sharing headphone mixes

[thingsbreak]

I'm wondering how common it is for multiple musicians to be sharing the same headphone mix or do most of you have fully discreet mixes for each player - (and in stereo or just mono?)

[skatingbasser]

I'm assuming you mean in the studio, right? Depends on the studio. If they've got a board with two mixes the band's getting two mixes. In a PT-based you can copy paste mixes for each individual and then tweak them. Some places have the super cool controls that allows the artist to control the mix themselves, you just have to label them clearly enough for a 5 year old to read.

[rlg]

I actually use the Presonus HP60 for artist headphone mixes. Each channel has a "more me" input, so I send the stereo mix as the main "A" source, and use auxes to send each artist's individual signals to the more me inputs. Then I can mix between the stereo tracks and the artist signals for each channel to taste.

[Kronos147]

I use Pro Tools busses to go to an Aux track for each cue I need. The Aux track then uses the hardware outs to send the stereo signal to a power amp (I use some Carver PCM60's). I use the Furman HR-2 headphone stations with that and I can daisy chain and such.

At some point it would be nice to upgrade the Furman boxes. I have heard some custom ones that were really smooth. The Furmans are a little harsh and brittle in comparison.

[The Reel Thing]

i have a trident s140 monitor matrix, that mixes 8 separate inputs to 8 different headphone mixes. cool sounding box, and the musicians like being able to make their own mix.

funny thing, whenever i have sensible musicians working in the room and i check the monitors afterwards, the mix is virtually the same on all outputs - a nice and clear monitor mix of what was going on.

so the conclusion is, for the good musicians one monitor mix would be just fine.

if i check the mixes of the ones that took ages to get done with their mix, 90% of the time they sound totally crappy and all you hear is the instrument of the musician who played it. well...

tom

analoghaus :: studio label verlag - home

[Benmrx]

We've got the Furman HDS-6 system here with (5) HR-6 "remote mixing stations". The Furman has 1 stereo input and 4 mono inputs, which I'll feed from PT aux sends.

During basic tracking, I'll usually send drums + talkback to the stereo input, and bass, guitar, vox, keys (or 2nd guitar) to the 4 mono inputs. If there's a click track I'll usually send it to its own mono input, so the guitarist doesn't have to get killed by the click, but the drummer can blast it in his phones.

Come overdub time, I put the entire mix on the stereo input, and what-ever the current overdub being done is on one of the mono inputs.

They really do make my life quite a bit easier in regards to building headphone mixes and keeping the talent happy. Although I do have to agree with an above post in that they're not the cleanest headphone amps. Definatly on the brittle side.

[warhead]

I can only assume Mackie discontinued the HMX56 (which I use daily and love) for some stupid reason as it is the absolute handiest headphone mixer I've ever used (I'm sure there are others out there I need to investigate that do similar things). The problem with "more me" headphone mixes is I generally find it's not so much more me but "less somebody else". The HMX56 allows 4 aux inputs as well as the stereo mix for full tweakage on every channel. Ever since I incorporated this setup (I typically have drums, bass, gtr, vox broken out into the aux inputs) I actually get comments from band members who say their monitor mix is so perfect that they are playing better.

It's the most important mix decision you can make really, the monitor mix!

War

[Crabgrass]

Originally Posted by warhead

War

I couldn't agree more. Why did they discontinue it? I was lucky to find one a couple of weeks ago.

HMX56 plus six sets of the Equation headphones that you recommended (great service from Front End by the way) and you are pretty well set for about $300. Good call on the cans War, they are easier on my ears than many other high end phones that I own.

Roscoe

[Benmrx]

I had (still have actually) the Oz Audio version of the Mackie unit. Pretty much the exact same deal. 4 Mono "injects", and 1 stereo main feed. The Oz also has an efx loop for having a dedicated reverb for your headphone mixes....not sure if the Mackie does.

The only issue for me with the Oz, was that I pretty much had to have the unit in the control room, and always ended up needing extremely long headphone extension cables to run to the actual headphones. It never worked having the unit in the tracking room, because then you usually end up having 1 band member having to tweak everyones mixes, because the unit had so many cables plugged into it, it had to be fairly staionary. Became a real pain when that stationary unit was on the other side of the room when doing overdubs.

With the Furman system, it's patched the exact same way (4 mono, 1 stereo), but now each artist has full control of their own mix, on a headphone mixer attached to a mic stand right next to them. Plus there's less cabling involved (thanks to the CAT-5 cables the Furman system uses), and no more headphone extension cables (thank god!).

[joelpatterson]

Originally Posted by Benmrx

... the Oz Audio version ....

That's what I've got, the HM-6 Q-Mix, with four injects and you can give each player their own dose of a stereo reverb... and I broke down and went and got Mogami headphone extension cords, and man does it sound good, really quantifiably better, wider and much more immediate. The guys come out of the booth, shaking their heads... they mutter their astonishment about "the microphone," meaning the whole monitoring chain, and it strikes me-- it is a MUCH more enthusiastic musician who is listening to themselves through gear and headphones. Than just the sound out in the air.

I thought originally with these acoustic groups, naturally they would rather just hear themselves as naturally as possible, in the open air, but no no no, they all love the sizzle and steak of the headphone mix with a splash of reverb, the carnival ride.

[Podgorny]

I prefer the stereo mix.
Musicians seem to perform better with them.

[Nu-tra]

I've got the hear systems set up. I nub it! We all got sick of sharing the same mix and now everyone can quit whining and mix everything themselves

[psycho_monkey]

At 2 of the studios I work at we've got the hearback system...it works pretty well, if a little more hassle to set up than just running cues.

Without this, it's 2 stereo cues (in the neve rooms) or 1 stereo and 1 mono (you can fudge this into stereo) in the SSL rooms.

Usually though, once you get into the "one person overdub" situation, it's easier just to send the main mix to the cues and not worry about anything else.

Occasionally venturing onto the other side of the glass reminds you how important a good headphone mix is.

[thingsbreak]

thanks - the Furman things seem like a great idea and the Cat5 cabling would save a lot of hassle.
I recommend a lot to people (especially singers) to try 1 ear off and usually they end up liking it better and can help with pitch problems too - the only problem is a bit more bleed gets picked up.
I had heard of some headphones that cut the signal when not on your head - does anyone know what those are?

[stagefright13]

I use a 24 channel Mackie for monitor mix. That way it can be tweaked by whoever is up. That is normally 1 person. Or a couple vocalists. And it has eq and 6 sends. I also got some lower priced verbs patched in. And that can be tweaked as well.

The monitor mix I think is very important! And only the person on point really knows how they want it. Even a small 8 or 12 channel mixer would be fine.

[ITJ]

Originally Posted by Podgorny

I prefer the stereo mix.
Musicians seem to perform better with them.

I couldn't agree more. 1 stereo mix for all.
The trick is to provide a good mix. Go listen in their environment with headphones and make the proper adjustments.

[warhead]

Originally Posted by Crabgrass

I couldn't agree more. Why did they discontinue it? I was lucky to find one a couple of weeks ago.

HMX56 plus six sets of the Equation headphones that you recommended (great service from Front End by the way) and you are pretty well set for about $300. Good call on the cans War, they are easier on my ears than many other high end phones that I own.

Roscoe

Glad you are enjoying those EP3070 headphones, they are the greatest inexpensive headphone going right now...!

I have no idea why Mackie does a lot of things, but that one was especially a stumper...

War