mic to mixer to rack effects?

[OnTheBlackRock]

ok this is how I'm currently running my vocal mics....

Mic> Vocal Effects rackmount> BlueTube Pre Amp> Compresser> Limiter > into input 1 on mixer> RCA L/R out to input on RCA L/R in on 8 Track recorder> out to BBE sound enhancer > to Reverb Maker Rackmount > to CD-R

Will This work ok for recording? or should I set it up some other way?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Why on earth would you route thru all that junk....????

The path should be:

source --> mic --> preamp --> recorder

Anything between the mic pre and the recorder should only be there on a per-application, as-needed basis.


Unnecessary routing thru all that gear will degrade your signal significantly.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Same thing for the path from the recorder to the CD-burner....

There should be nothing there unless it needs to be there for a given application.

 

[OnTheBlackRock]

I want to add reverb to my mixes to ass life to them to make them sound better...they sound kinda crappy alone...so should i route the rackmount gear into the aux in on the main mixer?

 

[KevinTran]

I want to add reverb to my mixes to ass life to them to make them sound better...they sound kinda crappy alone...so should i route the rackmount gear into the aux in on the main mixer?

My mixer has as Insert for each channel that the effects unit plugs into. Don't know what kind you have or if this is standard.

But it sure sounds like a long way to travel from mic to recorder in your example.

kt

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I want to add reverb to my mixes to ass life to them to make them sound better...they sound kinda crappy alone...so should i route the rackmount gear into the aux in on the main mixer?

First off, it's fairly uncommon to add reverb to mixes. Typically, you add ambience/effects to individual tracks, but not to entire mixes....

Second - you can't polish a turd - doing so leaves you with a shiny turd....

If your mixes sound crappy WITHOUT reverb, then they'll sound like crap in a room with reverb added....

You use reverb/effects much like spices in food - putting more spice on a bad-tasting dish will not make it any better......

It starts at the beginning -- getting it recorded properly right off the bat. Then in mixing, you blend the tracks together appropriately. You can also use effects to enhance the tracks.

 

[mshilarious]

Bear I should ask this on a new thread, but I don't get the technique of using verb on only a few tracks. That always sounds very unnatural to me. I only like a little verb in the first place, unless it is specifically used as an effect, but when I do, each track has to have the same type of verb (although not necessarily the same amount).

I guess if you're recording in a good room, you might need to verb only MIDI tracks or tracks recorded in an iso booth. Can you shed any more light on this?

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Wow, yeah, that's a lot of stuff in the signal chain.

Here's a big problem with what you described:

"Mic> Vocal Effects rackmount> BlueTube Pre Amp> Compresser> Limiter > into input 1 on mixer> RCA L/R out to input on RCA L/R in on 8 Track recorder"

The mic always goes into the preamp first. The signal out of the mic is so weak that the effects unit can't do anything sensible with it at excpet make it sound (much) worse. Switch the pre and the effects around and see how it sounds.

I'm not sure what you're recording device has in the way of effects, but usually effects are added during mixing and NOT when you are recording. Unless I know EXACTLY how all the instruments are going to sound at the end and EXACTLY what effects I want on a track, I never record my tracks "wet" (with effects.)

Even if your recorder doesn't have its own effects, there is probably a way to use your mixer to add effects on the way to CD. Do you know if your mixer has any channel inserts or effects sends? That's what I would use- like this:

Mic->Preamp->(maybe a compressor OR limiter if you're worried about clipping->)8 track recorder.

8 track recorder hopefully has 8 outputs- 1 for each channel. So:

8 outs from recorder->8 inputs on mixer.

Reverb machine is set up on an effects bus so I can add a little reverb to the drums, a little more to the guitar solo, a little to the lead vocals, and a little more to the backing vocals. The vocal effects processor goes into the channel insert of the vocal track so you can adjust the affect until its perfect- if you use it all.
Tweak and fiddle with the knobs, buttons, and faders until its sounds right, then:

Mixer stereo output-> Cd burner.

If you have the hardware to do it that way you'll

a) have better sounding dry tracks
b) have more control with how much and what kind of effects you use, and
c) way more control over the overall sound of your song.

That's why its called a mixer.

Take care,
Chris

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Bear I should ask this on a new thread, but I don't get the technique of using verb on only a few tracks. That always sounds very unnatural to me. I only like a little verb in the first place, unless it is specifically used as an effect, but when I do, each track has to have the same type of verb (although not necessarily the same amount).

I guess if you're recording in a good room, you might need to verb only MIDI tracks or tracks recorded in an iso booth. Can you shed any more light on this?

It's really all about give you tracks a natural sound - and an ambience that is appropriate for the song. If you record tracks COMPLETELY dry, then you're pretty much going to have to add *some* ambience to give the tracks a natural sound. If you recorded the source in a good-sounding room, and that room ambience is all that's needed (ie, it's appropriate to the song), then you won't need much reverb, if any at all.

We generally don't hear sound sources in a vacuum, so natural reflections are a big part of many instrument's sonic characteristic, so if you didn't capture any ambience during the recording, you pretty much have to restore some ambience to the track afterwards.

You're basically trying to create the illusion of space, within the context of a song playing between two speakers. How big/what space you use will very likely vary from track to track and source to source, which is why you typically use more than one reverb.

As well... in many rock and pop recordings, a good 70% of the song's ambience comes from the drums. So their "space" sets the tone/space of the entire song.