15
of the mic pre into the compressor. Plugging a mic directly into the
compressor just won‟t work. It‟s kind of like putting a PB & J into a VHS
machine: you can do it, but it‟s a bad idea.
Plugging a speaker level ¼ input into your Daking Compressor may blow
it up. This signal is far too hot to work properly with your compressor. If
you need to control dynamic range of a speaker, then compress it as a line
level, before the signal goes to the amplifier.
1.5.3 Line Output (XLR)
The output signal from your compressor comes from here. If you are
connecting your compressor to a patch bay on a console instead of a line
XLR input on another piece of gear, you will want to purchase a female
XLR to male ¼” TRS adaptor cable to make this easy. The output signal
is line level, not mic level, so patching it into a mic pre-amp afterwards is
unnecessary and probably will just cause problems.
1.5.4 +48V DC with a 6 pin DIN connector
Your FET III Compressor uses an +48V DC external power supply with a
DIN connector that is very similar to a laptop power supply. External
power supplies offer many advantages over internal power supplies like
reducing hum from 50 or 60 cycle power sources and improving the safety
of the equipment you are using. Even with the improved safety of the
external power supply we still recommend that you avoid recording in the
bathtub or swimming pools.
1.6 Signal Flow: Patching Into and Out of Your FET III
Compressor
1.6.1 Mic Pre to FET III to Audio Interface or Mixer
Nowadays most people are recording digitally into a Digital Audio
Workstation (DAW) like ProTools, Cubase or Sonar. Most of the audio
interfaces that are available don‟t have high quality microphone preamps,
so many recordists purchase outboard preamps, like Daking‟s Mic Pre
One, to ensure professional quality sound. The mic preamp and
compressor are connected inline directly into the audio interface.
Figure 5 Signal Flow for In-Line Use of FET III
