sixer2007 said:
No joke! 全然分からなかった!

Hehe, had to. If you think it's Chinese, go back to school!
Click to expand...

LMAO! I might just do that actually (to learn Mandarin). I think I learn more here however....
 
jimmys69 said:
LMAO! I might just do that actually. I think I learn more here however....
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I know the feeling. I spent 5 years in college to get a BA in Communication, which I'm happy to say I am using somewhat (Recently moved to Japan to teach some Engrish. Studied Japanese for a couple years in school too, hence what I posted). But for the last 2 years of that time, my GF would tell me "you spend way more time reading about music than you do for your school work!" It's just more fun, what can I say. This site is the bees knees.
 
Yeah, those damn women are always right huh? lol!

She is right on one point though, fun always trumps education. What your GF does not understand, is that when education 'is' fun, well, she won't get it.... :)

Not sure whether the emot should be happy or sad here. :eatpopcorn:
 
jimmys69 said:
Yeah, those damn women are always right huh? lol!

She is right on one point though, fun always trumps education. What your GF does not understand, is that when education 'is' fun, well, she won't get it.... :)

Not sure whether the emot should be happy or sad here. :eatpopcorn:
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Even when they're not right... Well, just stfu :cool:

For me though, I just found something I really like doing, and wanted to get educated about that too. I've done far more with my music than I have with my degree, so screw it.
 
jimmys69 said:
Yeah, those damn women are always right huh? lol!

She is right on one point though, fun always trumps education. What your GF does not understand, is that when education 'is' fun, well, she won't get it.... :)

Not sure whether the emot should be happy or sad here. :eatpopcorn:
Click to expand...

Sorry to be a BOF! But that's life. We have to endure the boring ***t to earn money (I am most fortunate in that I love my job but even here the boring bits outweigh the fun stuff 10:1!) to keep clean, fed and (fairly) organized.

Dave.
 
No sorry needed man. I have a tile installation business that pays the bills. I am on my knees most of the day. Lucky that I don't hate my job, as I am my boss, but I would much rather sit in my studio and make magic, than satisfy some other dood's wife. Wait, that sounded like... nevermind.

Family is the most important IMO, but (an extreme BUT) we need to be happy ourselves, in order to actually be happy. That does involve a bunch of responsibility along the way.

Just buy some really offensive art, and the wife stays away from your studio! lol! Actually, it worked for me. Kinda.

Seriously tho, gotta spend time with the babies. :)
 
It has just struck me whilst answering another thread that we must have an audio-technical "lost" generation!

In my teens and 20's (I am 67) if you wanted anything 1/2 decent in terms of sound reproduction you had to buy an amplifier, a turntable (and fit your own arm and cartridge if you wanted the REAL dog's bllx) speakers and then wire the whole shootin' match up. FM radio was an extra tuner (but agreed, "recievers" came about pretty quickly) and recording? Revox, Ferrograph open reel and the associated cabling, later cassette but you still needed to wire it up and any kind of dubbing needed a bit of nonce!

Of course, if you grew up knowing no better than a Blue Spot Radiogram or worse a Dansette record wearer-outer, maybe you are forgiven!

Any of you ever fitted a radio into a car? (thought not).

Dave.
 
Back on topic.

Somebody mentioned the power strip... Was that Jimmy? Whatta genius!!! :D. Yup, quick and easy and cheap way to solve the problem.

When tracking you'll find yourself turning monitors on and off all the time. So put the strip someplace convenient to reach. If you are a procrastinator like me, it will take you three years to move it to a better spot. Ha ha.

I recently redid my studio and built a switch bank into my desk. It controls lights, interface, ancillary gear and, yup, monitors. Super convenient.
 
Chili said:
Back on topic.

Somebody mentioned the power strip... Was that Jimmy? Whatta genius!!! :D. Yup, quick and easy and cheap way to solve the problem.

When tracking you'll find yourself turning monitors on and off all the time. So put the strip someplace convenient to reach. If you are a procrastinator like me, it will take you three years to move it to a better spot. Ha ha.

I recently redid my studio and built a switch bank into my desk. It controls lights, interface, ancillary gear and, yup, monitors. Super convenient.
Click to expand...

Good idea but some monitors go on and/or off with a hell of a crack! Banging such on and off several times a day might do some damage, unlikely but would be stressful? My own Tannoy 5as make but the merest "pwoof" (shutup at the back there!)
...Butty,but but! You can now buy a set of 3 wireless mains switches for less than a tenner. I have one on my Sony 32" telly because the *&!!ing thing locks out most mornings and a power cycle is the only way to fix it.
So, no matter where the monitors pick 230volts from you can control them with ease.

Dave.
 
I have the presonus monitor station. Probably overkill but I love it. It has outputs for three sets of speakers, a master volume knob, 4 sets of headphones with independent levels, 3 input stereo mixes, mute, dim and mono switches. and a talkback mic.

I can listen with and without my sub, an alternate pair of shitty speakers or cans. The mono switch is nice for quick compatibility checks. As far as using a power switch, as someone else noted - my powered krks make a huge pop if powered on and off this way. Thankfully they auto power down and back on when signal is present.

The one thing I do not like about it is that there are no 'click stops' on the individual speaker out volumes. With a sub I find it's important to get the balance set right with the the main and sub levels and then never touch that again and use the master, otherwise I chase my own tail over getting the bass level right.
 
arcaxis said:
My monitors are on a surge protected multi outlet similar to Amazon.com: Tripp Lite TMC-6 Surge Protector Under Monitor 6 Outlet 6ft Cord 1440 Joule. My effects rack is also on one of its switched outlets.

The outlet the monitors are on also powers up a Lava lamp. I was forgetting to kill the monitors, so the Lava lamp is a better visually indicator that they are powered up. :)
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Similar to my setup, except with an old Furman power conditioner for my rack gear. Power strip turns on monitors and lamp (zip tied to desk leg). Lava knows best! :)

Power strip does not cause pops for me on KRK's or Event monitors.
 
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