I can't hear my voice while recording vocals with MBox 2 Pro

[ruper]

Hi all:

I was using an old MBox and I didn't have any problem to adjust the volume in the headphones higher than that of the mix, so that I could hear my voice while I was recording a vocal.

I recently bought an MBox 2 Pro, and I have not been able to figure out how to hear my voice louder that the mix in the headphones. If I turn the volume of the headphone louder then the mix also goes louder and I can't still hear my voice.The result is that I go out of tune since I can't hear my self.

I was thinking to buy a small mixer to blend the two headphone outputs (A & B) into a single one, but sending the output of the track where I an recording the vocals to, through the Output 3-4 at Headphone B.

How do you go about this with the MBox 2 Pro without having to buy extra gear?

There must be a simpler way to do this! It was so simple in the old MBox!

Thanks in advance for your feedback

[stonehenge]

can't you just raise the fader of the track you are recording on?

[huzzam]

What Stonehenge said: just raise the fader for the track you're recording in the mixer.

The difference between the old Mbox & the Mbox 2 Pro is that the Pro doesn't have direct monitoring (for some reason), which is what the old Mix knob controlled. Now everything you hear via the headphones goes through Pro Tools first. This means you have to mix it all in the Pro Tools mixer.

This is also why you may want to either 1) select "low latency monitoring" from the options menu and/or 2) select a low playback buffer size, perhaps 128 samples, in the playback engine window. Since things have to go through PT, there's delay before it gets back out. This can throw you off when tracking. Both of these options can help minimize that delay.

~peter in oakland

[ruper]

Thanks a lot guys. This very useful. I will give it try and may get back for more help!

Thanks again

[albee1952]

And also, make sure you don't accidentally select Input Only monitoring. Raising the fader should do the trick as it has no affect on the recording level. I find pushing it to +9 is about right.

[audiogeekzine]

Originally Posted by albee1952

And also, make sure you don't accidentally select Input Only monitoring. Raising the fader should do the trick as it has no affect on the recording level. I find pushing it to +9 is about right.

do you use the option for separate recording and playback fader levels?

+9 while tracking will be good for the performer, but if you want to play back the take in context with the mix bringing it back to 0 each time and back up to +9 for the next take is annoying, no?

Also pushing the fader to +9 will probably show clipping on the meters so you can't rely on them.

[ruper]

Hi:

Thanks for your input. Where is the option for separate recording and playback faders?

[irishharry]

There are no recording faders. The fader always controls the sound that is playing back to you. It wont effect the recorded level whatsoever. Your recording level is only set by the input knob on your Mbox

[albee1952]

irishharry spelled it out nice and clear. As long as the meters are in Pre-fader(they are by default) then the meter will show accurate recording level, regardless of the fader setting. I simply leave the fader at +9 until the track is fully recorded and drag it back to -0 when I am ready to start editing. mixing and adding plugins. In 5 years, this has never been an issue with any client.