[mjslakeridge]

Here is how I get around the latency issue when recording vocals. I use one of the aux sends on my mixer to send a dry vocal signal to my headphone distribution amp. (Furman HDX-6). If we want reverb on the vocals in the headphone mix, I'll patch in an external reverb unit (Lexicon). The dry vocal signal goes into Pro Tools. I mute the vocal signal coming out of Pro Tools so that the singer only hears the remaining tracks in what I call the "tape" channel in the headphone mix. He/she can separately adjust the volume of the vocal and everything else by turning knobs on the Furman Headphone Remote Mixing Station located in the vocal booth.

I have a dinosaur of a PT computer, and am using a pretty old version of Pro Tools, but with this setup, I don't need to use a low sample buffer when tracking, and there is no latency to the vocal signal heard in the headphone mix. I use the same setup when tracking guitar overdubs.