How to solo tracks without compromising headphone mixes/sends?

[rafesco]

Hi!

 

I've been doing some live sessions in my studio lately and I've come across a problem that is really making me want to switch to Pro Tools for live sessions.

 

I've arranged the project perfectly, all the sends are in place, a few sends to effects (reverbs, delays etc), and separated sends to headphone outputs, so that the musicians can hear themselves and make their own mixes in their respective hearback systems in the live room. Sometimes, I want to solo a track and check what's going on with it, but by doing that, automatically all the other sends in the other tracks are muted, and the musicians can't hear themselves anymore.

 

Is there a way to solo a track without compromising the headphone sends so that the musician's mixes aren't affected? In Pro Tools, when I solo a track, the sends from the others aren't muted, and this is a pretty crucial issue for me, which is making everything a lot harder. Also, if I accidentally solo a track (either by clicking the solo button or pressing the S shortcut by mistake), I could pretty much ruin the performance.

 

I wish there was a "solo safe" option for sends or something like that.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

 

Rafael

[DanRad]

This is a great question. I too set up headphone mix coming out of Logic. would it be setting headphones "pre fader?"

 

DanRad

[rafesco]

Unfortunately setting those headphone mix sends to pre fader doesn't solve the problem. When a track is muted in Logic, all of its respective sends are muted aswell. This is probably why the Solo button works like that.

 

There must be an option that I'm missing, otherwise Logic is very limited for recording sessions...

[fuzzfilth]

Yes, Solo Safe for Sends is sorely missing and would be very useful in other scenarios too. Go and file a feature request here https://www.apple.com/feedback/logic-pro.html

 

Thinking of it, what's actually missing is a monitoring section, with AFL and PFL busses, but don't hold your breath on that.

 

That being said, I haven't used Solo during a take for 30+ years. It completely ruins the vibe, it scares artists in the room, producers hate it, A&R guys (or even worse - girlfriends) that somehow sneaked their way into the session think something's broken. You're not showing off your audio expertise with this either, on the contrary, you're getting in the way of the music, and massively so. In essence - you're not listening to the performance (except the one solo-ed thing) so who in the room could even tell if it was a good take or not ? This is why I never use Solo during a recording.

[DanRad]

I haven't used solo during a take in 25 years.. but that's only because I've been using logic that long. In the Analogue days, I used it all the time for various reasons. I can think of many reasons why I would need it, for example if I'm not recording yet and am doing run throughs, to do some EQ or other things and not disturb the finicky talent....

[rafesco]

Yes, Solo Safe for Sends is sorely missing and would be very useful in other scenarios too. Go and file a feature request here https://www.apple.com/feedback/logic-pro.html

 

Thinking of it, what's actually missing is a monitoring section, with AFL and PFL busses, but don't hold your breath on that.

 

That being said, I haven't used Solo during a take for 30+ years. It completely ruins the vibe, it scares artists in the room, producers hate it, A&R guys (or even worse - girlfriends) that somehow sneaked their way into the session think something's broken. You're not showing off your audio expertise with this either, on the contrary, you're getting in the way of the music, and massively so. In essence - you're not listening to the performance (except the one solo-ed thing) so who in the room could even tell if it was a good take or not ? This is why I never use Solo during a recording.

 

I disagree with you and I do have several reasons to need that solo during a recording session, but this discussion is not the point of this topic. And yeah, the AFL and PFL buses are really missed in Logic. Wish Apple did something about that to give Logic more flexibility when used for recording sessions.

 

I already submitted the feedback, but thanks for your reply!

 

I haven't used solo during a take in 25 years.. but that's only because I've been using logic that long. In the Analogue days, I used it all the time for various reasons. I can think of many reasons why I would need it, for example if I'm not recording yet and am doing run throughs, to do some EQ or other things and not disturb the finicky talent....

 

Thank you! I guess there's no solution for what I'm looking for, then.

 

Anyway, thanks for taking your time guys!

[triplets]

Using solo during a recording is natural workflow when you have a mixing desk and the DAW is the tape machine.

You only affect monitoring stage and you don't ruin the recording.

[fuzzfilth]

I disagree with you

That's perfectly fine. Workflows are there to be challenged and if they come out winning, all the better.

 

AFL and PFL buses are really missed in Logic. Wish Apple did something about that

As I said, it's unlikely, since it requires an entirely new concept of a monitoring layer and that is a can of worms to design, implement, and deliver properly. However, Solo Safe for Sends seems quite reasonable since the code is there already in Solo Safe for Channels, and would accomplish the same goal.