Routing compressor

[aldaraia]

Run the line outs on the back of the Saffire 6 into the line inputs of the 3632, and then the line outs of the 3632 into the line ins of the Saffire.

[Perseverance]

The (balanced) lines have been taken by my monitors, I guess this is where the mixer comes in? (Silly questions I know..just getting into hardware )

[aldaraia]

The Saffire apparently does not have very many line outs. It might serve you to get an RCA to 1/4" adapter to use the RCA line outs for the compressor instead of mucking about with a mixer. A mixer wouldn't really solve your problem anyway because it wouldn't increase the number of outputs that you have, it would pretty much just give you the ability to compress things before they go to the monitors.

[Perseverance]

Alright. However, I'm going to use my old Sony Tape recorder as well, how would I route this? And, with 1/4 to RCA adapters, isn't there an audible loss in quality?

[CJ Mastering]

If your recording with it, you would want the compressor before it reaches your sound card's converters. Because if it reaches your converters first and it clips before hitting the compressor, the damage is done and cannot be reversed. I'm assuming you want it to tame the dynamics and avoid clipping when recording, right?

If i was you, i would just record it dry and compress it to taste after the fact. Because in 24bit recording, you do not need to record as hot as you would in 16bit. So if your reason is to avoid clipping when recording, you do not need the compressor.

Also, if you do compress it when recording and you find out the attack time was to fast or the release time was too slow, you cannot undo it. If you add it after the fact in the program, you can adjust it to taste and undo any settings you may need in the future.

I may have went a bit over what you asked, but i think you may need this info

Piece,
CJ

[Perseverance]

Thanks folks, will try this out and keep you updated.