New: Different Ways To Hook Up My Compressor?

[Gregwor]

OK, this is my dilemma:

I have already recorded stuff to my Yamaha MD8. I own a Behringer Composer Pro. I know that I am 'supposed' to hook up my reverb via Aux Sends and Returns....no problem. I am told (and it makes sense...) that I am not supposed to hook up my compressor this way, because the Aux Sends are Post Fader, and therefore the original, non-compressed signal, will be in my mix...hence, defeating the purpose of my compressor (to some extent at least, even if I crank my compressed signal and keep my original signals fader to a minimum).

Anyways, so I was given the instructions, to hook up my compressor via the track line-outs from my recorder...which are pre-fader and pre-EQ. This made sense to me. I would loop it back in and be able to still use the fader and EQ AFTER my compressor....no biggy right....wrong! The signal coming from the track line-outs (which are in RCA form) are so small, that my compressor won't even see them.

The only other thing I've thought to do, is use my compressor while tracking, but this really limits me and I want to use my compressor..................Properly. Can anyone help? Thanks. Greg.

 

[foreverain4]

you need to use the channel inserts. i think the MD8 only has them on channels 1 and 2. i used this same unit for about a year, and i just compressed while tracking. kinda a bummer, but that is its limitations. you could, perhaps, run the rca's out of the MD8 into another mixer that has inserts on all the channels.

 

[sjjohnston]

Where To Put a Compressor

As noted, if you're using it on an individual track (or on two individual tracks, if it's a "dual mono" compressor), the inserts are the tidiest way to go.

If you want to compress the whole mix (and don't have master L/R inserts), you can stick it inbetween your mixer (or mixer/recorder) and your mixdown deck. Just take the line outs that would ordinarily go directly to the stereo mixdown deck and connect them to the compressor instead (assuming it's either "dual mono" or stereo), then connect the compressor output to the mixdown deck.

It might be possible (though kind of a pain) to use an aux send like an insert, if you really have to. What you want to do is just have the processed signal come back into the mix, and not the original, unprocessed signal. Whether you can do this, and how, depends on your mixer's design. If the send were pre-fader (as yours aren't), it's sort of obvious. You may still be able to mute the channel or assign it to an unused bus (instead of the main L/R bus), while still taking a signal out of the aux send. You'll wind up using the pot or fader that controls the return to adjust the level of that channel, which might be a pain. In a pinch, you could even use the makeup gain control on the compressor, I suppose.

The part about the track line outs being so small the compressor doesn't see them sounds weird. All the line outs should be somewhere in the vicinity of a nominal line level. I have no idea how the MD8 is set up (it's a minidisk portastudio-type thing?), but if you have track-by-track direct outs that carry the signal from the recorder that's on its way to the mixer, you may be able to use them like inserts. Take the track out, run it through your compressor, then connect the compressor output to the corresponding channel's line in and switch the source of that channel to from disk to line. Of course, if it were that easy, you'd probably already have done that by now ....