What are you guys doing for talkback with drummers?

[006]

As the title says

Looking for a good talkback solution... better than a mic that is constantly on in the other room that I have to crank to hear the drummer talk (because they never put their mouth near the damn thing), and then they complain because the drums are loud in their headphones, so I am having to flip the pad on and off every time we want to talk.

Anything better than that would be nice

 

[Sloan]

can't you hear the drummer fine through the the overheads?

 

[AllanD]

Usually I record drums with 0 effects on, so I just turn on a limiter with the gain pushed on the overhead tracks when I'm talking to him. Don't forget to turn it off though before he starts playing

 

[006]

@Sloan: Well I use SDC's and they are pointed away from the drummer, so no.

@Allan: Hmm, I track at 2048 though, so there would be a considerable latency. I don't care about that, but musicians generally focus on stupid shit that doesn't matter, like that. I also record with 0 effects on the way in.

 

[AllanD]

Interesting, why do you track at that latency?

 

[006]

So I don't have to switch to it when I go to mix. Cubase compensates.

 

[OneDaySky]

You checked out the 'Presonus Central Station?'

 

[MetalSound]

i use a sm58 with a cheap behringer comp slammed to the max routed through my mixing desk. the channel is turned on when i want to listen what those guys have to say (not too often ).

 

[tempe]

I use a centre overhead that's quite compressed on the way in, and have a separate headphone send for the drummer.

 

[BLUElightCory]

I use the Massey "Talkback" plug-in. You have to hunt for it because it's not an official release. It mutes the channel it's on when you hit "play" or "record." I put it on my control mic and on the drummer's mic, that way when playback/recording stops, the mics open up so we can talk, and then automatically mutes when I hit play/record.

You can also stripe a track with white noise or a sine wave, and sidechain it to a noise gate to do the same thing (so the gate mutes when you hit play/record and send the white noise to the gate's key input).

 

[Sloan]

^hmm, that's nice.

 

[::XeS::]

I usually use a spare mic in the controll room for myself and I raise the master volume when the drummer speaks so I can hear what he's saying

 

[heshian46]

I use the Massey "Talkback" plug-in. You have to hunt for it because it's not an official release. It mutes the channel it's on when you hit "play" or "record." I put it on my control mic and on the drummer's mic, that way when playback/recording stops, the mics open up so we can talk, and then automatically mutes when I hit play/record.

You can also stripe a track with white noise or a sine wave, and sidechain it to a noise gate to do the same thing (so the gate mutes when you hit play/record and send the white noise to the gate's key input).

Is this plug only for Mac?

 

[Charlie E.]

You checked out the 'Presonus Central Station?'

That's what I use. Just wish I had the remote for it cuz I'm lazy.

 

[Trevoire520]

Massey talkback plug is great for this. Switches off the mic when playing/recording, and I'm pretty sure you can set it to mute when the volume reaches a certain threshold, so if the drummer starts bashing on the kit you wont get your ears exploded.

 

[TheSweetener]

This is the hardware version. that's what I use:
http://www.thirdfloorlab.de/products_s4u.php