MOTU 828 / Ableton Live / New Mic Pre-Amp? / Vocal question

DLuv · Post by **DLuv** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 3:43 pm

hi all.

i'm using a motu828 and ableton live. when i record (and in order to not yell of course and max out the mic), I have the mic input gain a little less than 12 O'Clock if that makes sense, more like 11:45.

Anyway, so that makes my vocals not max out which is cool.

BUT, when I try to turn up the main or monitor volume on the motu so I can just increase my vocals in my headphones, all I'm really doing is turning up the mix of course. So, I can never really manipulate my vocals aside from the track/music. This is a problem because I feel like I'm yelling on the mic almost because I'm not hearing myself as much as I would like.

Do I need to get a different pre-amp or what? Hopefully this all makes sense, just wanted to run it by you all as you know what you're talking about. Thanks guys.

m2 · Post by m2 » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:07 am

Perhaps look to using the auxs on your board to set up and send a monitor mix to your headphone amp that is a separate mix. Pretty standard fair.

If that's not possible then how about submixing groups in the project file. That way you can turn off the automation on the 'kit' group, as well as the 'Guitar' group 'Strings' etc. then you can throttle those down so the vocal return as you are recoring will be loud enough for you to hear. Also try just soloing only that which you need to hear to sing your part. I once recorded a pass of guitar by just listing to click and bass in the cue. It was a grest way to zero in on my preformance without all this other stuff in the cans.

Good luck!

DLuv · Post by **DLuv** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:20 am

m2 wrote:Perhaps look to using the auxs on your board to set up and send a monitor mix to your headphone amp that is a separate mix. Pretty standard fair.

If that's not possible then how about submixing groups in the project file. That way you can turn off the automation on the 'kit' group, as well as the 'Guitar' group 'Strings' etc. then you can throttle those down so the vocal return as you are recoring will be loud enough for you to hear. Also try just soloing only that which you need to hear to sing your part. I once recorded a pass of guitar by just listing to click and bass in the cue. It was a grest way to zero in on my preformance without all this other stuff in the cans.

Good luck!

thanks man. I guess my problem is just adjusting volumes/tracks, etc so I can hear myself. I'm just getting started/learning to hear myself in the headphones too so for each beat I'll have to adjust accordingly. Thanks again man.