Traveler input limiter

[Dane]

I've been recording VO's for about a year now doing agency work.
I use my traveler and DP 4.52 and process selects with Waves L2
(post buss)....

What I want to know is:
1. does the Traveler have a Comp limiter or Attenuator in the to help with overdrive ? (as is right now I have to ride my volume alot).

2. How do I assign my comp limiter in waves pluggins to pre buss
while recording audio ?

I know these are basic questions that this Dyslexic editor should have figured out by now.

any help is much appreciated
Thanks

Dane
drp

G4 Powerbook
Traveler
DP 4.5
500Gig GRAID

G5 Dual 2.7
10.4.7
FCP 5.1.1
Shake 4
AE 7
Decklink HDPRO
Huge 1.2TB RAID

G5 Dual 2.0
10.4.7
FCP 5.1
Decklink Extreme
Huge 500 GB RAID

[kelldammit]

the traveler does not have any built-in limiting or compression that i'm aware of. one suggestion would be to lower your input pre gain, so that you don't have to deal with riding the faders so much. use a compressor after the fact to even things out.

otherwise, you could use a hardware compressor, set up with traveler out 3 going to the compressor input, and the compressor output going to traveler input 3. use cuemix to route the incoming vocal to the compressor, and in dp, just record traveler input 3. presto. no latency, and you've inserted compression.
you could also record input 1 additionally, in case you want the flexibility to change your mind and do post-record compression on the dry signal later.
insofar as recording the compressor plugin as an insert within dp...i'm not too familiar with that rev of dp, so i'm not sure if this is directly supported, but i'd imagine one way to do it would be like this:
set up an audio track to record the direct audio.
set up an aux track with the compressor as an insert.
set up another audio track to record the aux bus' output.
route the output of the dry audio record's track to the input of the aux bus. set the output of the aux track to the second audio track (the aux record track). test your levels, and adjust the compressor as necessary.
record.
you should now have 2 tracks recorded. one completely dry track, and the other compressed. the compressed track will probably be behind the dry...due to plugin latency...but you can just line the compressed track up with the dry track if the timing is critical.
i'd probably set up two monitoring busses, so that the talent isn't hearing the late compressed track in addition to the dry.

either of these helpful?

kell

[Jim]

Another tip:

Most of the pros I work with who do digital field recording for film and video do this:

Route your input to two (or more) tracks.

Set one hot, near clipping, and set the other... a "safety" track, 3 or 6 db lower. Then, if you get clipping on the "hot" track, you can splice an un-clipped piece from the "safety" track.

[Shooshie]

Another tip:

Most of the pros I work with who do digital field recording for film and video do this:

Route your input to two (or more) tracks.

Set one hot, near clipping, and set the other... a "safety" track, 3 or 6 db lower. Then, if you get clipping on the "hot" track, you can splice an un-clipped piece from the "safety" track.

Good idea, but how do they go about it? A 2nd pair of mics? In DP and MOTU interfaces, there is no way to boost input signal. You have to do it at the pre-amp or mixer. I guess the 896 does have some input trims, but that's because it functions as a pre-amp. Maybe the Traveler does, too.

Shooshie

[TheHopiWay]

you can do it in DP by using a aux as the input, setting it's output to a bus and then use that bus for inputs into other auxes or tracks (or auxes then routed to tracks) with effects, volume changes etc. insertrd and even automated to your heart's content.
In DP it seems that multiple Aux channels are the closest we can get to a "Y" cord or splitter.

[monkey man]

Hey, fellas

You could "even split" it across 2 input channels, using CueMix:
1) In CueMix, choose an unused output pair.
2) Patch from here to an unused input pair.
3) Boost your mic input with cuemix, leaving it panned centre.

You now have a dual, (evenly)matched signal at your whim.

You could also use CueMix for "Jim's split":
1) In CueMix, choose an unused output pair.
2) Patch from either side to an unused input.
3) Boost your mic input with cuemix, panning it hard to the appropriate side.

You now have a simultaneous, slightly boosted signal at your whim.
Use it wisely...

PS: Monkey-theory only.
No banana was harmed in the development of this solution.

[kelldammit]

just make sure your first level is not clipping the inputs. once that's done, cuemix or no, you'll just get a 3 to6 db quieter track with clipping...