Signal Chain....?

[Lo-Fi Mike]

what is the best signal chain coming from the microphone?
A) compressor + pre amp + eq
B) pre amp + eq + compressor
C) pre amp + compressor + eq

and what if you don't have much of a choice Say you are using a mackie 1604 wich has good preamps and nice eq's, but you need some compression for drums and vocals. So you buy a DBX 1046 Quad Compressor.

what would be the best way to use the following gear?
thank you for your time and your help.
---mike--

 

[Dogman]

For most of my music, and I only track myself, I just track it as cleanly as possible, then mess with the eq, compression, etc.....Except my vocals. I use a RNC on them, inline, right after the pre. Mainly just to help me keep the volume a bit more even. I don't sing very well, so it's just something to help me keep the level a bit more even during tracking. That's just a personal thing there.
Ed

 

[Simman]

Good source + Good Mic + Good Pre + Recorder = a good time had by all

I usaually do not compress going in.