Owner's Manual

22
Examples of Use
Recording and Tracking
Recording a band or just recording yourself is basically the same process as far as Focusrite Control
is concerned – the only difference is the number of mixer channels you’ll have on screen.
Connect the instruments to be recorded to the Scarlett interface, either directly using the INST or
LINE inputs, or - for acoustic instruments and vocals - with microphones connected to the MIC
inputs. Each instrument or microphone will be routed to your DAW via the USB cable, and will be
recorded - by default - on the track with the same number as its hardware input. Set the recording
levels by adjusting the gain controls on the Scarlett front panel. Your DAW will allow you to alter the
track assignment if you wish.
Focusrite Control lets you create a monitor mix of everything being recorded. The mix you hear in
your monitors or headphones can be anything you want, and is completely independent of the signal
levels being recorded.
All Focusrite Control channels start out with the fader position at zero, so you will hear a rough mix
as soon as you have everything connected up. You can then tweak the mix to suit your requirements.
When loading any of the Output Presets other than Direct Routing, the mix available at your
headphone outputs will be identical to your main monitor mix. However they are independent and are
controlled separately. For example, if you want to use the headphones for a musician’s foldback, you
will probably need to set up a different mix. Just select the output tab for the headphones (Line Out
7-8 in the Scarlett 18i20 example shown) and change the mix. By the same principle you can create
further, different mixes for as many other musicians by using further Line Out tabs and selecting
Custom Mix (or Custom Mix + Talkback in the case of the Scarlett 18i20).
Monitor Output Mix
Headphone Mix