Very simply, I want to be able disable my monitor speakers and leave the headphones on. This is obviously important when recording in the same room.
All the mixers I have come across place the main level controls before the phones output, which have their own level control. This seems like a missed opportunity.
Sounds simple enough, but the thread Home studio mixer/mic/monitor/headphone setup questions, which is the closest I've found to a statement of the question, never addresses it.
The biggest thing I am not sure how to do is set up my monitors/headphones on the mixer so that I can go back and forth when recording
Up to now, I have been driving my monitors from the 1&2 bus of a mixing console. This allows me to turn down the speakers using the group faders. But this console is broken, and I would like to replace it with something simpler that is strictly for monitoring (since I don't need the preamps or EQ, etc.) It seems like a simple line mixer should be able to handle my requirements. But even the line mixers with 2 aux buses don't have single faders for those sends.
What am I missing here? How is this normally done?