Monitoring/Recording

[Moj]

Hello all...
I've been a hobby user of Mixbus for a couple of years. It's the only DAW I've used, and I love it. Usually I record drums, then add bass, guitar, etc., one at a time directly through a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Lately, after recording a few tracks, my girlfriend has been adding vocals. I'm having problems figuring out how to adjust the levels of each instrument in her headphones without altering the rough mix I have going in the Mixer. I read about Foldback Sends and cannot seem to get the hang of it. I'm trying to get only a couple of the recorded tracks sent to the headphones. I seem to be hearing all the tracks, not just the ones i sent to the Foldback.
After I gave up on the Foldbacks, I tried sending all tracks to a Mixbus , soloing that Mixbus, then using the sends from each of the sent tracks to adjust their volumes. It seemed to work, but it I'm pretty sure I'm missing something (probably easy).

Thanks in advance.

[Dingo]

Hi Moj welcome to the Mixbus Forum....
I would go back and have another pass on Foldback buss.
Normally a Foldback buss is used on interfaces with more than two outs.
On my 18i20 I would send Mixbus Monitor outs to channels 1 & 2 and use outs 7 & 8 to feed a studio headphone mix fed from a foldback buss.
In your case you could over patch the Mixbus Monitor outs with Foldback buss outs to your Hardware.
That way you can keep your Mixer balance and setup a good vocal mix via the Foldback buss. 
When done just re-patch the Monitor outs to your hardware.

   

In the example above I created a simple mono Foldback going to the equal of a 2i2 interface.
If your 2i2 is 3rd gen, you can also use (I think ??) Focusrite Control app to setup direct mixes of the mics and Mixbus Foldback into the headphones / main speakers.

[Moj]

Hey Dingo, thanks for the quick reply.

Bear with me...some of the terminology confuses me. When you say "over patch the Mixbus monitor outs with Foldback buss outs", how do i do that? Is that in EDIT: preferences, let mixbus do the monitoring? And how do I get to that window in your attachment? I don't mind tweaking on it for a while, that's usually how i figure things out.
It is a 3rd gen Scarlett, but I have not explored the Focusrite Control either.

Thanks again.

[Dingo]

Sorry I will try and clarify. 
Window/Audio Connections Manager (or Control+P) opens the ACM window where you can 'patch' or 'route' audio signals from various Sources (Left hand column ) to various Destinations (Bottom Row).
Both Sources and Destinations have Tabs for Busses, Inputs, Hardware and Misc.
Normally the Source / Mixbus Busses= Monitor Outs (if using the monitor strip) or Master Outs (If not) would be patched to the Destination = Hardware Inputs 1+2.
Alternately you could deselect the Monitor/Master outs (click on green dot to remove) and patch/route (click on intersecting box) the Foldback Buss out to the Hardware Inputs 1+2. Foldback Busses will appear at the bottom of Sources/Mixbus Busses.

https://rsrc.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus...ons-window

[Moj]

Thanks for the extra clarification Dingo.
I will try and figure it out tomorrow after work.
I really appreciate the help.

[PBuryk]

@Moj -
I've dealt with your exact same issue a couple months ago.
Although the procedure, provided by Dingo (He's a Mixbus Wizard!) does work in a pinch,
I found that a better solution (better from my client's perspective, that is) was to upgrade to the
Focusrite Scarlett 4i4. This provided the extra (2) outputs that was needed to implement a modest
"full-time" foldback bus monitor. You might want to consider this if you will be doing a lot more
vocal tracking in the future. Check out the Focusrite WebSite [ https://focusrite.com/en/usb-audio-inter...arlett-4i4 ]
for more info (and other products).

Cheers!
Patrick

[Dingo]

@moj there is perhaps an easier way for you to do this. 
Track / Mixtools / Store Mixer settings will allow you to save and recall different mixer settings.
So you could do a save of your rough mix settings, then modify to suit your vocalists needs then save that as overdubs or whatever.
You can then flip between mixer settings easily and does not change anything in the Edit page.
https://rsrc.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus.../mix-tools

[Moj]

Dingo,
Thanks!!! I got the Foldback Buss to work. I have not tried recording with it yet, I assume the track being recorded will have to be included.
And the Mix Tools / Store Mixer settings seems fine too. That could come in handy for different mixes of a song. I'm grateful for your time and knowledge and
helping me improve my workflow in this awesome program!

Patrick, thanks for the recommendation. For now I'm happy with the Scarlett 2i2, but when the time comes to replace it, I will most likely get a bigger Scarlett.

I've read many threads on these forums since getting Mixbus, and it's great to finally get such friendly help so fast. Thanks!

[Dingo]

I assume the track being recorded will have to be included.

You should use the direct mix function to feed the vocal mic to the vocalists headphones so they don't hear the latency through Mixbus.
You can mute the vocal channel in Mixbus whilst recording, and unmute if you want to playback and check.
Have a look at Focusrite control it allows you to change the headphone mix of vocal mic and Mixbus playback without changing the levels you are recording.

https://focusrite.com/en/focusrite-control

And the Mix Tools / Store Mixer settings seems fine too. That could come in handy for different mixes of a song.

Yes it can, but also have a look at snapshots for that kind of total flexibility because Mixer recalls do not save/recal plugins, only the fader pan mute assign states.

https://rsrc.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus...-snapshots

[Moj]

More awesome information...Thanks! When I recorded her vocals previously, I have to go back and line her vocal track back up with the music. I'm used to doing that. Does your direct monitoring suggestion alleviate that?