ART Pro Audio HPFX - Headphone Mixer/Amplifier - Manual (Page 9)

OPERATION
Once you have connected the HPFX to your system, familiarize yourself with its controls. Next,
send audio, from your mixer or computer, to the Stereo Mix Inputs and adjust the headphone
output levels for a comfortable monitor level. Then, increase the Mic Level controls until your
vocal sounds balanced in the mix locally. Remember that the full dry microphone signal is still
going out to your mixer or preamp for recording. The mix that you are hearing is only local, so
feel free to experiment with finding a comfortable blend of “you” and the other instruments.
Now that you have a comfortable monitor level, you can experiment with adding effects to your
vocals. Put both effects controls at 12 o’clock, as a starting point and slowly increase the
Effects Blend control to add ambience and “liveness” to your voice. You may want to take a
moment to experiment with the variety of effects available at their extreme settings, to get a
feel for them. Once you are familiar with the size and character of the various effects, you can
then set these controls for more practical values. In most cases, just adding a slight amount of
fairly short reverb or slapback to a vocal will help it to sound more natural and live. This,
combined with the reduction of latency, due to local monitoring, greatly reduces vocal fatigue
during long sessions and voiceovers.
If you also want to record your vocals with effects, but without the rest of the mix, you should
use the Effects Output jack on the rear. You can also use one of the headphone outputs as a
“master” output, to run into your monitor amp and speakers. Just remember to run the
headphone output control at a lower level, as this is a fairly “hot” signal.
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