Anyoone Use an External Pre and Compressor with the Duet?

[Glenn L.]

Hi,

 

I have a Really Nice Pre and Compressor that I am thinking about using with the Duet. It seems a logical thing to do, given that it would be the only way I can compress something before it gets into Logic.

 

Do any of you use an external pre/compressor with the Duet or other FW interface? If so, how do you set it up? Gain all the way down on the interface, or....???

 

Thanks!

 

Glenn

[8E8s]

I do, indeed for vocals. But I set the compressor just to do limiting near 0dB. Limit only to avoid overloading the AD converters. But there's no sense compressing to push levels louder when you have plenty of "room" with 24bit recording.

 

And of course if you like the sound of the pre then that's another reason for using one. I know the Duet's own pres get great reviews. But there's still a difference between a U87 direct into the Duet and the same U87 into a hi end pre first.

 

I don't have any hard rules for how I set things up. Usually when I get the input gain on the pre where I want it, I set the output at 75% and adjust the Duet's input gain accordingly so that with the singer screaming the Duet is hitting -5 dB to be safe. Or, if there is a limiter in the chain then I'll have the singer pin in and set the -5 dB that way.