How to Hook up a Headphone Amp to a Mixer
A headphone amp drives sound through a set of headphones instead of through a loudspeaker system. The amp's primary function is to give an engineer the ability to split the signal at an appropriate amplification to multiple artists/musicians in a studio setting. Most mixers have a single monitoring headphone amp built in for the engineer and outboard headphone amps for the unpowered monitor/auxiliary output for artists. Hooking up a headphone amp to a mixer will give you a more in-depth ability to monitor your recording or performance.
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Instructions
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Connect the AC adapter from your headphone amplifier to an electrical outlet. This is necessary because most headphone amplifiers require additional power to reach ideal volume.
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Connect the 1/4-inch (TS) cable to an auxiliary/monitor output on your mixer. Auxiliary/monitor outputs are different from the main output and are best with a headphone amp to increase mixing/monitoring capabilities through your headphones.
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Connect the opposite end of the 1/4-inch cable to the input of the headphone amp. Headphone amps only use a single cable because it only outputs sound in mono.
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Plug in your headphones to any available output jack/connector on your headphone amp. Depending on the make or model there may be multiple connectors; they will either be labeled as outputs or they may be numbered.
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Tips & Warnings
Avoid TRS (Tip Ring Sleeve) cables. They are more directed toward stereo function, as opposed to mono function.
References
- Photo Credit headphones image by charles taylor from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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morganeyes
Sep 04, 2010
I'm working with an Analog mixer by A & H. I need to put vocals on a finished set of songs and want to isolate them for my headphone mix as I sing the tracks. Can I use the Aux on my mixer to send back to the headphone mix and how would I put effects on my fold that do not go to "tape?"
