Help and advice needed for recording a charity single on Audition…..

[Richard Jay]

Sorry, I forgot to mention – should I let them hear themselves singing through the headphones aswell as the backing track or just the backing track and if I should – how do I do it??

Thanks

Richard

[Willie Toth]

Richard,

OK I will attempt to help you here but I would also suggest reading the help file on a multi track sessions … The headphone issue first … You need to rent purchase or borrow a headphone amp, Here is a link that may help https://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-MINIAMP-AMP800-4Channel-Stereo-Headphone-Amplifier?sku=182040 this will give you the ability to have multi headphones on one output … ALWAYS, I repeat ALWAYS record dry and add any effects after … The reason, if you record with effects you can’t change it … For the basic info on a multi track sessions again I refer you to the help section I can’t suggest this strongly enough it will make helping you much easier … I check the site a couple of times a day so I will help where I can …

WILLIE

[Richard Jay]

Hi Willie, Thanks for your reply. I think I will buy one of the Behringer AMP800 headphone amps as that will come in useful again!

I will read the help section on Audition when I get home later, but in the meantime – is my Soundblaster Audigy capable of doing this job by playing and recording at the same time and multi-tracking as somebody had suggested it might not and I should get a new soundcard, they suggested the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card. Would this be better quality and do the job better than my Audigy?

Thanks again Willie, I will come back after reading the help section on multitracking.

Richard

[Richard Jay]

Sorry Willie, just thought of another question….

My Mixer, Behringer UB2222FX-Pro says it has a 2/2bus, is this the same as an alt3-4 bus? Can I listen to my pc and just send one channel back to the pc to be recorded? The link for mixer is https://www.behringer.com/UB2222FX/index.cfm?lang=ENG

Cheers

Richard

[Willie Toth]

Richard,

OK, your soundcard is just fine, I used a basic soundblaster card for a long time just use the line in and outs … I helped a friend set his studio up with the 3/4 board and it does a nice job … After reading the manual it looks like you should plug the headphone amp into the aux sends 1 refer to 2.3.2 of your manual … The difference between your board and the 3/4 is that you don’t have as many signal paths that you can use … Hope this helps ………… WILLIE

[Richard Jay]

Hi Willie,

Ok, I have now recieved my Behringer HPhone Amp!! Lovely looking piece of kit.

I am having trouble connecting it. I have plugged a pair of headphones directly into the aux send 1 to see exactly what comes out of there and I hear left and right channels combined in my left ear and nothing in the right. Can you see in the manual a stereo output for this application? I have a stereo to 2 mono jack lead and 2 mono to 2 mono jack lead so I can connect either to the headphone amp. I do have a headphone socket on the desk but if I adjust my monitor levels or what is fed to them on the desk this will impact the headphones which ideally I don’t want.

My other option is to feed aux2 to the right channel of the headphones so you hear both channels in both ears (hope that makes sense)!

Any ideas?

Thanks, Rich.

[Willie Toth]

Richard,

The manual says it’s a mono out … I don’t see why you can’t use the Aux 2 out as well … The other option would be using the tape out … Either way you should be good to go ………. WILLIE

[Richard Jay]

Hi Willie

Thanks for all this help, I couldn’t have got this far without it! And I think I’m nearly there now!

I have the headphones working and I have the mixing desk connected and I can record tracks etc. while listening to the PC back through my mixing desk.

I just have a couple more questions, I hope you don’t mind???

1. For a compressor, should I use Audition (if it has one) or use the one built into my mixing desk for the vocals when recording them?

2. Should I have just the backing music in the headphones or let them hear themselves singing aswell as the hearing the backing music?

3. Can I output the track being recorded back to the mixing desk while it is being recorded to play in the main mix and how? At the moment, while a track is being recorded I can only hear the other tracks that have been recorded and the backing music playing – does that make sense?

Thanks again

Rich

[Willie Toth]

Richard,

Outboard compression is a must on vocals, I use a stereo DBX 166 compressor/limitor … I like to run the mic into one channel and then run the output of that channel into the other channel then to my board … You may be wondering why … When a limitor works it’s like a gate opening and closing and if you set it too high you can hear it “breathing” on your recording … Running it like I do means you can get all the limiting and compression you need without hearing it breath … I am not sold on built in compressors but when it’s all you have go for it … Be careful not to compress more then 3 or 4 to 1, even that may be too much … Personally I don’t worry about hearing what I am doing at the time but what is important is hearing what you are playing and or singing to … I think you are ready to really get your feet wet … I’ll be waiting to hear your finished project … Read up on HARD LIMITING it can really be a great friend … Also remember when using verb on vocals unless it is intended for a certain sound you are going for the verb should hardly be detectable when played in the mix … Verb is used to fatten the vocal not overpower the mix …… WILLIE

[Richard Jay]

Cheers Willie

My other 2 questions at the moment were:

1. Should I have just the backing music in the headphones or let them hear themselves singing aswell as the hearing the backing music?

and

2. Can I output the track being recorded back to the mixing desk while it is being recorded to play in the main mix and how? At the moment, while a track is being recorded I can only hear the other tracks that have been recorded and the backing music playing – does that make sense?

Cheers

Richard