Home Studio - Foldback question

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jimi
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Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jimi »

I'm helping a friend convert his home studio from a 4 track Tascam setup to recording on his PC, and have run into trouble getting vocal foldback going.

I've leant him my set up which is very basic; SM58 -> M-Audio Fasttrack -> PC running Audacity, and I have sound coming out via the computer soundcard to the headphones / monitors.

I've never had a need for foldback when Im recording since I just mic my amp, but its needed in his set up. I tried enabling software passthrough, but the latency is way too much. I've read that a sound device with hardware pass-through might sort it.

He'll need to buy his own preamp at some stage, so theres some budget for interface / software. Can anyone recommend a not too expensive home set up that will allow foldback to the headphones along with the tracks that are being recorded over? Being able to switch from headphones to monitors without having to swap the plug behind the PC would be a bonus too.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by Timi »

Set the latency lower in the DAW.
This depends on whether the computer can handle it. If you have a big session with lots of hungry plugins (drum samplers, amp sims, reverbs ect) this may not be an option. However you could print virtual instruments or amp sims to audio tracks then disable them to save power.

Get an interface with direct passthrough.
This allows you to have a high buffer in the DAW but monitor with little/no latency. You mute the track in the DAW and use the direct feed for monitoring, some interfaces do this via an analog blend while others do it with control software with very low latency. Sorry can't name any other than all of the Mboxes.

Second mic and a mixer.
Don't go out and buy this but if you already have them, run the output from the interface into the mixer, mute the vocal in the DAW and put up a second mic straight into the mixer, blend to taste.

Don't use headphones.
You don't have to use headphones when recording vocals. Mute the vocal track and sing with the monitors, you won't need foldback because you will be able to hear yourself (more naturally too). If you solo the vocal you can hear the bleed but it's usually so low that it doesn't cause any problems (although turn off the click track). This is how I record vocals 90% of the time. Cue a bunch of people who've never tried this telling me I'm wrong.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jimi »

Thanks Timi. Sorry, newish to this - the DAW is the recording software Im guessing? Audacity in this case?

I take it that using the fast track as the input and the soundcard as the output that direct passthrough isn't an option - Are there reasonably priced units available that will operate as both audio in and audio out (taking the audio feed from Audacity and mixing it with the vocals to pass to the headphones?)

Otherwise the 2nd mic option sounds like a usable workaround - or possibly a splitter on the single mic? Could probably reuse the 4track as a mixer.

Cheers.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by bender »

Timi wrote: Don't use headphones.
You don't have to use headphones when recording vocals. Mute the vocal track and sing with the monitors, you won't need foldback because you will be able to hear yourself (more naturally too). If you solo the vocal you can hear the bleed but it's usually so low that it doesn't cause any problems (although turn off the click track). This is how I record vocals 90% of the time. Cue a bunch of people who've never tried this telling me I'm wrong.
I record guitars that way too.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jeremyb »

Why aren't you using the output on the fast track?
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jimi »

jeremyb wrote:Why aren't you using the output on the fast track?
I've never done that before, is that an option? Setting the Fasttrack as the Audio out in Audacity and getting a mix of vocal + backing track? Will give it a try.

I did briefly try the headphones into the Fastrack, but I was getting nothing back.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by bender »

You should always set the same device for input ant output.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by sopachrga »

And install Asio audio drivers to get rid of the latency.
http://www.asio4all.com/
Ummm....

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jeremyb »

jimi wrote:
jeremyb wrote:Why aren't you using the output on the fast track?
I've never done that before, is that an option? Setting the Fasttrack as the Audio out in Audacity and getting a mix of vocal + backing track? Will give it a try.

I did briefly try the headphones into the Fastrack, but I was getting nothing back.
Yep it's the way to go, there's a mix dial that needs to be turned up on the fast track to get sound out, caught me out when I first got mine!! Make sure it's using the ASIO driver too, should cut down the latency a fair bit :) There's more tweaks you can do if that's not enough :)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jeremyb »

sopachrga wrote:And install Asio audio drivers to get rid of the latency.
http://www.asio4all.com/


The fast track has an ASIO driver, dunno if the ASIO4ALL one is faster tho', never tried it :)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by Timi »

jeremyb wrote:there's a mix dial that needs to be turned up on the fast track to get sound out
If it has a mix control then it has the ability to blend in the direct signal. Use the fast track for both input and output, mute the vocal track while recording and use the mix knob to blend in some direct vocals which won't be delayed.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jimi »

Cheers guys, will be ideal if it works.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by jeremyb »

Waiting with baited breath, hopefully the awesomeness of NZG has sorted it out!!!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by Capt. Black »

Timi wrote:
jeremyb wrote:there's a mix dial that needs to be turned up on the fast track to get sound out
If it has a mix control then it has the ability to blend in the direct signal. Use the fast track for both input and output, mute the vocal track while recording and use the mix knob to blend in some direct vocals which won't be delayed.
YOU'RE WRONG YOU'RE WRONG YOU'RE WRONG YOU'RE WRONG YOU'RE WRONG

Mono.

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Re: Home Studio - Foldback question

Post by bender »

Welcome back memes.

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