Setting up a monitor bus?

Hey guys. I've got an issue. My monitors are WAY too loud. I don't want to mess with the Master bus and fiddling with the knobs on the back of the monitors is annoying and leads to inaccurate stereo levels. So I want to create a monitoring bus system of some sort to control the levels hitting my speakers. I know it sounds simple but as a n00b I'm not sure the proper way to go about this. My two ideas are to route every track to the bus (which would be kind of a pain) or route the master to it. Any tips? I'd also appreciate a couple of recommendations on cost effective monitor/headphone controllers for when I have a little extra money in the future (like the Mackie Big Knob but less expensive... I'm thinking around $100). Cheers.

Thanks, Razorwit. I'll give it a go. I wasn't sure if it would be possible with the Master or if it would give misleading results. I definitely need to get some kind of monitor control hardware but I am completely out of cash after all these purchases. Maybe I can find an extremely basic control (just volume) for under $50 and get something nicer later on. I don't actually like the idea of using a bus for this because one wrong click of the mouse and I could end blasting my face off or even blowing the speakers but it'll have to do for now. Cheers.

Beepster

Maybe I can find an extremely basic control (just volume) for under $50 and get something nicer later on. I don't actually like the idea of using a bus for this because one wrong click of the mouse and I could end blasting my face off or even blowing the speakers but it'll have to do for now. Cheers. 

Hi Beepster,
Yep, you've hit on the nose why most folks use hardware to control monitor volume. The thought of a wrong mouse click or a computer problem sending monitor-destroying amounts of volume through my Focals makes me cry a bit on the inside. It's a deep hole though...you can spend lots of cash on it...just as you can on pretty much any other piece of studio gear.

It really is too bad buying studio gear is so fun :)

Good luck,
Dean

John


You already have one. If you have a master buss simply adjust the level on the  main outs. I wouldn't recommend this normally in your case though as you describe it you will use the master buss for a future mix down so the main outs can serve as a level control for your monitors. The master buss will show the true levels.   

This.
You probably have the "Mains" HW faders hidden. Just show them in the console view menu and adjust the output level there.

@Razorwit... yeah I completely overlooked this angle of things. I used to just adjust my volume with my power amp or the mixer but in this set up I won't have either of those (don't want any coloration). SOMEBODY must make a simple balanced line in/out with a volume knob on it for under $50. Jeez... I could probably make one myself and I hardly know anything about electronics. I wouldn't trust anything I soldered myself with this gear though... lol.

There is a separator bar between the tracks and the buses plus one between the buses and the main outs. Slide it over to the left to see it.

thats the one i use(the one with the picture of the speaker)
and sometimes at a rare situatation if your using windows 7
as chregg stated you can right click on the speaker in your taskbar/out of that list choose "playback devices"
that will bring up the menu chregg was showing.

but most volume level can be controled by the main out
(the faders to the far right in the photo john posted)

my v studio has a controler to adjust this as well as the master and faders 1-8,i use another controler for tracks 9-16.
so as you can see some of us have elaborate set ups,others just manualy use the main outs.

That is correct if you have a sound card with multiple outs.  Many do. Choose the first one as the main out.

@John... I'm used to my old copy of Nuendo where you have to route all that stuff manually. What say you about this blue fader versus red fader stuff? Is the Blue fader one my actual project bus (ie the one I'd be mixing down from) and if so should I just delete it and create a new one that is actually stereo?

Gah! I deleted the bus and tried to insert a stereo bus but it gave me another single fader channel. I guess I'd better just read up on it. Doesn't really matter for tonight anyway.

@John... Heh, well I do like to amuse. I actually did figure it was something like that and did see the pan control. It's just weird not having the virtual LED strips showing the left/right output. That's kind of what really made me think something was wrong. Anyway right now I'm playing with setting up track folders which I think is REALLY cool. I hate clutter and I will be making constant use of this feature. I only realized it was there from watching the first X1d webinar. I've got one folder with three tracks that I'm gonna build my main percussion section in, a second for rhythm like basslines and other foundation type stuff, a melody folder for... well melody/ornamentation and finally an Extras folder for just whatever other wacky stuff I decide to toss on top. For an OCD freak like me I'm in heaven. :-)

For sure. I think I'm gonna set up a sound cloud account just to toss my experiments at the forum. Cheers.

I have a Mackie Big Knob and I love using it.  Now if you don't want to spend the $299.99 being asked for it, you can get the monitor controller that Behringer recently came out with that mimics the Big Knob and it looks like it too. 

From Behringer

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/CONTROL1USB.aspx
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Sold at bhphotovideo.com for $199.99
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/862107-REG/Behringer_CONTROL1USB_Xenyx_Control1usb_Studio_Com.html


Google the item and see what other information you can find on it.

Peace

@Jesse G... cool. I am going to need one at some point so it's nice to know there are options. Knowing Behringer that device is likely to drop in price soon too. Still aren't many reviews on it yet though but as you said it just came out. However if I were to invest in something that fancy I'd probably just go all in and get the Mackie Big Knob. For now I'm just extremely happy Focustrite put a monitor level knob on the 18i6 because now my problem is solved without having to spend any extra dough. I am soooooo broke now. :-/

@Bapu... now THAT is exactly what I was looking for... but I no longer need one. But with that unit there would not actually be any soldering of cables or buying adapters necessary. I'm not sure if you have the + version of that but they have two multi ins and two 1/4" balanced outs so I could output from the 1/4" analog outs into the multis and then output with 1/4" to the monitors. Seems backwards to me though. I'd rather have the multis on the output so that way I could use the XLR inputs on the monitors. Supposedly that's a better signal.

Whatever... I'm just very happy I don't have to spend any money on this right now AND I don't have to worry about an extra device in my chain potentially coloring my sound or causing other issues. I think me and this Focusrite are gonna get along juuuust fine. Cheers!