The Studio

A guide to recording in our studio. It covers the studio's gear and how it's all wired together (live room, control room, the path each signal takes from a mic on a stand to the console), then closes with a six-part walkthrough that takes a single vocal mic from the live room onto the console, into a headphone cue and bus processing, and out to a recording on a laptop. A final section covers comping afterward.

MB2508 has two rooms: the control room (where the engineer sits at the Toft) and the live room (where the band plays, behind the internal door). The two rooms share a wall full of XLR feed-throughs and TRS pass-throughs that connect everything in one room to everything in the other. This guide documents what's in each room and how it's all wired.

The live-room rack

One rack against the wall. Seven pieces of gear, top to bottom:

1. Furman PL-8 Series 2 (power conditioner)

Every piece of gear in the rack plugs into the back of the Furman; the Furman plugs into one wall outlet. The conditioner filters electrical noise on the power line, protects everything plugged into it from surges, and gives the studio a single power switch that turns the whole rack on or off. This is the first thing turned on at the start of a session and the last thing turned off.

2. Focusrite ISA 828 MkII (8-channel mic preamp)

Photo via Focusrite.

A preamp takes a mic-level signal (small, fragile, from a microphone) and lifts it to line level (large, robust, ready to travel a long cable to the next stage). You met one preamp already, the one built into a basic audio interface; this is the same job done by a dedicated 8-channel unit with its own personality. The ISA is the studio's higher-grade preamp, which is why it sits on the first eight channels.

• Mic inputs (rear): 8 mic-level XLR jacks, one per channel. Each is wired internally to the corresponding jack on Hosa panel 1 below.
• Line inputs (rear): 8 line-level balanced 1/4" TRS jacks, fed from PHB-350 jacks 1-8. Selected on a per-channel basis from the front panel; useful for running a line-level source (a synth, a DI'd guitar, an outboard preamp) through the ISA's circuit for its character rather than for gain.
• Outputs (rear): 8 line-level outputs on a single DB25 connector, broken out via a fan cable to 8 male XLRs. These run through the wall into Toft XLR (MIC) inputs 1 through 8.

Photo via Mogami.

Manufacturer product photo.

The Toft inputs are labeled MIC, but they accept line-level too: an XLR cable can carry mic-level or line-level. With a line-level signal arriving at the Toft's MIC input, the Toft's onboard preamp doesn't need to amplify; the channel's INPUT GAIN knob becomes a trim, set low to fine-tune the level. The preamp has already done the gain work; the Toft's gain knob just nudges what's there.

3. Hosa mic input panel 1 (wired to the ISA)

Photo via Hosa Technology.

A Hosa mic panel with 16 XLR female jacks across its front, numbered 1 through 16. Jacks 1-8 are wired internally to the ISA's mic inputs 1-8 (jacks 9-16 are unused, left in place in case the studio expands at some point). A mic plugged into panel 1 jack N reaches the studio on Toft channel N.

4. Focusrite OctoPre Platinum (8-channel mic preamp)

Photo via Focusrite.

Same job as the ISA, a different sound, slightly different controls. Eight more preamp channels, arriving on the second bank of Toft inputs.

• Mic inputs (rear): 8 mic-level XLR jacks, one per channel. Each is wired internally to the corresponding jack on Hosa panel 2 below.
• Line inputs (rear): 8 line-level inputs on a DB25 connector, fed from PHB-350 jacks 9-16. Selected on a per-channel basis from the front panel; same idea as the ISA's line inputs: route a line-level source through the OctoPre's circuit for its character.
• Outputs (rear): 8 line-level outputs on a single DB25 connector, broken out via a fan cable to 8 male XLRs. These run through the wall into Toft XLR (MIC) inputs 9 through 16 (same trim-not-gain situation as the ISA's outputs into channels 1-8).

5. Hosa mic input panel 2 (wired to the OctoPre)

Identical to panel 1: 16 XLR female jacks, jacks 1-8 wired to the OctoPre's mic inputs 1-8 (9-16 unused). A mic plugged into panel 2 jack N reaches the studio on Toft channel N+8, so panel 2 jack 1 arrives on Toft channel 9.

6. Hosa PHB-350 (TRS line input panel)

A patchbay panel with balanced 1/4" TRS jacks on its front, used as the live room's line-input panel. Anywhere a performer wants to send a line-level source from the live room into one of the preamps (a synth, a DI'd guitar, a hardware effects unit, an outboard preamp's line output), they plug it into the front of this panel.

• Front jacks 1-8: route to ISA line inputs 1-8.
• Front jacks 9-16: route to OctoPre line inputs 1-8.

Both preamps accept a line-level source at the rear in addition to the mic-level XLR, selected with a per-channel front-panel switch. The reason for routing a line-level source through the preamp this way is sonic, not technical: the signal arrives already strong, so the preamp's gain knob acts as a trim. What you're getting is the preamp's circuit character on a source that didn't need the preamp's gain.

From the preamp onward, the signal travels the same path as a mic-level signal would: through the preamp's circuit, out the DB25 line output, through the wall to the Toft. PHB-350 jacks 1-8 reach Toft channels 1-8 via the ISA; jacks 9-16 reach Toft channels 9-16 via the OctoPre.

7. Rane MH4 Mojo Series (4-out headphone splitter)

Photo via Rane Corporation.

Performers in the live room wear headphones during tracking so they can hear themselves and the other tracks while playing. The MH4 takes one stereo cue mix from the control room and sends four copies of that same mix to four headphone jacks on its front, each with its own volume knob.

This is different from a live-sound setup, where each performer's monitor has its own custom mix on its own aux. Most sessions in our studio are small enough that everyone in the live room can work from a single shared cue mix; different players just need different volumes, which is what the MH4's four independent level knobs are for. (A larger studio might run a different headphone amp where each output gets its own custom mix; we don't.)

• Inputs (rear): One stereo cue source on two TRS jacks (L+R), coming from the control room: Toft Aux Master 1 (L) + Aux Master 2 (R).
• Outputs (front): Four 1/4" headphone jacks, each with its own level knob. Players plug their headphones in here.

The control-room console and side rack

The Toft sits on a console desk in the control room. Built into the right end of the desk is a side rack holding everything the Toft routes to or from. Three pieces of gear in the side rack, plus one more sitting on the console desk next to the Toft:

1. Furman PL-8 Series 2 (power conditioner)

Same model as the live-room rack's. Powers everything in the side rack from one outlet, with one master switch. (The Toft itself has its own power switch and plugs into a separate dedicated outlet.)

2. Avid HDX I/O (audio interface)

Photo via Avid Technology.

The audio interface connecting the Toft to Pro Tools. 16 analog inputs become Pro Tools record tracks; 16 analog outputs return Pro Tools playback to the console.

• Analog inputs 1-8 (DB25, +4 dBu): Receive the Toft submaster outputs 1-8 via a DB25-to-8×TRS fan cable.
• Analog inputs 9-16 (DB25, +4 dBu): Receive the Toft channel direct outs 9-16 via a DB25-to-8×TRS fan cable. Each direct out taps its channel's post-fader signal as a single dedicated track to Pro Tools, separate from anything the submasters are doing.
• Analog outputs 1-8 (DB25): Return Pro Tools playback to the Toft submaster MONITOR RETURNS 1-8 via a second DB25-to-8×TRS fan cable.
• Analog outputs 9-16 (DB25): Return Pro Tools playback to the Toft channel MON inputs 9-16 via a second DB25-to-8×TRS fan cable. Each MON input is the in-line monitor path on its channel strip, controlled by the channel's MON LEVEL and MON PAN.
  Remember I/P REV

  Each Toft channel has an I/P REV (input reverse) button that swaps which input feeds the channel fader and which feeds the MON path. Normally the MIC/LINE input goes to the fader and the MON input is the in-line monitor; with I/P REV engaged, the MON input goes to the fader and the MIC/LINE input is sent down the monitor path. On channels 9-16, this is how you put a Pro Tools playback track on the channel fader for mixdown.

• Connection to Mac Pro: A single proprietary cable to the HDX PCIe card installed inside the Mac Pro. The PCIe card carries far more simultaneous channels than a USB or Thunderbolt interface would, which is why the HDX uses one.

3. SSL XLogic G Series Compressor (stereo bus compressor)

Photo via Solid State Logic.

A stereo bus compressor: one of the most-used pieces of mixdown gear in modern studio history. Used to gently glue a stereo mix together by compressing its loudest moments by a few dB at a time. Threshold, ratio, attack, and release work the same way they do in the dynamics reading; this is the analog hardware version of the same idea.

The SSL is patched as a parallel compressor in this studio: any channel that turns up its Aux 5 and Aux 6 knobs sends a copy of its signal to the compressor, and the compressor's stereo output returns to the Toft on LINE input 13 (L) and LINE input 14 (R). The dry signal stays on the original channel's fader; the compressed signal sits alongside it on the channel 13 and channel 14 faders. Blending the two is what makes it parallel: full dynamics on the dry, full squash on the wet, dialed together to taste.

• Send to the compressor: Aux 5 (L) + Aux 6 (R).
• Return from the compressor: LINE input 13 (L) + LINE input 14 (R).

4. Behringer Xenyx QX1204USB (small mixer + USB interface, on the console desk)

Photo via Behringer.

A small 8-channel mixer that sits on the console desk next to the Toft. In this studio it does three jobs at once: an effects unit (using its built-in Klark Teknik FX processor), a way to bring laptop audio into the Toft, and a way to send the Toft's master mix out to the laptop for recording. All three jobs run simultaneously through the same little box.

Role 1: Effects unit. The Toft sends a stereo signal to the Behringer via Aux 3 (L) and Aux 4 (R), which arrive on the Behringer's XLR inputs on channels 3 and 4. Those two channels are routed inside the Behringer to its ALT 3-4 bus, which carries the signal through the built-in effects processor and back out the Behringer's ALT 3-4 outputs. From there the wet signal returns to the Toft on LINE inputs 11 (L) and 12 (R). The Toft channels carrying that return become the "wet" channels for any effect loaded on the Behringer (reverb, delay, chorus, and so on).

Role 2: Laptop audio into the Toft (dry). When you plug a laptop into the Behringer via USB, the laptop's audio appears inside the Behringer as a source for the Control Room bus, selected by pressing the USB/2-track button on the Control Room source matrix. The Control Room bus then sends the laptop audio out the Behringer's Control Room outputs and into the Toft on LINE inputs 9 (L) and 10 (R). This path is independent of the Behringer's main mix fader, so it's the laptop's dry signal arriving at the Toft, untouched by anything happening on the Behringer's main mix.

Role 3: Toft master mix back to the laptop. The Toft's Master O/P (L+R) is patched into the Behringer's LINE inputs on channels 1 and 2. Those two channels are routed to the Behringer's main mix bus, which is sent back out the USB cable to the laptop. The laptop sees the full Toft master mix as its USB input and can record it as a stereo file. The laptop is recording, the Behringer is the bridge.

How the studio's signals actually flow

With every cable in place, here's a complete map of every jack on the back of the Toft and what's plugged into it. Three sections, each split into INS (signals arriving at the Toft), OUTS (signals leaving the Toft), and LOOPS (insert points where signal leaves and returns on the same jack).

Walkthrough: a vocal mic, end to end

This walkthrough follows one vocal from the moment it hits the mic to a finished, recorded take. A singer stands in the live room at a mic on a stand, singing along to a reference track that plays from a laptop on the console desk. Each part adds one stage to the chain and assumes the one before it is working. The singer hears the reference in their headphones, but it stays off the recording: what the laptop captures is the vocal, plus the reverb and compression you add along the way.

Part 1 · Mic from live room to control-room speakers

Get a signal moving from the singer's mic all the way to the monitors in the control room, with the level set cleanly at every stage. Everything below is done silently, with the meters as the only feedback, until the very last step.

This walkthrough runs the vocal through the ISA, the studio's higher-grade preamp, on channel 1.

1. In the live room: place the mic on a stand at the singer's mouth height. Plug an XLR cable into the bottom of the mic; plug the other end into jack 1 of Hosa panel 1 on the rack.
2. At the Toft master section, silence the room before any gain-staging. All of the work below is done with the speakers off so you set gain by the meters, not by ear.
   • Master fader: pull all the way down.
   • MONITOR LEVEL knob (the knob feeding the control-room speakers, in the master section): turn fully counter-clockwise to zero.
3. At the ISA 828 front panel, channel 1, set the controls before sending any signal:
   • Input select: set to MIC (not LINE, not INSERT). The channel is now listening to the rear XLR jack, which is fed by Hosa panel 1 jack 1.
   • Gain and Trim: the ISA splits its gain across two controls, a stepped Gain switch (0 to 60 dB in 10 dB steps) and a continuous Trim. Set the Gain switch to 0 and the Trim to minimum before the source makes sound.
   • Impedance: set to the standard position for now. This control changes how the preamp loads the mic, which shifts the tone; the standard setting is a safe default, and you can experiment with it once a clean signal is moving.
   The impedance options

   The Z switch steps through four settings. A lower setting loads the mic harder and brings out more of its character in the lows and mids; a higher setting is flatter there, brighter on top, and a little louder. The standard position is ISA 110.

   • Low (600 Ω): the heaviest load and the most colored result.
   • ISA 110 (1.4 kΩ): the original Focusrite preamp's impedance; a safe default, and the recommended setting for ribbon mics.
   • Med (2.4 kΩ): a step flatter and more open.
   • High (6.8 kΩ): the most level and the brightest top end.
   • +48V: the ISA switches phantom power per channel. If the mic is a condenser, press +48V on channel 1 so it lights. A dynamic (Shure SM58 and similar) leaves it off.
   • HPF: engage it. The high-pass filter rolls off subsonic rumble (footsteps, HVAC, mic-stand thumps) before it reaches the preamp, and a vocal has nothing useful down there.
   • Phase: leave it off. Polarity matters when two mics capture the same source; with a single vocal mic there's nothing to be out of phase with.
4. Now stage the gain at the source: the goal is to set the loudness of the signal here, before it leaves the ISA, so that everything downstream (the Toft, the Behringer, the laptop) receives a clean, healthy line-level signal it doesn't have to fight.
   • Ask the singer to sing the loudest part of the song at full performance volume. Not a polite test, the real thing. The gain is being set for the loudest moment that will ever hit this mic during tracking.
   • Watch the channel 1 meter on the ISA. The lower lights show that signal is arriving; the overload indicator near the top warns that the signal is getting too hot. If the overload light catches, the signal is too loud.
   • While the singer is singing, bring the gain up. Raise the Gain switch a step at a time until the loudest peaks are sitting in range on the meter, then fine-tune with the Trim so those peaks register strongly but stay clear of the overload indicator. For a singer at normal performance distance, you'll end at a moderate setting.
5. At the Toft, channel 1: walk the channel strip top to bottom and set every control. Leave the EQ section alone for now; everything else needs to be in a known state before signal reaches the fader.
   • +48V: leave off. Phantom power is already being supplied to the mic by the ISA if the mic is a condenser. The Toft's +48V button supplies phantom to the channel's own XLR input; the channel is receiving line-level signal from the ISA, so there's no need for the Toft to supply phantom.
   • PHASE (Ø): leave off (up, not engaged). One mic in play; nothing to fix.
   • LINE button: leave off (up, not pressed). When LINE is pressed, the channel switches from the rear XLR (the mic path) to the rear LINE jack. The channel needs to listen to the XLR, so LINE stays unpressed.
   • I/P REV button: leave off (up, not pressed). This swaps the channel and monitor signal paths; not needed here.
   • INPUT GAIN: turn fully counter-clockwise to start at zero. This knob is a trim; the real gain was set at the ISA. While the singer sings at performance volume, slowly turn INPUT GAIN clockwise and watch the channel 1 meter on the Toft (the two LEDs next to the fader: green lights at -20 dB, red lights at +10 dB; the green should pulse with the singing, the red should stay dark or only flicker on the very loudest peaks). If the singer is loud enough to hit the green LED steadily with INPUT GAIN near zero, leave it there.
   • EQ section: leave alone. Make sure the EQ IN button is off (up) so the EQ is bypassed and the channel is passing the mic signal flat. All four EQ boost/cut knobs (HF, HMF, LMF, LF) should be at their center detents (12 o'clock). The 80 Hz HPF button stays off. The EQ TO MON button stays off.
   • Aux sends 1 through 6: all six knobs fully counter-clockwise (zero). Leave the AUX 5-6 TO MON button off.
   • MON LEVEL: turn fully counter-clockwise (zero). Nothing is returning to MON yet.
   • MON PAN: center (12 o'clock).
   • MUTE / AFL button: leave off (up, no LED lit).
   • Routing buttons (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8): pull all four up so they're off. The channel goes to the master mix directly, not via a subgroup.
   • L-R button: push down so the channel feeds the master mix bus.
   • Channel PAN: center (12 o'clock). A mono vocal sits in the middle.
   • Channel FADER: set at unity (the line marked 0 on the fader strip, usually about 3/4 of the way up the travel).
6. Finish gain-staging at the output, then bring the sound into the room. Up to this point everything has been done silently, with the meters as the only feedback. That's intentional: gain staging is a visual discipline first. The output is the last stage to check before opening the speakers.
   • Ask the singer to sing at performance volume.
   • Slowly raise the MASTER FADER from the bottom of its travel toward unity. Nothing in the room yet (MONITOR LEVEL is still at zero), so watch the master left/right bargraph meters in the master section. They should respond to the singing, peaking comfortably in the upper green range without lighting the top red segments.
   • If the master meters are peaking into the red with the master fader at unity, something upstream is too loud. The first place to fix it is at the channel: pull the channel 1 fader down a couple of dB at a time until the master meters settle. Don't go back to the ISA or the channel INPUT GAIN to fix this; those were set for healthy recording level, and lowering them now would mean a quieter signal in the chain.
   • Once the master meters look healthy, bring the sound into the room: slowly turn the MONITOR LEVEL knob clockwise from zero until the speakers are at a comfortable listening volume. The room fills with the singer's voice.
   • From here on, leave the master fader alone and use the MONITOR LEVEL knob to change how loud things are in the room. The master fader sets what the master mix bus is doing (which is what the Behringer will eventually send to the laptop for recording); MONITOR LEVEL just sets how loud the speakers are.
   • If the room is silent when MONITOR LEVEL reaches noon, walk back through the chain: master fader at unity, master meters showing signal, channel fader at unity, channel L-R button down, channel MUTE off, Toft channel meter showing signal during singing. Fix whichever step broke and try again.
7. The principle behind all of this: the loudness was set at the ISA (the earliest stage that can do it cleanly), and the Toft's INPUT GAIN only had to nudge or do nothing. If the Toft meter was silent or weak in the previous step and required a large INPUT GAIN move to come up, that's a sign the ISA gain is too low; go back and add gain there, not at the Toft. The rule is always the same: set the loudness at the earliest stage in the chain that can do the job cleanly. Adding gain later (at the Toft trim, in a recording app after capture) amplifies noise along with the signal.

Part 2 · Bring a reference track from the laptop into the Toft

The singer often wants to sing along to a reference track: a backing instrumental, the song they're covering, a rough mix of their arrangement. The reference lives on the laptop and travels into the Toft via the Behringer. While you build the session, the reference plays on the master mix so you can hear it on the control-room monitors and balance it against the vocal. In Part 6, before you record, you'll mute the reference channels so it stays out of the recorded take while the singer keeps hearing it in the headphone cue (Part 3).

1. Plug in and set the interface format. Connect a USB cable from the laptop to the USB port on the rear of the Behringer. On the Mac, open Audio MIDI Setup (Applications > Utilities), select the Behringer in the device list (it appears as USB Audio CODEC or Xenyx QX1204USB), and set its Format to 48,000 Hz and 16-bit. That is the most this interface offers; it does not do 24- or 32-bit. Make the Behringer the system output and input device while you are here.
   Match the project to the hardware

   The rule for a clean recording: the project you record into runs at the same sample rate and bit depth as the interface you record through. This Behringer tops out at 48 kHz / 16-bit, so the whole session runs there: the reference, the project, and the take. Other gear sets other numbers (phone recordings are commonly 48 kHz / 24-bit; an Ableton session might run at 48 kHz / 32-bit). The skill is reading what the interface supports and matching the project to it, every time you sit down at new gear.

2. Build the recording project. The reference and the recording both live in one project, set to match the interface.
   • Bounce the reference from wherever it lives as a 48 kHz / 16-bit stereo WAV.
   • Open a new project in your DAW, set it to 48 kHz / 16-bit, and point its audio device at the Behringer.
   • Import the reference WAV onto a track. This is what the singer sings along to, and what plays out to the monitors and the cue.
   • Save and name the project before you go further.
   Naming and organizing the session

   Save the project in your own folder, ~/Documents/lastname/recordings/, with a name that still makes sense months later: lowercase, words joined by hyphens, performer and date. A vocal session for a singer named Garcia on September 23 becomes garcia-vocal-2026-09-23. Name the tracks inside plainly too: reference for the backing track, vocal for what you record. Clear labels are what let you reopen the session later and know what everything is.

3. At the Behringer: route the USB return to the Control Room bus, which is what feeds the cable going into Toft LINE 9-10.
   • USB/2-TR source button (on the Control Room source matrix): press it in. The laptop's audio now appears on the Control Room bus.
   • Important: do NOT press USB/2-TR TO MAIN. That button would route the laptop also onto the Behringer's Main Mix bus, which is the bus that will eventually carry the Toft's master mix back to the laptop for recording. If the laptop's reference ends up on the Main Mix, it gets recorded into itself (feedback loop on the recording side). Keep USB/2-TR TO MAIN off.
   • Control Room level knob: set to noon. This is the level out of the Behringer's Control Room outputs, which run to Toft LINE 9-10.
4. Play the reference track in your project at a moderate level. The Behringer's main meters won't move (the reference isn't on the Main Mix), but the Toft's LINE 9 and 10 jacks are now receiving signal.
5. At the Toft, channels 9 and 10: set up both strips the same way you set up channel 1 in Part 1, with one key difference. Pause the laptop first so this happens silently.
   • +48V, PHASE, I/P REV: all off.
   • LINE button: press it in on both. This is the key difference from channel 1. With LINE pressed, each channel listens to its rear LINE jack (the Behringer's Control Room outputs, left on 9 and right on 10) instead of the mic XLR.
   • INPUT GAIN: start both fully counter-clockwise.
   • EQ section: leave alone (EQ IN off, knobs centered, HPF off).
   • Aux sends 1-6: all at zero. Aux 1 will come up in Part 3 to put the reference in the headphone cue.
   • MON LEVEL: zero. MUTE/AFL off.
   • Routing buttons (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8): all up.
   • L-R button: press it in on both, the same as the vocal. The reference now plays on the master mix, so you can hear it on the control-room monitors while you build the chain. In Part 6 you'll mute channels 9 and 10 to keep the reference out of the recorded take.
   • Channel PAN: turn channel 9 fully left and channel 10 fully right. The two channels carry the left and right sides of the laptop's stereo image.
   • Channel FADER: set both at unity. With L-R in, these faders set how loud the reference sits on the monitors against the vocal; unity is a good starting point.
6. Stage the gain on channels 9 and 10: play the reference track at its normal level.
   • Slowly turn INPUT GAIN on channel 9 clockwise while watching the channel 9 LED meter. Stop when the green LED pulses steadily with the music and the red only flickers on the loudest peaks.
   • Match the move on channel 10: turn its INPUT GAIN by roughly the same amount.
7. Confirm the reference is in the room. With the monitors up from Part 1, you now hear the reference track alongside the vocal. Set the balance between them with the channel 9 and 10 faders against the vocal on channel 1. This is the working mix you'll build the reverb and compression around in Parts 4 and 5.

Part 3 · Build the singer's headphone cue

The singer needs to hear themselves and the reference track in the headphones. The studio's headphone path is: Toft Aux 1 (L) and Aux 2 (R) → Rane MH4 → headphones in the live room. Whatever channels turn up their Aux 1 and Aux 2 knobs reach the singer's ears.

1. In the live room: plug the singer's headphones into jack 1 on the front of the Rane MH4.
2. Set the Rane MH4 jack 1 level knob to about 9 o'clock (low, so nothing startling reaches the singer's ears when signal first arrives).
3. At the Toft master section: find the Aux 1 and Aux 2 knobs at the top of the master strip (the row of six small green Aux Master knobs). Set both to unity (around 12 o'clock).
4. Put the vocal in the cue. On Toft channel 1 (the vocal): set Aux 1 and Aux 2 to pre-fader (the small PRE switch next to each knob; pre is engaged). Pre-fader is correct here: the engineer's channel fader is for the control-room mix, not for what the singer hears. Slowly turn the channel 1 Aux 1 and Aux 2 knobs up together, by the same amount, so the vocal sits in the center of the cue. Ask the singer to speak; if needed, raise the Rane jack 1 level knob until they say it's comfortable.
5. Put the reference track in the cue. On channel 9 (reference L): turn up Aux 1 (which is the L side of the cue), leave Aux 2 down. On channel 10 (reference R): turn up Aux 2, leave Aux 1 down. Set both to pre-fader. The reference now plays in stereo in the singer's headphones, parallel to the vocal.
6. Balance the cue with the singer: ask "more of your voice or more of the track?" Adjust the Aux 1 and Aux 2 sends on channel 1 (the vocal), and on channels 9 and 10 (the reference), until the blend is what the singer wants. If the whole cue is too loud or too quiet, use the Rane jack 1 level knob.

The cue mix is now independent of the control-room mix. The engineer can mute the vocal in the room, ride a fader, or solo something for inspection, and the singer hears none of it. If a second player joins on a later take, plug their headphones into Rane jack 2 and set jack 2's level knob to their preference. Everyone shares the same blend with their own volume.

Part 4 · Add a reverb on the vocal via the Behringer FX

A reverb on the vocal makes it sit in a sense of space (a room, a hall, a plate). The send-and-return setup: Toft channel 1 sends a copy of the dry vocal to Aux 3 (L) and Aux 4 (R); the Aux 3-4 sends arrive at the Behringer on channels 3 and 4 XLR; those channels feed the Behringer's ALT 3-4 bus through the built-in FX processor (loaded with a reverb preset); the wet stereo output of the FX returns to the Toft on LINE inputs 11 and 12. The wet returns join the master mix on their own channels, blended against the dry vocal on channel 1.

1. At the Toft master section: set Aux 3 and Aux 4 on the Aux Master row to unity (around 12 o'clock).
2. At the Behringer, load a reverb preset. The Multi-FX processor sits on the right-hand side of the Behringer, near the master section, with a small numeric display and a knob marked PROGRAM. Turn the PROGRAM knob to scroll the presets; the number blinks on the display as you pass each one. The reverbs are grouped at the start of the list (hall, room, plate, and a few more). Stop on one and press the PROGRAM knob in to load it; the blinking stops, which tells you the preset is active.
   Want a different effect?

   The Multi-FX processor runs one preset at a time, so reaching for something other than reverb is the same move: turn the PROGRAM knob to a new preset and press to load. A few worth trying on a vocal: a delay or echo for repeats trailing each phrase; a chorus to thicken and widen a thin voice; a flanger or phaser for slow, sweeping motion; a pitch shift or detune for a doubled or harmonized sound; or a delay-plus-reverb combination patch for one spacious wash. To layer two of these at once you would need a second processor, which is why the studio runs compression on the separate SSL rather than here.

3. At the Behringer, channels 3 and 4: set the strip controls so the Aux 3-4 sends from the Toft pass through the FX and out to the ALT 3-4 bus.
   • Gain (channels 3 and 4): start at noon. The Toft is sending a line-level Aux signal into the Behringer's XLR mic input; the Behringer's preamp is the gain stage. Watch the FX send meter as you turn up the Toft's Aux 3-4 sends in step 5; adjust gain on Behringer ch 3-4 if needed.
   • FX send (channels 3 and 4): turn up to noon. This feeds the channel into the built-in FX processor; the processed signal returns to the channel.
   • MUTE button (channels 3 and 4): press in. On the Xenyx, MUTE takes the channel off the Main mix and routes it to the ALT 3-4 bus instead. That bus leaves the Behringer on the ALT 3-4 outputs and returns to the Toft on LINE 11-12, carrying the wet reverb.
   • Channel faders (channels 3 and 4): set to unity, so the muted channels feed the ALT 3-4 bus at a healthy level.
4. At the Toft, channels 11 and 12: set up the strips like channels 9 and 10 in Part 2, with the L-R button pressed so the wet reverb reaches the master mix.
   • LINE button: pressed in (the channels listen to the rear LINE jacks 11 and 12, which receive the Behringer ALT 3-4 outputs).
   • Other top-of-strip controls: +48V off, PHASE off, I/P REV off, INPUT GAIN at zero (you'll trim in step 6).
   • EQ section: leave alone.
   • Aux sends 3-6: at zero. Aux 1 and Aux 2 come up at the end of this part to put reverb in the singer's cue.
   • MON LEVEL: zero. MUTE/AFL off.
   • Subgroup routing buttons: all up.
   • L-R button: press DOWN on both channels. The wet reverb joins the master mix.
   • Channel PAN: hard left on channel 11, hard right on channel 12. (Preserves the reverb's stereo width.)
   • Channel FADERS: start at -∞ (all the way down) so the wet doesn't blast into the master before you've staged its gain.
5. Send the vocal to the reverb. On Toft channel 1: find the Aux 3 and Aux 4 knobs. Set both to post-fader (the PRE switch next to each knob is up). Post-fader is correct for an effects send: if you pull the dry vocal down, the wet should follow. Turn Aux 3 and Aux 4 up together, by the same amount, while the singer sings.
6. Stage the wet return. Watch Toft channels 11 and 12 meters; bring up INPUT GAIN on each until the green meter LED pulses with the reverb tails. Then bring up the channel 11 and 12 faders from -∞ toward unity, watching the master meters and listening in the room. The wet sits behind the dry; how far back is a creative choice.
7. Adjust to taste. Two controls for the wet/dry balance: the Aux 3-4 send on channel 1 (how much vocal goes to the reverb in the first place) and the channel 11-12 faders (how loud the wet return joins the master mix). Move whichever feels right for the gesture you want.
8. Put a little reverb in the singer's cue. Singers perform better with some space around the voice. On Toft channel 11, turn up Aux 1 (the left side of the cue); on channel 12, turn up Aux 2 (the right side). Set both to pre-fader, matching the rest of the cue. The wet reverb now reaches the headphones in stereo, independent of how much reverb sits in the room and on the recording (which the channel 11-12 faders set). A light touch is plenty.

Part 5 · Add parallel compression on the vocal via the SSL

Parallel compression keeps the dry vocal intact on channel 1 and adds a heavily compressed copy alongside it on the master mix. The blend is the engineer's main control: full dynamics on the dry, full squash on the wet, dialed together. Same send-and-return shape as the reverb in Part 4, with two differences: the send goes on Aux 5-6 (which run direct to the SSL), and the return arrives on Toft LINE 13-14.

1. At the Toft master section: set Aux 5 and Aux 6 on the Aux Master row to unity (around 12 o'clock).
2. At the Toft, channels 13 and 14: set up like channels 11 and 12 in Part 4.
   • LINE button: pressed in.
   • +48V, PHASE, I/P REV: off. INPUT GAIN: zero. EQ alone. Auxes at zero. MON LEVEL zero. MUTE/AFL off. Subgroup routing up.
   • L-R button: press DOWN on both channels.
   • Channel PAN: hard left on 13, hard right on 14.
   • Channel FADERS: start at -∞.
3. At the SSL: press IN so the compressor is engaged. Set gentle starting points: Ratio 2:1, Attack 30 ms, Release 0.3 s, Threshold high (clockwise, no gain reduction yet), Make-up gain 0 dB. Leave the unit's other two buttons out: the external side-chain (KEY) button, which would make the compressor trigger from the rear key input instead of the vocal itself, and Auto Fade, a timed fade feature unrelated to compression (its Rate knob does nothing while Auto Fade is off).
4. Send the vocal to the compressor. On Toft channel 1: find the Aux 5 and Aux 6 knobs. Set both to post-fader (same logic as the reverb: pull the dry down, the wet follows). Turn Aux 5 and Aux 6 up together while the singer sings. Watch the SSL's VU meter; bring the threshold down (counter-clockwise) until the loudest words pull the needle down by 3 to 6 dB. The compressor is squashing the wet copy hard, which is what parallel compression wants.
5. Stage the wet return. Watch Toft channels 13 and 14 meters; bring up INPUT GAIN on each until the meters pulse with the compressed signal. Then bring the channel 13 and 14 faders up from -∞ toward unity.
6. Blend. The dry vocal lives on channel 1's fader. The wet (compressed) lives on the channel 13 and 14 faders. Pull both up together to fill out the vocal; pull the wet back if it's overwhelming the dry. The blend is the parallel-comp control. A common starting place is dry at unity, wet about -6 dB below the dry.

If you want to compare with-and-without, pull the channel 13 and 14 faders all the way down. The dry vocal stays untouched on channel 1; you're hearing it alone. Bring 13-14 back up and the squashed parallel layer fills in underneath. That's the move: blend, A/B, blend again.

Part 6 · Record the master mix to the laptop

The full mix on the master fader (dry vocal + wet reverb on 11-12 + wet compression on 13-14) is what the engineer hears in the room and what gets recorded. The singer hears something close but not identical in their headphones: their cue carries the dry vocal, the reference, and the reverb you sent to it in Part 4, but not the compression. To capture this mix, the Toft's Master O/P runs to the Behringer's LINE inputs 1 and 2; the Behringer routes those channels to its main mix bus; the main mix bus is what the laptop sees as its USB input, where the recording project on the laptop captures it as a stereo file.

Before recording, mute channels 9 and 10 on the Toft. While you built the chain the reference played on the monitors (L-R in, Part 2); muting it now drops it out of the master mix so it stays off the recorded take. The singer keeps hearing the reference in the headphone cue, which is fed from the pre-fader Aux 1-2 sends set in Part 3 and is independent of the channel mute.

1. At the Behringer, channels 1 and 2: these are receiving the Toft's Master O/P L+R.
   • Gain (channels 1 and 2): start at noon. The Toft is sending a line-level master signal into the Behringer's LINE inputs; adjust gain as needed once the singer is performing.
   • Main mix faders (channels 1 and 2): bring up to unity. The Toft's master mix now appears on the Behringer's main mix bus.
   • Other channel buttons: ALT 3-4 off (not engaged), MUTE off, FX send down (you don't need to route the master mix through the Behringer's FX).
2. Confirm the Behringer's main mix is sending out USB. The QX1204USB sends its main mix bus back out USB to the laptop automatically; there's no separate switch. Watch the Behringer's main mix meter LEDs respond to the singer.
3. At the laptop, in the recording project from Part 2: add a new stereo audio track and set its input to the Behringer (the same USB Audio CODEC / Xenyx QX1204USB). This track captures the Toft master mix arriving over USB. The project is already at 48 kHz / 16-bit, matching the interface, so the take records at the session rate.
4. Arm that track and watch the input meters in the app. They should respond to the singer. If they don't move, walk back through the chain: Behringer ch 1-2 main mix faders up, Behringer master fader up, Toft Master fader up, Toft channel 1 L-R down, channel 1 fader up, singer singing.
5. Set the recording level. The target on the laptop's input meter is the same target you've been using all session: loudest peaks sitting around -6 to -3 dBFS, never lighting the red clip indicator. If peaks are too hot, the first place to fix it is at the Toft master fader (not at the laptop's input gain, not at the Behringer ch 1-2 gain). The Toft master is the cleanest stage to control the recording level.
6. Record. Press record in the app, count the singer in, capture the take. Listen back to the take. The laptop's playback returns through the Behringer and out the Control Room outs to Toft LINE 9-10, the same channels the reference track uses. Un-mute channels 9 and 10 (you muted them to record) to hear the take on the control-room speakers. The recording captures dry vocal + wet reverb + wet compression, summed at the Toft master fader.

Comping the takes

You rarely keep one take whole. Across several passes, one take has the strongest first verse, another nails the last chorus, a third has the cleanest line into the bridge. Comping (short for compositing) is building one final performance from the best moments of several takes. You do it right in the recording project from Part 6, where the passes you recorded sit on the vocal track at the session's 48 kHz / 16-bit.

Recording several passes over the same stretch of the song already stacked them for you: Logic groups them into a Take Folder, Live into Take Lanes. The two guides below pick up from there; use the one for the DAW you recorded in. (If you recorded in a different app, first export each take as a 48 kHz / 16-bit WAV and import them onto one track in Logic or Ableton.)

Comping in Logic Pro

Logic's Take Folders and Quick Swipe Comping are built for this.

1. Find your takes on the vocal track. Several passes over the same section stack into a Take Folder automatically. If your takes are separate regions instead, select them all, Control-click one, and choose Folder > Pack Take Folder so each take sits on its own lane inside one folder.
2. Swipe to comp. Open the folder with its disclosure triangle to see every take. Drag across the part of any take you want to keep; the swiped section highlights and plays, and the comp row at the top of the folder shows the result. Move through the song phrase by phrase, swiping the best take for each.
3. Audition and refine. Play it back. To change a choice, swipe a different take over that span; Logic crossfades the join automatically, so phrase-to-phrase transitions stay smooth.
4. Flatten and export. When the comp is right, open the Take Folder menu (top-left of the folder) and choose Flatten to render it to one region. Then bounce the project (File > Bounce) or export the region (File > Export) as a WAV at 48 kHz / 16-bit.

Comping in Ableton Live

Live 11 and later comp with Take Lanes in the Arrangement View.

1. Show your take lanes. Several passes over the same section stack into Take Lanes under the vocal track. Right-click the track and choose Show Take Lanes to reveal them, one pass per lane.
2. Comp phrase by phrase. In a take lane, drag a time range across the part you want; that selection is promoted to the main lane at the top and becomes the active take for that span. Work through the song, choosing the best take in each take lane for each phrase.
3. Audition and refine. Play the main lane back. To swap a choice, select the same range in a different take lane. If you hear a click at a join, drag the fade handle at the clip edge to add a short crossfade.
4. Consolidate and export. Select the full span of the finished comp in the main lane and press Cmd-J (Ctrl-J on Windows) to consolidate it into one clip. Then File > Export Audio/Video and render a WAV at 48 kHz / 16-bit.

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Links and further reading to come.