Quick question

[jerberson12]

What is the typical order of mixing chain specifically lead vocals? EQ, Compressor, Reverb????

 

[pipelineaudio]

singer->microphone->recording device->channel fader//channel aux sends->master fader

anything in between is a case by case basis. No need to stick plugs or gear in there without a good reason.

 

[jerberson12]

NO No

Your talking about tracking chain.
Mixing chain i mean.

You know, which comes first, the EQ? the compressor? during mixing phase

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

You know, which comes first, the EQ? the compressor? during mixing phase

You ask 5 people this question and you'll get 8 different replies . But here's a general way that I like to approach it::

FixEQ >> Compression >> TweakEQ >> Delay/Reverb

This chain order is another one of those “general rules” which we are welcome to break for any creative purpose we need, however it is not a completely arbitrary ordering. There is reasoning and logic behind this formula.

Remember that compressing a track will tend to “equalize” the volume levels of some of the quieter accents and harmonic sounds - not to mention system noise - to the level of the tracks primary formants, changing the character of the sound along with the dynamics of it. The lower the threshold, the more this is likely to happen. And when makeup gain is applied to the output of the compressor, the end effect will be a possibly unwanted boosting of these sounds or frequencies.

This is the concept behind the first level of EQ, what we’re calling here “FixEQ”. This first link in the signal processing chain (if necessary) is where we would EQ the track to remove any unwanted sounds or frequencies (we're “fixing” the sound, so to speak.) This is also where we would want to minimize or remove any sounds or frequencies that might otherwise wind up be undesirably boosted when the track hits the compressor.

Then after this “fixing EQ” is applied we can run it through the compressor as needed.

The compressed signal then can optionally run through a second stage of EQ (the “TweakEQ”) to apply some small, corrective polish to the compressed sound. This EQ stage should be just in the form of minor “tweaking”; if we have to apply major EQ after compression it probably means that either we have over-compressed the signal or that we didn’t “fix” it properly before we compressed it. Trying to fix at this stage usually is not as easy or effective as going back in the signal chain and re-correcting what we can there.

Then, if desired, delay or reverb is typically finally added as the last stage in the processing chain. Again the idea here is that you are using the EQs and the compression to create a particular sound for the instrument or track itself first, then inserting that sound into a room or space by adding the delay/reverb to it. And again, if one wants to actually make the verb or the delay part of a special effect sound and not just use it for ambience, the reverb/delay can be followed by further EQ and/or compression for special effect creation.

IMHO YMMV Emergency Exit Only ETC.

G.

 

[pipelineaudio]

NO No

Your talking about tracking chain.
Mixing chain i mean.

You know, which comes first, the EQ? the compressor? during mixing phase

Try again. I was trying to emphasize that in the mixing chain, there need NOT be a compressor or eq or super plutonium space modulator or whatever they are saying you MUST HAVE(tm) at GC or sweetwater this week.

Its a case by case basis

 

[dementedchord]

the way i was taught is simply tonal effects lead to dynamics which lead to time based effects... so EQs go to comps/limit/expand leads to reverb/delay/phase/flange etc... dont know if i would characterize it as a rule.... but ya need to understand the rules in order to know when to break them...

 

[The Green Hornet]

AND, then, there are the famous words of Blue Bear:

"What goes in must come out."

Green Hornet