Raising monitor level during recording

[MrDogBiscuit]

I'm very new to DAW recording and I have likely a simple problem.
I'm running a Roland Studio Capture with reaper into my Macbook pro.
I'm only recording drums at this time.

Everything is working well with playback, but for recording, I can't raise the monitor levels high enough to match what I get on playback.

My phones are output from the interface's direct out jack at this time.

In the simplest sense, I would like to raise the volume in my phones to match the playback so I can hear myself at the same time during playback.

Since I'm very new to this, I fear I might not be able to convey enough appropriate info if presented with a relatively simple question.

As this is my first post, thanks very much in advance!

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by MrDogBiscuit

I'm very new to DAW recording and I have likely a simple problem.
I'm running a Roland Studio Capture with reaper into my Macbook pro.
I'm only recording drums at this time.

Everything is working well with playback, but for recording, I can't raise the monitor levels high enough to match what I get on playback.

My phones are output from the interface's direct out jack at this time.

In the simplest sense, I would like to raise the volume in my phones to match the playback so I can hear myself at the same time during playback.

Since I'm very new to this, I fear I might not be able to convey enough appropriate info if presented with a relatively simple question.

As this is my first post, thanks very much in advance!

Are you sure you're hearing anything at all while you're recording? By default, tracks don't monitor while recording. Make "Monitoring Input" is turned on. Right - Click the speaker icon on each track to see the options.

Go to 2:30 in this video for more info:

http://www.kennymania.com/5-recording-audio/

[ashcat_lt]

Are you trying to use the Roland's own hardware monitoring by turning whatever onob it has on it, or using their software? Reaper just plain can't do anything about that volume, and if you want or need to use that, then you'll probably just have to get a headphone amp.

If your machine is relatively new and your interface is decent, you might be able to get low enough latency to just turn that knob all the way toward "computer" (or whatever, I don't actually know how this thing does it) and then use Reaper's monitoring like Kenny is saying. Drummers are often way more sensitive to latency than sane people ( ), so the only way to know if it will actually work for you is to try it.

[MrDogBiscuit]

Yep, that's generally what I needed! Although the problem with differences in output are still there and might not be fixable without a headphone amp.

Playback volume is still louder than the mic volume when the channels are armed, so I cannot gain match the mics during punch in with the recorded playback volume.

I'm going to try a couple of things to figure out what I'm doing wrong. It might just be that the previous recording was using a higher mic sensitivity.

I'm having a bit of confusion with the interface monitoring, but I can't be clear about it, so I don't want to confuse the issue.

Thanks so much!
The video helps very much, and all the videos have been extremely time saving and very easy to understand.

[ashcat_lt]

Once you're monitoring through Reaper, you've got plenty ways to turn it up. Stick a ReaComp on that track, set the ratio somewhere between 3 and 6, bring down the threshold til it digs in a bit, and click the Automatic Gain Compensation. If that still not loud enough, use the output Gain slider. If that's not enough, stick JS Volume after it. There's lots of gain available there.

None of that will actually get recorded so you don't have to dial it in perfectly, and those plugs are so lightweight you won't possibly notice the CPU load. There's no added latency as long as you leave Pre-Comp at 0.

[MrDogBiscuit]

I'll try that. Thank you!
It'll be a couple of days until I can respond after trying this, but I'm looking forward to it.