Why send a signal from the recorder to the mixer??

[hipsterboi]

Ok, so I'm looking at this diagram of an example studio and it's showing that the mixer takes as inputs musical instruments. This makes sense to me. Then, it outputs a signal to the recorder.

So I'm guessing that you have your musical inputs(keyboard, mics, etc) to the mixer and the mixer lets you modify the incomming signals and takes the modified signals to the recorder for recording.

But the diagram also includes a wire that is coming from the recorder to the mixer. What is the purpose of having the recorder as an input??

By the way, did I understand the function of the mixer properly(modifying signals)?

Thank you very much!!!

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Once you've got signals tracked TO the recorder, how are you going to mix them? If you're mixing analog, then you have to get them out of the recorder and blend them together using the mixer and recording onto a 2-track recorder.

 

[hipsterboi]

Once you've got signals tracked TO the recorder, how are you going to mix them? If you're mixing analog, then you have to get them out of the recorder and blend them together using the mixer and recording onto a 2-track recorder.

Thanks, I'm still a little confused though.

I thought we had mixed the signals together before it got to the recorder? I thought that the signal we sent to the record was the signal ready to be put on tape...why else would we want to send the signal to the recorder??

I'm just not sure what sort of information the recorder is sending to the mixer??

 

[bennychico11]

true...we don't hear the signal before it gets to the recorder. we listen on the "monitor path" which is after the recorder. However, the recorder isn't doing anything to alter the signal so the signal stays the same before and after the mixer. It's just a stop off point for our signal. If you have 1K boosted on the mixer on channel 2...it goes into the recorder boosted at 1K...then it comes OUT of the recorder to the monitors boosted at 1K as well. It's all the same signal but the recorder is just copying that signal onto itself. Whatever you change on the mixer IS being recorded AND you're hearing that change...it just happens to be after you recorded it...which doesn't hurt at all.

Also, a lot of consoles have a monitor path that's separate from the mic/line path. These paths also have a button that allow all EQ, aux, etc. settings to ONLY go on the monitor path or the mic/line path. Therefore you can get some idea of the mix while recording a dry signal.

Hope this helps.

 

[hipsterboi]

true...we don't hear the signal before it gets to the recorder. we listen on the "monitor path" which is after the recorder. However, the recorder isn't doing anything to alter the signal so the signal stays the same before and after the mixer. It's just a stop off point for our signal. If you have 1K boosted on the mixer on channel 2...it goes into the recorder boosted at 1K...then it comes OUT of the recorder to the monitors boosted at 1K as well. It's all the same signal but the recorder is just copying that signal onto itself. Whatever you change on the mixer IS being recorded AND you're hearing that change...it just happens to be after you recorded it...which doesn't hurt at all.

Also, a lot of consoles have a monitor path that's separate from the mic/line path. These paths also have a button that allow all EQ, aux, etc. settings to ONLY go on the monitor path or the mic/line path. Therefore you can get some idea of the mix while recording a dry signal.

Hope this helps.

So is the only reason we want to send the signal back to the mixer so that we can hear the signal on the monitors??

 

[rudalicious]

Thanks, I'm still a little confused though.

I thought we had mixed the signals together before it got to the recorder? I thought that the signal we sent to the record was the signal ready to be put on tape...why else would we want to send the signal to the recorder??

I'm just not sure what sort of information the recorder is sending to the mixer??

Im not on analog... but i can tell you in any recording environment this rarely happens. Usually you track the instruments and get the most sound possible so you have resources to work with. They go through the MIXER (for power and maybe some EQ but id save that for later). So you have these raw tracks in the recorder say on tracks 1-4. Now you are going to send tracks 1-4 to the mixer so you can change the audio signals to sound how u want them. This way you have more time to play with the sound and figure out how the mix should go. In this process these tracks are now mixed by the MIXER and sent back to the recorder on 2 final stereo tracks (say 5 and 6) and this is your final mixed full band recording.


maybe that helps a bit?

 

[bennychico11]

You got it hipsterboi! Except for mixing our recorded takes afterwards, of course. When we are in mix mode, our recorder acts like an instrument so we can mix it....then later run it back into a recorder so we can record itself!

 

[rudalicious]

or ya what benny said... lol

 

[bennychico11]

hey rudalicious!!! no typing when i'm typing!

 

[hipsterboi]

Thanks everyone! I think I get it now.