in the studio, we always track vocals with compression up front, especially when working in a digital environment (to eliminate peaks before they hit the ADA converters). a compressor is a line-level device, so you need to run the mic into the preamp first, then into the compressor (make notes of compressor and other settings in case you need to come back later and tweak something). the little art can be rather noisy, so spend some time learning to adjust it for best results. it comes from the factory with an inexpensive chinese 12ax7 in it, and i would suggest you get a good quality 12ax7 (i like groove tubes) for it. the nanocompressor works just fine for mild compression, which is about what you will want to start with for your vocals. you can crank the compression a bit higher for acoustic guitar, or micing other instruments, but you will start gaining noise as you increase the output gain and you will start losing high freq's as you increase the threshhold setting (these characteristics are, well, characteristic of most compressors). the rode should be a good mic - use a pop filter and work it from about 6-8" for vocals.
