Silent rehearsal advice

[M_K_J]

Hi!
I’m not sure if this is the right place to go, but why not try.

My band and I want to transition from playing out loud, to playing silently through headphones!
The problem is, that none of us really understands a whole lot of the technology behind, haha

We’ve been thinking about purchasing:
- “Behringer Xenyx X2222USB”, as our mixer
- “Behringer HA6000”, as our headphone amplifier

Would we be able to plug instruments and vocals into the mixer, and send it to the headphone amp, where we can plug in headphones?

We are 5 members

 

[AGCurry]

Short answer is yes, it would work, as long as you have electronic drums (assuming a drummer).

You would give up the tone shaping normally provided by your amplifiers, so expect to be less than thrilled with the sounds of your instruments through a mixer designed for microphones. Specialized preamps are made to provide tone shaping for guitars and basses, but these can cost some money.

 

[Tosh]

It appears that mixer does not have instrument-level inputs (Hi-Z) that would allow you to plug a guitar directly into it. For that, you would need to have a Direct Input (DI) box for every guitar.

Keyboards and electronic drums do not need DI boxes - they are line-level.

Also, it helps a lot if all players are using the same type of headphones (but not mandatory)

 

[DirkP]

It wouldn't work in a good way, 'cause whether the mixing desk nor the headphone amp allows individual monitor mixes, so all of you would hear exactly the same mix. There is a reason each musician wants to hear his instrument louder than the other instruments while rehearsing, playing live or recording.
It is comparable to a guitar player standing in front of your bass amp and you standing in front of his guitar amp. Both would constantly turn their amps up and it would just get worse.
A great solution would be a Zoom Livetrak L12 mixer/recorder. They have a standalone feature: 5 individual headphone outputs allowing individual monitor mixes for up to 5 musicians. And you can record your rehearsals on individual tracks on the internal sd card without a computer. For about 500,- very inexpensive. No need for an additional headphone amp.

 

[tothemax]

I have that mixer, and the other posts are pretty much on the money. It's a good value for the money, but you need to understand that the USB out is Stereo not individual channels. If you intend to send your mix to a DAW it will be the mix from the master out. If you want to record individual tracks they will be need to be recorded one track at a time. The Zoom LiveTrak and similar units allow for individual tracks to be sent to a DAW.

As for a headphone mix, everyone will get the same mix off the board or you can create two aux mixes (Aux 3 supports the internal effects). You realize you can daisy chain HA400 units together for a lot less out of pocket. The other unit supports two mixes 8 connections, two of these would do the same for $50 (4 connections each, or 7 connections mix). I have two of them and they work fine.

Behringer | Product | HA400
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Good luck with your venture

 

[hbarcat]

I have the Behringer HA6000 unit and have used it to provide individualized headphone mixes to each band member. That's what it's for.

The good news is that you can use the HA6000 to give everyone in your band individualized headphone mixes by not using the mixer and plugging your instruments directly into the HA6000. You can save your money by not needing to purchase the Xenyx.

This requires that every instrument has a DI or line level output from your amplifiers. I'm going to assume that if you have drums, that they're electronic and have a line level out.

Plug your guitars and bass into your amps but don't use the speakers. You only need the DI outs. Alternatively, you can plug instruments into a Sansamp or similar standalone box and then you don't even need an amp.

The vocals need their own DI box or vocal processor with a line out, or you can use a small 1 or 2 channel mixer just for vocals and then send the mixer output into the HA6000.

You'll need to carefully read the manual for the HA6000 as there are several ways to utilize its inputs, but when hooked up correctly, every band member will be able to hear the entire band mix and also be able to adjust the volume of their own instrument independently in the mix.

If you need help with the details, I can provide some answers.

 

[Krisfield]

The Antelope Zen Tour allows a band to practice silently. It has a total of 8 channels (4 Mic/Line & 4 Line/Instr) of on board DSP for vocal, guitar, bass, etc. The drummer would use MIDI drums or a grid controller. You would use the Behringer HA6000 for headphone distribution. The Zen Tour has two headphones outs, so you can have a seperate mix for those. You can record to a DAW also. It's a bit pricey, but it's very versatile.

 

[SaucyJackBass]

We practice headphone only. Get good isolation headphones to block out drums. I would get a mixer with multiple aux outs so that you can have a couple of headphone apps. As the bass player, I want the bass much higher in the mix and not as much drums as say the drummer.

Lastly, you will need to be able to run Reverb either pre-mixer or within an aux send receiver. A whole practice of dry vocals is horrible.

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