Order of Componants?

C

Chode

New member
Heya all,

I'm fairly new to this game so have very little idea what I'm talking about, but I was wondering if there's any sort of order you should route your signal through rack componants.

For example, should the preamp always be the first in the chain, middle or last? I'm not looking to string together truckloads of gear, at this stage eq and preamp, but I want to try to get the cleanest signal possible.

Probably been asked a million times...

Cheers,
 
If you are going to run a microphone thru stuff, ALWAYS the mic preamp first. Then, whatever order produces the results you seek.

Sometimes I run eq then compression, other times, I run compression then eq.

Probably a good idea to run a noisegate before anything else too, unless you are using the gate as more of an "effect" on the audio, like doing a gated reverb, or trying to soften the leading edge of a signal, then you would run it after something else.

No rules, only what work for what you want to accomplish.
 
Chode said:
For example, should the preamp always be the first in the chain, middle or last? I'm not looking to string together truckloads of gear, at this stage eq and preamp, but I want to try to get the cleanest signal possible.
Click to expand...

Hey Chode

Preamp always comes first, otherwise there's usually not enough level in the signal to pass through the other gear. If the signal is already amped, such as from a guitar amp or line out from a synth, then this stage is not so crucial.
Microphones will always need some kind of preamp to raise an control the input level.

After that, I read somewhere that a general rule of thumb is gating (to knock out any superfluous background noise) though every channel strip I own doesn't have a gate on it, so presumably this isn't an outright necessity. Stripping unwanted noise from the audio file can happen once you have recorded the audio into your computer.

After gating comes compression, to control the dynamics of the sound being recorded.

Some people prefer to EQ prior to compression, others after compression so that the colour they add to the recorded signal doesn't impact on the action of the compressor. That's really up to your own taste and what you wish to achieve.

As Ford Van mentioned, there's no hard and fast rules in this game when it comes to signal processing, and by doing things in the wrong order you can come up with some interesting results!

Enjoy the learning curve! :)
Dags
 
If the signal is already amped, such as from a guitar amp or line out from a synth, then this stage is not so crucial.
Microphones will always need some kind of preamp to raise an control the input level.
Click to expand...

So if you're recording a guitar do you bypass the preamp or just leave it and bump down the drive/gain on the pre?

So many ways to skin the cat, which is half the fun I suppose!
 
well typically, the focus is to keep your signal as clean as possible.


So if I was you, I would read up a little on gain staging and signal flow diagrams for a recording studio.


-Avoid daisy chaining if you can. For example, Routing from a preamp, to then a compressor, to a gate, then to something else is generally not a very good idea when your tracking. (By the way, there is a proper order to all that).

Cause the weakest link in that chain is gonna mess your signal up big time.

-Patch bays help clean up a bit of that component mess, but thats another level altogether.


-If you're working alot within a computer based DAW then avoid outboard gear analog to digital (or vice versa) conversion as much as you can.
 
Yeah I've been using the compressor/noise gates and eq in Logic, and they seem to be working OK for my needs right now, probably no need to get outboard stuff for now. Was thinking of getting some componants for gigging though...
 
learning

I started recording with a $99 four track, a guitar, and an sm57. I had a lot of fun then, even though now I have a protools setup with several doohickeys lying around the studio. But I still listen to those old tascam tracks sometimes, and I honestly believe I got more out of that little box than the manufacturer intended. I hooked my meager allotment of equipment up in dozens, if not hundreds, of different ways, including tape decks, VCR's, clock radioss, and vacuum cleaner hoses, to name a few. By now I have learned some of the 'proper' ways to do stuff, but, at least for me, NOTHING beats open experimentation. The crazier it seems, the more interested I am. The things you discover on your own will be more valuable to you than anything you do because that's the way it's supposed to be. I guess I'm getting more at my general philosophy, so let me wrap it up: There are a lot of smart people herer who can help you (they have me), but what's the best way? Until you hook it up every way you can possibly think of, and then a few more, you'll never know for sure.
 
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