insert plugin order

[4times4mil]

what's up guys,
I'm really feeling good about all of the great info in the DUC and so I can't resist asking this. Is there a standard or preference for plugin arrangements. Well first let me ask this. When using plugins which way does the signal travel. Of the five plugin buttons which is one and which is five? And is it best to place a compressor before or after EQ or reverb? What is pre fader and post fader? I am a firm believer of the fact that a question is only stupid if it's left unasked. I would like to be able to help someone else here one day. So I have to ask when I'm not sure.

[Kryst]

The plugin chain goes up to down, top to bottom. EQ before reverb is pretty good, in my opinion, but compression before EQ is also good (again, IMO) so you can clean up the compressed audio a little.

I don't work with pre and post faders

[bb_aus]

all the plug-ins are pre fader, if you want post fader then output the fader to a buss or use a trim before the plug-in and use it as your main fader.

the usualy starting point is to put any eq before a compressor for the simple fact that you dont want frequencies that you are cutting out to trigger the compressor. this is particular tue for any high pass fillters. however you might also decide that any frequencies you boost should be after the compressor.

that said there is no rule, and you may find you end up with several eq and or comps on a tracks so as to get the balance right.

[johnwayne]

I agree. I often put a compressor after an EQ to take care of anyrastic EQ I might have done. It's all personal choice. I like Gate, Analog sim(duy or colortone), Eq, Comp, Tape(massey)

[3over3]

Put reverbs and delays as late on in the chain of processing as possible, if you want a natural(ish) sound. In nature room (echo) effects are almost always the last thing to happen to a sound before it hits our ears. If you compress after reverb and delay, you'll be changing the way they behave dynamically and will stop them behaving naturally. This also applies to phasing, flanging and other effects after reverb... it's quite easy to break the illusion of being in a room by effecting reverb. Of course, you may want this occasionally, so it's worth playing around with all of the above.

Pre-fader sends a signal to a bus (for instance) at a level regardless of where the main fader of that track is. Post-fader sends the signal in proportion with the fader. Thus if you turn a fader down, any pre-fader sends won't change the level they send, but any post-fader sends will reduce the level (set by the send amount control) proportionately until the fader reaches zero when they won't send anything. If you're sending to a reverb post-fader, the relative amounts of wet and dry won't change if you move the fader - this is probably what you want. If you send to a reverb pre-fader, when you turn the fader all the way down, you'll still hear 100% wet reverb (and it's normal for a reverb on a bus to be 100% wet by the way) in the mix.

You can think about the inserts as being pre-fader only and in series from top to bottom (as if you're physically wiring out of one box into another and then into the fader channel).

[4times4mil]

All of you guys are great. Thanks a mil. also if anyone else has comments feedback or suggestions feel free to post your imput. thanks guys