In Summary

DAW workflows encourage us to record now and think later, but the hardware recording channel strip brings back the easy days of just dialling in sounds first and recording them. Here are seven of our favourite boxes for great sounds to hit the ground running.

Going Deeper

Recording Channel Strips - Why Use Them?

Whether it happens before hitting record or later on in the mix, inevitably time needs to be spent processing sounds to some degree. More often than not that happens in the mix, especially where studio time in a decent tracking room is at a premium. That way, mixes can take advantage of all the processing and recall needed when working in-the-box (ITB).

In other situations, such as where tracking time is less restricted, or when the sources don’t change too much (such as with regular clients or self-records), recording with processing can be a good idea. In fact, pre-DAW, this was how many engineers chose to record - some still do. After all, if time is going to be spent dialling some processing in, if the desired result is known why leave it until the mix?

Some DAWs and interface DSP mixers actually allow recording with audio plugin processing inserted (most DAWs still need manual routing to achieve this) but it can be clunky and sometimes latent. Larger rooms often gravitate instead to a hardware console workflow using the board’s channel processing on the way in.

For console-less recordists, the hardware recording channel strip is another way to get things down for engineers who like to capture ready-made sounds. Often combining a mic amp into compression and equalisation, these have much in common with their vertical relatives and afford less ‘dial-in time’ when it comes to the mix. Here we round up some of our favourite boxes to let engineers to roll up their sleeves to print pristine sounds right from the start.

1 - The Purists’ Strip - Manley CORE Reference Channel Strip

Many reading this will be familiar with Manley’s revered pale blue rack boxes. Although known for their compressors and EQs, the company also makes premium, high headroom recording channels such as this one: the CORE reference channel strip. This has much of the tube-and-transformer goodness that many associate with the big, involving sounds-like-a-record hues that you’ll struggle to get using a just a budget interface into the DAW.

The signal enters through a hand-wound MANLEY IRON input transformer, later hitting an implementation of Manley’s Class-A circuit topology found in the VOXBOX and others in the line-up. The front 2U panel layout is nicely spaced out and self-explanatory to most of those studios with the budget to buy one of these. Interestingly, the compression happens in front of the amplifier stage to keep the signal path as short and quiet as possible.

2 - The 1073-Inspired Strip - Heritage Audio BritStrip

Staying with the classic vibes, our next choice is less of a nod to recording royalty and more of a full-on tribute. If you’re not familiar with the original Neve 1073, this is the one that engineers still lose their minds over thanks to its sublime discrete Class A transformer sheen that appears on countless million-selling records. Though not quite the same as a ‘real’ 1073, Heritage Audio’s Britstrip is perhaps the closest thing you’ll get to a Neve console channel in the wider sense without having to sell any major internal organs to get one.

The BritStrip combines a 1073-inspired mic preamplifier, an expanded 73 equaliser, a discrete Class-A DI, and a Neve-style diode bridge compressor to round-out the final result.

3 - The American Class A Strip - API TCS II

API is the American console marque known for its big punchy sound, but also for a number of innovations that were adopted by the wider industry. Many know of the company’s 500 series format, but you might not be aware that this has been around since the late 1960s. Since then, its console channels have been a medium for numerous landmark recordings from studios the world over.

The TCS-II is the second iteration of API’s well–regarded TCS (The Channel Strip) that brings the current API console input channel in a single rack space. Beginning with the 512c Mic Preamplifier, inputs get treated to the punch from TCS’s 527A Compressor that features API’s THRUST circuit. Downstream, 550A three band equalisation rounds up a trio of recording refinements before hitting the API console 325 Line Driver. For a final touch of large-format luxury, the compressor and EQ sections are flippable for pre and post treatments, increasing the flexibility of TCS-II. Far from being a total refresh, the TCS-II is more a gentle refinement seeing the arrival of the 527A stage as well as improved metering and control.

4 - The Affordable Strip - PreSonus Studio Channel

Our next strip just goes to show that recording mix-ready sounds isn’t just for those with deep pockets. PreSonus continue to enhance their Studio One DAW with a number of mixer-shaped devices, but also in their stable is their sensibly-named Studio Channel. This unassuming rack-dweller packs perhaps the most features of any channel strip on this list, despite its frugal 1U footprint that even has the power supply in there somehow as well…

Its preamp has all the usual input conditioning available, but also a valve stage with controllable tube drive for a little harmonic edge if you need it. A snappy VCA compressor is switchable to either side of the 3 band EQ which boasts fully parametric control in the middle. If you believe that the best or worst sounding part of the chain is always going to be the engineer’s decisions, this little box could present quite a bargain.

5 - The Vintage Strip - EMI Chandler mic cassette

By the end of the 1960’s monochrome era, EMI had developed their TG12345 desk. The records made through this board certainly have a more vivid, finely-etched sound as compared to the softer valve flavours previously coming out of Abbey Road, and the Chandler Limited TG Microphone Cassette is one of the closest things you can get to a single channel out of one of these consoles.

This transistor channel consists of mic pre into an externally-patchable opto compressor with a Limit knee setting designed to mimic another revered resident at the studio, Fairchild’s 660. From there the signal hits a three band Curve Bender EQ whose output knob serves as the fader for the whole strip.

6 - The Lunchbox Strip - SSL SiX Channel Strip (SiX CH)

And now for something a little dinkier. Not that this little 500 Series lunchbox-filler is at all diminutive in the features department. Taking its design from SSL’s SiX desktop mixers, the only thing smaller than the footprint of this one is its “SiX CH” moniker, presumably chosen so that it would fit on the front!

Apart from that, it’s all there: SuperAnalogue pre with 72dB of clean gain, two bands of SSL classic switchable bell/shelf EQ, and a one knob feed-forward compressor with auto-makeup gain. A close relative of the front end found on the company’s large format console creations, SiX Channel Strip provides a great way to get scalable, quality processing on the way in without having to extend the studio to fit an entire board in. For those who like the idea of having VHD harmonic processing on tap instead there is the VHD 500 pre, but for clean, sculptable recordings, SiX Channel Strip promises to be a legend in its own lunchbox.

7 - The Two-In-One Strip - Universal Audio 6176 Vintage Channel Strip

Finishing off our roundup of recording channel gems is Universal Audio’s 6176 Vintage Channel Strip. Universal Audio will be known to readers of the blog not only as suppliers to the habit of countless audio plugin addicts, but also for their much longer heritage in hardware audio engineering and manufacturing. The original 610 console has since given way to the standalone 610 valve mic pre and its variants, but the original “Green Board” tones from the early 1960’s can still be heard on everything from Stravinsky to Neil Young, both featuring the very same console’s big, rounded infusions.

The 6176 Vintage Channel Strip takes the 610 and casually sneaks another UA legend (1176LN FET compression) onto the back end to do in one box what many have done for years with two separate units. A familiar sight in many studios, the 6176 is the perfect distillation of mic amp, simple EQ, and classic FET compression with bonuses such as series (Join) or parallel (Split) routing to let engineers go with the flow of their choosing.

Commitment Phobia?

The endless choices brought by the DAW can be both the best and worst thing about getting things done. Many older engineers would argue that fewer choices can be a good thing, especially when the best front end of any recording chain is the engineer themself. If the intent is there from the start, many mixes can benefit from tracks with the processing baked-in.

With bigger input counts, the time honoured console workflow is still one of the best ways to get lots of sculpted sounds into the DAW at once. For smaller productions, however, the standalone recording channel strip could be just the thing to make your tracks hit the screen fully-formed.

Whether you’re actively looking to streamline your mix with pre-polished sounds, or just trying to overcome ‘commitment-phobia’, recording with a new tool to inspire your mixes could be just what your workflow needs.