Silent rehearsal space

[Stratzrus]

I live in a duplex house and need to rig my rehearsal space for silent practice.

I'll be using my Axe FX III or FM9 with a Rivera Suprema Jazz Recording using the Fractal gear in the 4CM. Electronic drums with a direct out and a Fender Rumble Bass amp with a direct out and Electronic keyboards as well.

I assume I'll need some kind of mixer and something for headphone distribution to four musicians. I want to keep the noise level of the mixer and headphone amp to a minimum. Total cost for both not to exceed $1,500 if at all possible.

Any suggestions or recommendations you may have would be greatly appreciated. I have a month to pull this together.

Thanks.

 

[ericbr1]

I live in a duplex house and need to rig my rehearsal space for silent practice.

I'll be using my Axe FX III or FM9 with a Rivera Suprema Jazz Recording using the Fractal gear in the 4CM. Electronic drums with a direct out and a Fender Rumble Bass amp with a direct out and Electronic keyboards as well.

I assume I'll need some kind of mixer and something for headphone distribution to four musicians. I want to keep the noise level of the mixer and headphone amp to a minimum. Total cost for both not to exceed $1,500 if at all possible.

Any suggestions or recommendations you may have would be greatly appreciated. I have a month to pull this together.

Thanks.

Assuming you guys already have your IEM's or Headphones, you sure don't need to spend 1500.00. BUT, I don't know if you don't have a mixing board already for gigs? I have about 7, too many!) Anyway, if it's for gigs as well as your silent practice, if you're using IEM;'s, you probably just use mono mixes, and you can use a small (great) digital mixer like the Allen & Heath CQ12t. https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=cq12t There are 6 mono aux outs, excellent built in fx, and beautiful sound quality. It's 900.00 brand new and can be used on stage as well as your silent practice. You won't need a separate headphone amp if you're using IEM's. If you're using Headphones, , you might look at something like this MOTO Monitor 8, that's fancy as hell, guaranteed it will sound great (I haven't used it but have a Motu intfc) That'll run you less than 1000.00 new. https://reverb.com/item/33508709-mo...mixer-headphone-amplifier-and-audio-interface .. . That one can have all stereo mixes if someone needed that, plus would have enough juice to drive all kinds of headphones, if you weren't doing iem's. If you're doing this digitally , factor in a learning curve. With these type of items too , people can control their own mixes. .. If you want to go more expensive, there are hundreds of options of course. If you want to go cheap, use an old Mackie analog mixer and Samson Headphone amp that 'll probably run you 200.00 total these days and work fine!

 

[Stratzrus]

Assuming you guys already have your IEM's or Headphones, you sure don't need to spend 1500.00. BUT, I don't know if you don't have a mixing board already for gigs? I have about 7, too many!) Anyway, if it's for gigs as well as your silent practice, if you're using IEM;'s, you probably just use mono mixes, and you can use a small (great) digital mixer like the Allen & Heath CQ12t. https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=cq12t There are 6 mono aux outs, excellent built in fx, and beautiful sound quality. It's 900.00 brand new and can be used on stage as well as your silent practice. You won't need a separate headphone amp if you're using IEM's. If you're using Headphones, , you might look at something like this MOTO Monitor 8, that's fancy as hell, guaranteed it will sound great (I haven't used it but have a Motu intfc) That'll run you less than 1000.00 new. https://reverb.com/item/33508709-mo...mixer-headphone-amplifier-and-audio-interface .. . That one can have all stereo mixes if someone needed that, plus would have enough juice to drive all kinds of headphones, if you weren't doing iem's. If you're doing this digitally , factor in a learning curve. With these type of items too , people can control their own mixes. .. If you want to go more expensive, there are hundreds of options of course. If you want to go cheap, use an old Mackie analog mixer and Samson Headphone amp that 'll probably run you 200.00 total these days and work fine!

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check them out.

I have a cheap Mackie mixer but it has too much noise, that's why I'm looking for suggestions.

I'll be using headphones, not IEMs.

The Allen & Heath/ MOTU combination sounds great but at $2,000 is over my budget. I'd actually like to keep the total at $1,000 or less so $1,500 is a hard ceiling.

Why couldn't I use the A&H with headphones? Is the output too low? I have a cheap headphone distribution amp. could I use that with the A&H?

 

[ericbr1]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check them out.

I have a cheap Mackie mixer but it has too much noise, that's why I'm looking for suggestions.

I'll be using headphones, not IEMs.

The Allen & Heath/ MOTU combination sounds great but at $2,000 is over my budget. I'd actually like to keep the total at $1,000 or less so $1,500 is a hard ceiling.

Why couldn't I use the A&H with headphones? Is the output too low? I have a cheap headphone distribution amp. could I use that with the A&H?

You don't need both, you'd just buy 1 of these as I was giving 2 different options. . If it was the A&H, you're set for a live mixer as well. I'd just hook the cheap headphone distibution amp up to the A&H, as the 6 outs on the A&H would be mono and if you're using headphones maybe people want a stereo mix? If not, you're probably set just with the A&H by itself. It's extremely quiet and rich sounding. . I have had no noise at all with any of my old mackie mixers, but if yours is noisy that's not good. Btw, the Zoom L12 mentioned on the other forum, sure has everything you want. Very cool. I have no idea how it sounds or how durable it is though.

 

[Stratzrus]

Both sound like very good options. Mono is not a concern since its primary use is for rehearsal.

The Zoom has the more attractive price and is a all in one box solution but I'm guessing that the Allen & Heath sounds better if I'm also using it for recording. I'd like to send its feed to my video camera or DAW so that's a consideration.

 

[Sleezy E]

I achieved this with a behringer xr18 and powerplay pro headphone amp.

It allowed 4 people their own custom mix in stereo. The head phone amp had 3 outs per channel so you could do up to 12 people, but limited to 4 mixes.

 

[unix-guy]

Mono is not a concern since its primary use is for rehearsal.

You might change your mind after you try it...

 

[ragingplatypi]

Mono on headphones makes me sad.

 

[MadMaxG79]

We've been using headphone mixers in the rehearsal space since the original JamHub mixer came out in late 2009.

We've been using the Zoom Livetrak L-20 once a week for the last 3½ years and absolutely love it! I don't thnik it's feature set and user friendliness can be beaten for the price. We've even used it a 24 track audio interface and it works beautifully for that too. Can't say enough good things about it, really.

 

[spawnofthesith]

yeah I'd get an X air with however many inputs you require and that should land you way under budget

 

[MadMaxG79]

We use an X Air in the band at work and as good value as it is, it really is a pain when a mixer doesn't have physical knobs, faders and switches. I hate having to whip out a tablet or phone just to operate the mixer. Maybe I'd feel differently if I always had a tablet in front of me during rehearsals for sheet music, tabs, lyrics, whatever. But I don't.

 

[JasonE]

We use an X Air in the band at work and as good value as it is, it's really is a pain when a mixer doesn't have physical knobs, faders and switches. I hate having to whip out a tablet or phone just to operate the mixer. Maybe I'd feel differently if I always had a tablet in front of me during rehearsals for sheet music, tabs, lyrics, whatever. But I don't.

I am right there with you. I prefer having knobs and faders. I am sure that is from many years using consoles. I have a digital mixer with the knobs and faders and much prefer running on that.

 

[MadMaxG79]

One more thing to OP: You could also just look for a used JamHub on Ebay. They are no longer in production but are really good value for money for the use case you describe. If you only have 4 instruments and don't mind mixing the up to 4 vocals, one for each instrument, with the same level as the individual instrument levels, then you wouldn't need more than a JamHub Bedroom. But I'd probably go for a Greenroom in order to have a little more flexibility.

Roland also made the HS-5 but I have no experience with that unit. Again, no longer in production.

 

[Stratzrus]

I'm leaning toward the Zoom LiveTrak L-12. Five headphones out and USB audio. The price is right and it seems to cover everything I need. If anyone knows any negatives I haven't heard about yet, please let me know.

 

[PatF]

A band I know just bought one of those Zoom's to record drums and they love it.