Sonar + Delta 1010LT & headphone monitoring - Advice, please

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tzer

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I plan to record my band using Sonar as my sequencer and a Delta 1010LT as my AD/DA converter.

I have a fair idea how I plan to proceed regarding micing the kit and running everyone else in direct but I get confused when it comes to setting up Sonar for monitoring via headphones.

I plan to run the kit into tracks/channels 1 - 4:
1 Kick
2 Snare (snare + hat)
3 & 4 Overall Left and Right

The rest of the band goes in via PODS/Direct

5 Bass (POD)
6 Guitar (POD)
7 Keys (Mono Out)
8 Vox (Scratch)

I will be sending a mix out of Delta 1010LT (ch. 1 and 2) to a Carvin Headphone amp mixer.

Where I begin to get lost is in routing tracks to busses and all that jazz...

Since I have 6 more output options via the Delta, I assume I could create 'sub-mixes' by routing tracks to busses and assigning those busses to specific Delta output channel - then plugging those output channels into the Aux. Ins on the Carvin Headphone amp/mixer.

Am I on crack or is that somewhat close to accurate?

--tz
 
I checked carvin.com to get more details on this. I think the idea of the aux in is so that you can give everyone the main mix, and then patch them their own signal as well so you can give each performer more of themself, but i don't see why you couldn't just create busses in sonar routed to the carvin and then using sends in sonar, give everyone their own mix.

If this works your band will love it! Separate mixes when recording this way are AWESOME.
 
...but i don't see why you couldn't just create busses in sonar routed to the carvin and then using sends in sonar, give everyone their own mix.
Click to expand...

This is the way I am going to go, most likely. I was concerned about latency, but using the ASIO drivers it seems that latency is negligible at best at less than 6 ms.

So - general mix to A and B in - Aux ins get 'more me' sends.

But if for some reason latency does cause problems, I was curious about straight hardware monitoring - which I believe would be handled via the Delta control panels - monitor mixer and patchbay router.

Thanks!
--tz
 
If you're latency is that low then you're in good shape. If you run into problems with dropouts during recording, you can try increasing latency a little bit. (10ms should be usable for most musicians). You should probably be doing this with very few or no plugins happening during tracking unless your pc can handle it. If all else fails, lower the sample rate to free up some dsp.

If you just can't go the software route and need to do it with hardware, the best way to do it would be to have all your mics going through some sort of mixer with enough auxes so that you can do headphone mixes that way.
 
mojew,

Thanks for your input. The method I plan to follow for recording my band starts with the hardest part - the rhythm tracks. The reason it is the 'hardest part' is because that will be the only time everyone is tracking simultaneously. All the rest of the tracking should be done via overdubs/punch-ins.

I don't anticipate using any plugins at all during the rhythm tracking although I was exploring the possibility of using a plugin compressor on the kick and snare tracks. But again - It does not seem necessary since I will have both of those tracks isolated and should be able to apply compression/limiting as needed after the initial tracks are captured.

I have some low-end mixers available to me that my provide enough aux. outs to handle the hardware monitoring concept. I am new to the entire hardware end of this game but have been studying here and elsewhere trying to get a little hip.

I have a Phonic MM 1002 (very small 10 channel) with a headphones out, Aux. Out. Control Room Left and Right, Main Left and Right and the 'tape deck' in out situation... But I don't think that mixer offers me the ability to selectively assign channels to separate outs.

I also have a Behringer UB 1002 (I think that's the model) which is virtually identical to the Phonic - and equally limited regarding independent outs per channel - but I digress... I still have so much to learn about this world!

Tonight will be a big step in that direction. It will be the first night I have the entire band attempting to lay tracks.

More to come...
 
Last night went very well!

Success! - Well, let's say 80% success...

4 mics on the kit into 4 tracks - no problem!
Guitar, Bass, Keys, Vocals into their own tracks - piece of cake!

Hit record, play, stop, listen - sounds great, no dropouts, just how it needs to be! I need to play with mic placement on the kit and other picky details but otherwise - all that went very well!

The one thing that was not great was the headphone amp.

I sent Delta OUT 1 and 2 to headphone amp Channel A Left and Right. Passed out headphones and we started to test. If everyone played very lightly it sounded OK but the minute someone played half-way aggressively, there was a bothersome buzz/crackle. It didn't matter who was doing it. It seemed as if the signal was overdriving or peaking out, but the headphone amps individual channel peak lights never tweaked. The signal lights all showed signal to the channels, the mix was coming through - but there was a nasty crackle present.

I am assuming that if it is peaking that the signal I am sending to the amp is too hot.

The headphone amp is a Carvin H400
http://www.carvinworld.com/products/single.php?ItemNumber=H400&CID=PROC

I have the studio computer, all powered instruments, the studio monitor power amp and the headphone amp all on the same electrical circuit - there is no hum in the mix - the the crackle we are getting does not sound like line noise. You hit a good note and it goes, "Baaaaaa crkl aaa crkl aaa...." with little crackly bits sprinkling the otherwise clean sound.

Does anyone have any thoughts on where the Rice Crispies are coming from in our headphone mix?
 
sounds like you're clipping something. Try turning the level of the mix down and turn the overall headphone levels up.
 
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