The signal is being split before converters and is sub mixed or sent directly analog to this system. So at no time is the AD/DA or the DAW affecting anything going to cue mixes. It is a completely separate system after the mic preamp. I agree that stage wedges have several milliseconds of time due to the distance between the singer and speaker. The issue is when in ear monitors or headphones are being used. This is when you get the mismatch of time between chest resonance and the audio going to IEMs with digital consoles. I have even built analog only vocal path solutions for some of the most recognizable artist names to solve issues related to this disconnect they were having while on stage. The best way I can describe the experience is that when talking into a mic with in ear monitors, the sound of my voice sounds like it is behind my ears, causing a mild sensation of being short of breath. This is why if you are ever an audio guest in monitor world and are given a cue pack to listen along, the mix you hear is usually swimming in reverb and even has high boost around the 2.5kHz range. To a third party, this sounds terrible and one can only think why does a singer want to listen to this? To the singer, these are all things to help separate the audio from the chest resonance. Then they do all kinds of other tricks like taking one ear out or also needing wedges which causes more problems, making them more frustrated. Bands also seem to play better together in a live tracking situation when doing analog monitoring without the 1-2.5ms of latency.
I also agree about how bad monitoring was in studios in the "old analog days." You had many facilities with gear that was never installed nor serviced properly and only layers of bandages were used to get from session to session, including world renown facilities. You also had engineers that did not know how to setup a cue mix, not to mention all of the hums, buzzes, and strange noises that came with poor cabling and layout. The Aviom and similar systems had many benefits of allowing musician to help or hurt their own monitoring and this was seen as a welcomed improvement, but the headphone amps are mediocre and have a high noise floor. The studio space I've been building out over the last year had a Hear Technologies system which is well respected, but the owner of the building got rid of it because the headphone amp would distort as it couldn't properly drive normal headphones in a live band tracking situation.
All of that is why I am building this particular system. An analog only path for monitoring and amps with enormous amounts of headroom so headphones will be driven distortion free (or as close to that as possible). This approach seems silly to most but my reasoning is based on years of testing and touring experience. If this explanation needs to be further debated then it could be done so in either Studio A or the Brewery. For this particular thread I am only interested in discussing possible solutions or if the remaining issue can be solved with the current design approach. I know I'm very close. Hopefully sinking the headphone return signal to the audio ground will reduce the signal bleed.
I am going to have to order parts to build a new board. It seems that I have finally run out of some of the small parts that of which I thought I still had an abundance.
Thanks!
Paul
