Routing

[Daddydex]

Things have been a little slow here in the this corner of the TDPRI. Don't mind me if I try to shake things up a bit and learn something at the same time.

Can we talk Routing? The hows and whys? I have been home recording for about 2 months now and keep hearing everyone talking about routing the signal here and there. I don't get it. When I record, I put an effect or two on the track and start mixing. What am I missing?

Please learn me something.

Dan

[pengipete]

Routing does pretty much what it says on the label - it allows you to alter the route that the audio signals take before reaching the output stage whether that's your amp or your recording device.

In a simple setup the mixer is used as a way to input multiple sources and output them to a single destination such as your PC.

A simple use of routing would be to send the output to a reverb unit and then have the processed signal fed back into the mixer before sending the final result to the PC. This is commonly done via a dedicated Send/Return in/out on modern mixers and most allow you to adjust the individual signal levels sent from each source which is usefull in the above example if you want just a touch of reverb on, say, the bass guitar.

You may also want to route a single input such as guitar. This would allow you to play a clean signal into the mixer and then send a copy of that signal to a processor such as a distortion pedal. You then take the output from the pedal and feed it back into to a different channel on the mixer. This may seem pointless as you could just plug your guitar into the pedal and record that but it allows you to mix the clean and the distorted sounds in a very flexible way. If your mixer has multiple outputs it also allows you to keep the clean sound on a separate track which means that you could always route it back to the mixer if you decide that you want a different sound from the pedal later on. You would input the recording instead of the guitar and route that instead.

To be honest, in a small home-studio setup with a modern mixer that has Send/Return built-in, routing is not really a major issue and you're not missing out on anything vital. It would be worth your while digging around Google or better still getting a good quality up to date book on mixing if only for the extra tips that you find. It's quite interesting but it's another skill tat takes some learning which can drag you away from making music if you're not careful. (It suits me cos I'm not that good at the music anyway )

[Daddydex]

Thanks Pete. I was starting to think I was doing something wrong. I only do one track at a time and use plugins exclusively so the routing thing is not really an issue for me I guess.

I will definitely do some reading on mixing and as Stu has suggested many times, EQ and compression.

Dan

[Daddydex]

Pete, I just came across this.

This from Articlealley.com. Author Ian Waugh:

Although giving each channel its own Insert effects is kinda neat, each one uses a corresponding amount of CPU power. So if your computer is struggling and if you're using the same effect on more than one channel, make the effect a Send effect and route those channels to it.

I do use the same effect on multiple channels sometimes. This seems like it will be worth pursuing. And yes, my computer can sometimes struggle. Only 512 RAM. Off to the Reaper manual.

Dan

[StuH]

Originally Posted by Daddydex

Although giving each channel its own Insert effects is kinda neat, each one uses a corresponding amount of CPU power. So if your computer is struggling and if you're using the same effect on more than one channel, make the effect a Send effect and route those channels to it.

I do use the same effect on multiple channels sometimes. This seems like it will be worth pursuing.

This is a real good way to get a little more hp out of your cpu ... really good way to use reverb as you will be able to have one instance reverb for all tracks that need it. You can also adjust the wet to dry level for each track routed to the effect send so if track A needs a little more verb than track B it's not a problem.

Another use of routing would be effects routings where the host software and the virtual effect has side chaining protocol. Ducking, de-essing, parallel compression, serial compression. Reaper has always had this ability while others have just caught up or are just catching up.

Alot of routing is sound card/interface I/O dependant.
Creating different mixing busses (auxillary busses) in a situation where you have more than one person in your studio. One person may only want to hear the drums and bass while another may want to hear the drums, bass and guitar. Clone the common tracks than route to a seperate auxillary for each performers needs output each aux to a seperate output on your soundcard.

Using external fx processors in a quasi send return loop type situation would be another example. I can do this with Sonar 7 and my Boss GT 8 by using one free input and one free output on my interface. I bet you Reaper can do this too.

[pengipete]

I must admit, I was basing my reply around hardware mixers but the principlas are certainly the same for software based mixers too.

One of the nice things about using send and return for post effects like reverb and delay is that it can help the seperate tracks to sit together. Using a single reverb and delay route for all of the tracks together is far more natural as it will more closely approximate the effect of all of the musicians being in the same room.

As StuH says it makes a big difference to the CPU usage and it also frees up a load of RAM as you only need to have one copy of the VST in memory.

By the way - get some more RAM while the prices are still low. It's the single best thing you can do for your computer - much better than a new CPU - and the difference for music worksation is enormous. The cost is a few dollars and you'll kick yourself for not doing it earlier. Avoid eBay though as the RAM on there is often cheap oriental fakes.

[Big John]

Originally Posted by StuH

This is a real good way to get a little more hp out of your cpu ... really good way to use reverb as you will be able to have one instance reverb for all tracks that need it. You can also adjust the wet to dry level for each track routed to the effect send so if track A needs a little more verb than track B it's not a problem.

And the other great thing about this is that it tends to make the track sound more 'unified' if thats the best description.
Reverb is meant to be the sound as it would be heard in a given space so if you mix up too many different sorts on one track it can sound confusing to the listener who is listening to the guitar player playing in a huge cathedral and the vocalist who is singing in an empty water tank and a keyboard stuck down a well.
Using one instance means that all your players are in the same room.
Of course, getting them to play in tune and in time is another matter !!

Thankfully the digital studio has done away with this......



fault finding must have been fun with this little bundle

[StuH]

[IMG][/IMG]

This is a neat feature in Sonar 7 for dealing with external fx processors routings. You basically need one input and one output on your soundcard. Soundcard output to external effects input, external effects output to soundcard input.

Here I'm using a Boss GT 8 guitar effects processor where I have a pre-recorded track in Sonar 7 routed to my Line 3 output, that goes into the Boss GT 8 and then comes back through my soundcard on input 3 back into Sonar 7. Any delay in the signal will be automatically compensated and sit properly in the mix. Up top the delay is 54ms.

[robt57]

And I came in here to offer router advise, either a eithernet one, or the one I Polk holes in wood with. ;)

[Kurt]

I do all my work on a PC and routing is a big part of my mixing. Although you can add plug-ins to individual tracks, putting the plug-in on a separate track and then routing 1 or more tracks to it can make a lot of sense. As previously noted, it can save CPU, it can also give you a bit more control on exactly how much signal you send to the plugin, you can get creative by panning the effect some place other than your main track. You can also learn about side chaining - using the signal from one track to key the behavior of a plug in on another track. For instance, you could put a compressor on your rhythm guitar that is controlled by the lead guitar so that the rhythm will "duck" back a bit when the lead is playing. Or, trigger an expander-gate on an overhead drum track from a snare track to increase emphasis, etc. The creative list goes on and on. For me, the key is to try out all possibilites and see what neat stuff you can come up with.

[Daddydex]

Keep the tips coming guys. How do you route your plugins?

Dan

[StuH]

Originally Posted by Kurt

You can also learn about side chaining - using the signal from one track to key the behavior of a plug in on another track. For instance, you could put a compressor on your rhythm guitar that is controlled by the lead guitar so that the rhythm will "duck" back a bit when the lead is playing. Or, trigger an expander-gate on an overhead drum track from a snare track to increase emphasis, etc. The creative list goes on and on. For me, the key is to try out all possibilites and see what neat stuff you can come up with.

Yes side chaining is where Reaper really had a major advantage over it's competitors. The plugin has to have a side chain and the host has to recognize side chain enabled plugins. Luckily for you ReaGate and ReaComp are side chainable and luckily for you I'm reading a magazine with a section on using side chains in effects. There's about 7 different examples here written for Sonar 7 but this one may help you alot and should follow a near identical process.

"Ducking" used to lower a guitar part as the singer sings. One of many different ways to use ducking.

Need a vocal track, a guitar track and a side chainable compressor
1. Insert a side chainable compressor on the guitar track
2. Use the vocal track as the side chain signal by routing the vocal track's output to side chainable compressor on the guitar track.

In Sonar you won't hear the track that is routed to a side chain, so you have to clone the vocal track first in order to hear the vocal. Whether Reaper acts the same way I'm not sure.

Fiddle fart with the threshold and compression settings on the compressor and voila when the vocals engage, the guitar track will duck underneath the vocals.

"Gating" used to create chopping or rythmic effects
Need a sustained instrument track (example: a sustained guitar track), a drum track, and a side chainable gate.
1. Insert a gate onto the guitar track
2. Use the drum track as the side chain signal by routing the drum track's output to side chainable gate on the the guitar track.

In Sonar you won't hear the track that is routed to a side chain, so you have to clone the vocal track first in order to hear the drum track. Whether Reaper acts the same way I'm not sure.

Fiddle fart with the threshold and other controls on the gate and voila your guitar track will get rythmically chopped in sync with the drum track.