The path from microphone to DAW ?

S

siog

New member
I've been buying, selling and adding to my rack in the past few weeks and am not sure if this path is correct for vocals - please advise, thanks.

Mic >>> preamp >>> compressor >>> reverb >>> audio interface >>> DAW

Is it better to use short patch cables to link?

Cheers
 
Far better to go Mic>Preamp>Interface and add the effects to the dry track inside your daw software.
Once compression and reverb is on, you can't adjust it (and you'll probably want to...)

But otherwise, yes that is a common path.
 
Not sure how to do that Tim - I know how to use my plug-ins (compression, reverb, etc.) within the DAW but these are hardware compressor and reverb. How do I bring them in after recording?
 
siog said:
How do I bring them in after recording?
Click to expand...

You don't.

Instead you use plug ins.

The reason why you don't is that were you to use these hardware devices during the tracking, you would be stuck with what you've got, unless you retrack.

By leaving out the compressor and reverb, and going into the interface (and therefore computer) un-effected, you can choose the amount of compression and reverb you want later . . . and change your mind if you need to.

However, you could still use your hardware devices after recording by routing the recorded signal out to them, then recording the results onto new tracks
 
Plug-ins, right . . . but why are companies like API, Lindell, Lexicon, etc. making these units at all if plug-ins are the way to go?

If they're already in your rack, can they not be linked up some way to be used along with - or - after the dry vocal is recorded?
 
siog said:
Not sure how to do that Tim - I know how to use my plug-ins (compression, reverb, etc.) within the DAW but these are hardware compressor and reverb. How do I bring them in after recording?
Click to expand...


You can use plugins. You can also use your hardware.

Either track dry+wet in parallel somehow. (i.e., two outputs from preamp), or track dry then do a hardware loop out to effects and back in to a new track afterwards.
The latter means you always have the dry track available to you.

The final alternative is the signal path you drew out in your OP, but realise that if the verb was too wet or the threshold too low, you simply have to re-record.
 
That's what I do, use my interface to send audio out of the computer to the hardware gizmo, then bring it back in. Although, I'd have to admit that I don't do it that often now - the exception being our TC-helicon which gets a line out from the computer, and then two line ins back from it.
 
Exactly, if you have an interface with enough ins and outs you can set up aux sends and returns through the interface.

The other reason why companies make hardware is for live sound and other people still have studios that don't mix on computer.
 
To repeat my point, if you put it on the track going in, you have no further options.
Record your tracks dry and you have options.
The choice is, as always, yours...
 
Play around with it until you're really happy using the comp/effects on the way in. I have my comp engaged all the time now going in but it's subtle.
 
The round-trip to DAW for including outboard effects already mentioned is a pretty common approach. Most outboard costs good $$ compared to plug ins, and a lot of the emulation plugins for classic gear like la2a's etc., even the manufacturers state that they are 'approximations' of the sound and not identical. Not into any argument about this, it's all useful gear as i see it, plugin or hardware aside. Makes sense to use your hardware if you've got it and like it though.

A bit Off Topic, but out of the box summing is like the next extension of this, especially if you prefer hands on faders to a mouse. You need as many outs on your interface as you have recorded tracks. The DAW just becomes a multitrack recorder, all tracks are taken out of the DAW mixer at unity gain, through effects units, to the summing box,mixer or console where the tracks are mixed to a stereo 2-track, and back into the DAW or a second independent recording device. DAW>FX>MIXER>DAW/RECORDER You can patch more stereo master FX (eg. a limiter) between mixer and the final recorder. I have played around with this in the past just for the novelty, but it's a lot of mucking around with piles of patch cables, and you need stacks of good quality gear, which i don't have. In the end it hardly seemed worth it to me, and all that wire and interconnects just seemed to multiply the possibilities for problems. You can glorify that process by calling it Hybrid Digital Recording. I've heard heaps of great sounding hybrid recordings, but in the box and plugins is fine for what i do, which is pretty modest.
 
Anders Erisian said:
In the end it hardly seemed worth it to me, and all that wire and interconnects just seemed to multiply the possibilities for problems.
Click to expand...

Yep. It would be worthwhile if you were operating a high end studio with high-end outboard equipment. If not, then you are most likely complicating things unnecessarily.
 
Thanks for all the informative replies guys. Seeing that I already have decent hardware, I'd like to use it, especially as, coming from a gigging background (a hired gun for more years than I care to remind myself!), I'm very familiar with the boxes in the rack. Also, as Anders pointed out, "even the manufacturers state that they are 'approximations' of the sound and not identical", so there is a place for both I think.

I will still of course use my plug-ins as some of them are excellent but to be honest, some plug-ins are not great. I like the 'feel' of faders and knobs (old-fashioned again!) and I want to be in a position to use plug-ins or hardware when the time is right.

I realise that it's important to record a dry vocal but for some singers, especially those who perform regularly through a decent PA on stage, it's much easier for them if they can hear something approaching their 'stage' sound in the headphones. I think ido1957's advice is good for me, a subtle comp and reverb going in will usually work.
 
You should be able to give a singer some "ego verb" and still record dry?

If the patchbay is 1/2 normalled you can pinch a feed from the mic pre output and feed that to the reverb unit, out of that to a headphone amp or, probably easiest, a small, el cheapo mixer.

Patch cable lengths? If unbalanced probably max 10feet (3mtr), most gear today has acceptably low output Zs.
If all is balanced, no real limit.

Dave.
 
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