When you guys are recording

konaboy

Pioneer Member
Do you run your headphones out of your computer from the DAW while playing so you can hear or out of your mixer/digital interface?
 
I don't. Too much latency. Just the click and the singer/guitar playing the song in the other room or a scratch track. Drums going to the computer and back to the headphones are "late" and it creates a "chorus effect"/flams.
 
I run the headphones from an external headphone amp that gets bit accurate signal from the interface. I use a Tascam US-1800 interface and a Rolls HA43 Pro
headphone amp.
I modified my computer to have 16GB of Ram. I record directly onto an external high speed hard drive. This allows the system to operate at maximum speed.
 
I will run the other tracks into headphones but I mute the drum tracks. As drum4fun said listening to the tracks being recorded back through the headphones causes a delay effect that is very distracting.
 
I run the headphones from an external headphone amp that gets bit accurate signal from the interface. I use a Tascam US-1800 interface and a Rolls HA43 Pro
headphone amp.


So out of the interface into the headphone amp?

Made one attempt a couple months ago to do some recording over top of a song. Ran a USB out of my yamaha mixer into my computer running audacity at the time. Now I know this limits my mixing per channel ability. The overall mix of the drums was a little off, especially bass an toms. So was wondering how to "monitor" so I can get the signal going into the daw adjusted on each drum better
 
So out of the interface into the headphone amp?

Made one attempt a couple months ago to do some recording over top of a song. Ran a USB out of my yamaha mixer into my computer running audacity at the time. Now I know this limits my mixing per channel ability. The overall mix of the drums was a little off, especially bass an toms. So was wondering how to "monitor" so I can get the signal going into the daw adjusted on each drum better
If I am using a separate analog mixer on the drums I run the mixer into two channels of the interface and I connect the headphone amp to the interface.
 
I noticed that if I create a stereo track for the drums I hear latency.
I use GarageBand.
If I create two separate tracks for the drums I have very slight latency that sounds like there is a little bit of echo to my ears but it doesn't show up on the recorded tracks.
The 16GB of ram in my computer and the fact that I record to an external drive is what moves things along at high speed with little latency.
 
I tend to run it straight out of my interface but it has a direct-monitoring option if there's too much latency. I run with a very small buffer most of the time so latency is a non-issue as long as I keep the track count small and the effects minimal.
 
Do you run your headphones out of your computer from the DAW while playing so you can hear or out of your mixer/digital interface?

When recording, I usually plug the cans into my R16. When mixing/editing, I use the speakers connected to my iMac. I rarely have to align tracks after recording, but when I have had to it's in the area of 10-20ms.
 
I agree with @bobdadruma. I use an ART HeadAmp with my Interfaces. I like the fact that if others are joining me in the studio, I can connect 6 people but, You can also set independent Bass, Treble, Balance and Volume levels. Plus, (not sure what software you are using?) but, in my case, using Studio 1, I can then set the individual mix for each person. Even if you are working alone writing, you can then mix the song to your ear. No latency either.

"G"
 

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Headphones plug into direct monitoring from my Roland Studio Capture USB interface. No latency.
http://www.rolandus.com/products/studio-capture/

Flexible Monitor Mixing with Effects

Beyond traditional audio interfacing, STUDIO-CAPTURE offers four independent Direct Mixers for zero-latency monitoring, operated via the software control panel. Powered by STUDIO-CAPTURE’s internal DSP, each mix can be routed to any of the outputs, perfect for sending custom monitor mixes to headphones, speakers, or recording devices. Mix configurations can be saved for later use, providing quick setups for many different applications. A high-quality reverb processor is available for monitoring, allowing singers and instrumentalists to record dry tracks while listening to great-sounding ambience effects.
 
Just want to elaborate a bit more.
Kona is making a drum cover to a dreamless track.

I do this as follows;

I connect the USB interface/mixer to my computer and I open a project in GarageBand. My headphone amp is plugged into the interface/mixer and I assign the monitor out to come from the interface/mixer

I create a stereo track in GarageBand for the music that I am playing along with and I drag the play along song into the stereo track that I assigned it to.

I then create two separate mono tracks for the left and right channels of the drums in the project. These are the tracks that I will record the drums on.

I press the button on the drum tracks to arm them for record. I press the monitor button for all the tracks.
I press record and I play along with the prerecorded tune that is being played by GarageBand as I record my drumming at the same time. At this point I am playing to a rough mix. I set the levels so that I can easily hear the tune that I am playing to and my drums.

When I am finished I mix the levels, EQ, effects, etc in GarageBand and I save the finished tune as an AAC file or an MP3 file.
 
Last edited:
Just want to elaborate a bit more.
Kona is making a drum cover to a dreamless track.

I do this as follows;

I connect the USB interface/mixer to my computer and I open a project in GarageBand. My headphone amp is plugged into the interface/mixer and I assign the monitor out to come from the interface/mixer

I create a stereo track in GarageBand for the music that I am playing along with and I drag the play along song into the stereo track that I assigned it to.

I then create two separate mono tracks for the left and right channels of the drums in the project. These are the tracks that I will record the drums on.

I press the button on the drum tracks to arm them for record. I press the monitor button for all the tracks.
I press record and I play along with the prerecorded tune that is being played by GarageBand as I record my drumming at the same time. At this point I am playing to a rough mix. I set the levels so that I can easily hear the tune that I am playing to and my drums.

When I am finished I mix the levels, EQ, effects, etc in GarageBand and I save the finished tune as an AAC file or an MP3 file.

Thanks for the explanation Bob. Now I just need to find those settings in the DAW's I'm trying to use DOH! Like I said this is all new to me.
 
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