hi i have a home recording studio consisting of
condensor microphone,
yamaha mixer.mg16/4
fostex de10 effects unit.
ELV compressor.
tapco graphic equalizer.
behringer mic2200 mic pre amp
and an amplifier
is there a specific order in which these should be connected starting at the mic and ending at the amplifier, backing tracks would come from cd/mini disc or computer into the mixer
thanks
dave

Hi Dave and welcome,
What are you presently using as an Audio Interface? I had guessed (wrongly!) that the Yamaha unit was a usb mixer but it seems not. Are you therefore recording directly into the computers' OnBoard Soundcard? If so your first priority should be to either fit a decent soundcard, I can recommend the M-Audio 2496 as a good general purpose low cost card. Their AP192 is better but twice the price!
Otherwise look for a usb AI.The Focusrite Saffire6 has come in for a lot of praise tho' considering that you already have a decent mixer, something with 2 mic and at least two more line inputs would be more versatile e.g. the Focusrite Scarlet.

As for the rest of the kit you really don't need it with a good (24 bit) AI but if you are going into the computers' OBS the compressor hooked into a mic channel insert would be a good idea perhaps.

The Yamaha manual shows details of how to rig FX gear into inserts and the leads you will need to do it.
Dave.

hi dave
thanks for replying
i do have the M-Audio 2496 fitted to the pc but do not always record directly to the pc sometimes recording to cd or minidisc first. At the moment i have it connected like this
1st is the condensor mic connected to
2nd....ultragain pro mic 2200 then to
3rd....fostex de10 effects unit then to
4th....elv compressor then to
5th....tapco graphic eq then into
6th....mixer yamaha mg 16/4 then to mini disc/ cd/ M-Audio 2496
i think my question is are items 3, 4, and 5 in the correct place/order or would i gain a different sound from say changing 5 with 3 etc or is this all totally wrong your help in this matter will mean a lot
thanks
dave hall

I am intrigued to know how/why you aquired such a collection of "outboard" devices in the first place! Certainly the order in which you place them in the recording path will alter, very drastically in some cases, the sound quality you get. Personally I would use none of them!

Yamaha pre amps are generally reckoned to be pretty clean and accurate in their price class and I would just run Mic>Yamaha mixer>2496 (there are plenty of ways to send a clean feed to MD or CD recorder without disturbing this minimalist path). The compressor and other FX can then be rigged in the REPLAY path if you wish and you can then experiment on a clean recording to your hearts content.
It is usual to contain such FX in a rack unit and connect into the system as needed via a jack patchbay but it must be said that you need to pay some £1000 PER outboard device before their quality starts to rival the software equivalents in even cheap software such as Reaper. The Behringer mic pre I shall say no more of other than... If YOU like it, use it!
Dave.