Embarrasingly simple question about recording / headphone level?

[Soundburst]

Hey everyone,

Just a quick question.

Say you've got a mix going on in your control room, the level down the cue to the recording booth translates well to the headphones. You've set your talkback level so its comfortable, and everything is grand.

The recording level in Pro Tools is spot on - HOWEVER, the artist want's more of their microphone feed in their ear. You go up to 12dB on the headphone send from their record track and it's better - but not enough.

Is there a way to increase this further without sticking all the other headphone sends down 10dB, turning down your talkback, and getting them to turn their headphone preamp up?

Thanks!

[Stig Eliassen]

If this can't be controlled via hardware, I'd probably use the Trim plugin.

[Soundburst]

Originally Posted by Stig Eliassen

If this can't be controlled via hardware, I'd probably use the Trim plugin.

That would affect the record track I'm recording to as well as the send though wouldn't it?

[Stig Eliassen]

Originally Posted by Soundburst

That would affect the record track I'm recording to as well as the send though wouldn't it?

You can pull the master fader down by the same amount to maintain the level in the control room. The caveat is that inserts on MFs are post-fader.

Maybe I don't understand what you want to achieve?

[Soundburst]

Originally Posted by Stig Eliassen

You can pull the master fader down by the same amount to maintain the level in the control room. The caveat is that inserts on MFs are post-fader.

Maybe I don't understand what you want to achieve?

I essentially want a way of boosting the headphone send on the rec track past 12dB.

As a test - I've turned up the Cue Output on the hardware, so that the headphone send (at 0dB) is a comfortable level in the headphone - BUT this means dropping the headphone sends on all the other tracks going to the headphones by 20dB to avoid blowing the artist away.

[Meads]

Why don't you bus all sends except for the artists mic to an aux before sending it to the cue? That way you can control every send individually on the track and all sends as a group on the aux.

[Soundburst]

Originally Posted by Meads

Why don't you bus all sends except for the artists mic to an aux before sending it to the cue? That way you can control every send individually on the track and all sends as a group on the aux.

Then just drop the AUX by 20dB? Thanks for this.

I'm just at a loss as to why this needs to be done - I'm not sure why the headphone send would be so quiet as no one else seems to have the issue

Cheers!

[Stig Eliassen]

I stopped feeding talents with alternate cue mixes. After some experimenting, I found it more convenient to hear what they hear, ish. If a singer wants to sound quiet or loud during a session, fine by me. It actually helped me in understanding how various artists think and perceive themselves.

YMMV.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Stig Eliassen

If this can't be controlled via hardware, I'd probably use the Trim plugin.

Originally Posted by Soundburst

That would affect the record track I'm recording to as well as the send though wouldn't it?

No, plugins on audio tracks are post fader. So inserting a Trim on the recording track will solve your problem.

[Meads]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

No, plugins on audio tracks are post fader. So inserting a Trim on the recording track will solve your problem.

No they are not. Inserts are post clip gain/pre fader on audio tracks.