What is a Channel Strip?
Universal Audio’s NEVE 1073 Plugin. It looks pretty simple, but man you really have to learn its power
Hello folks. As more of us leverage the massive power in our personal computers, the availability of amazing very low cost DAWs and that we can now purchase incredible analog to digital interfaces without needing a bank loan, more of us are doing some level of home recording.
Most any DAW of consequence, whether free or charged (avoid subscriptions or face peril) has a simple to use interface that takes the output from the interface and puts it on a track or tracks, depending on the number of outputs and how many concurrent tracks can be armed for recording in the DAW. It’s actually worked for a long time but in recent years we have heard more and more about the “need” to use channel strips when recording. To discover what this need is and who actually needs it, we should first understand just what the hell a channel strip is in the first place.
A digital audio workstation (DAW) channel strip is a collection of audio processing tools arranged in a specific sequence within a DAW’s mixer. It mimics the layout of hardware mixing consoles, providing essential controls for shaping, enhancing, and managing audio signals on individual tracks. Each channel strip typically corresponds to a single audio or MIDI track.
Make sense? We’ve all seen images at least of giant mixing desks. If each of those individual track controls is a channel, then each channel has its own dedicated channel strip. In a traditional mixing world, every channel strip on a board was the same, but in the world of DAWs, each track could conceivably have its own dedicated channel strip. We could do this in the analog days using patch bays and external gear, but it was not precisely trivial to do so. Today it is really easy.
Why Now?
So why do we need channel strips now, when we didn’t have them in the DAWs originally?
Some will say that we don’t, and for those people, they are right, but you or I may take a different position based on what we are committed to deliver. A channel strip is just a tool, and like any tool, our primary concerns need to be to know if it will help use achieve our goals and of course to learn how to use it. Just as a finely honed Japanese chisel is only useful to the cabinet maker who has learned how to use it, a channel strip is only ever so useful as the brain behind its implementation is at understanding it.
Does that mean that just slamming a channel strip and a preset on a track doesn’t solve everything?
You are correct, it doesn’t. It may take you partway down the road, but if you don’t understand what you want to deliver and how to use the tool to get there, you are really just playing copy / paste. Don’t feel bad, that’s what a lot of plugin makers expect you to do and why they provide so many presets in some of their channel strips ostensibly created by famed producers and engineers. But professionals know that just slamming a preset on something nearly never does the end product justice.
What Does It Do?
A channel strip typically includes several core elements, each designed to control a specific aspect of the audio signal:
Input Section
Input Source Selection: Allows you to choose the audio source for the track (e.g., microphone, instrument, or internal routing).
Gain/Trim Control: Adjusts the input signal’s level before any processing occurs.
Phase (Polarity) Switch: Flips the phase of the signal to correct phase issues between multiple mics or tracks.
Insert Effects
Slots for adding audio effects like EQ, compression, reverb, etc.
Insert effects are applied directly to the audio signal in sequence.
Equalizer (EQ)
Offers precise frequency adjustments to shape the tonal balance of the track.
EQ types often include:
Parametric EQ (for flexible frequency targeting)
Graphic EQ (with multiple fixed frequency bands)
Shelving and High/Low-Pass Filters (for broader tone shaping)
Dynamics Processing
Compressor: Controls the dynamic range by reducing loud peaks.
Gate/Expander: Attenuates noise or unwanted low-level sounds.
Limiter: Prevents peaks from exceeding a specified threshold.
Sends and Returns
Send Controls: Route a portion of the audio signal to auxiliary channels for parallel processing (e.g., adding reverb or delay).
Return Channels: Collect processed signals and blend them back into the mix.
Panning
Adjusts the stereo positioning of the track within the mix (left, center, or right). Very handy when placing specific instruments or vocalists in the overall soundscape
Fader
Controls the overall volume of the track and typically includes a dB scale for precise level control.
Mute and Solo
Mute: Silences the track without deleting or bypassing its processing.
Solo: Isolates the track so you can hear it independently.
Automation Controls
Allows you to automate changes to volume, panning, EQ settings, and other parameters over time, and then replicate those changes with consistency
Metering
• Visual indicators show the track’s output level to prevent clipping and ensure that you can mix to your preference.
Customizing Your Channel Strip Workflow
One of the benefits to some channel strips is that you customize their layout and order of services as well as add additional services thus creating a custom channel strip for your specific needs. Not all do this, and I would caution against diving into this deep water until you have a deep understanding of what your channel strip does and what impact it has on your audio outcome.
Wait! Aren’t Some of These Things Also in Dedicated Plugins?
The answer is of course, yes. The benefit of the channel strip is it brings tools designed to work well together in a single place. This reduces the load on the processor whether it uses outboard processing or the computer’s own CPU. By working consistently, they allow the user to work more quickly and with greater efficiency.
Where Do I Find Channel Strips?
Every decent DAW has its own take on what a channel strip needs to do. For example the Logic Pro channel strip is laid out in a specific way automatically for every track in a Logic Pro project and there is nothing extra to buy. The same is true for Pro Tools, Studio One, Ableton LIVE, Cubase and other DAWs. Each DAW will have its own default channel strip that works very well, so why are there alternatives?
The Tube / Vintage / Studio Game
Have you ever heard an accomplished musician, engineer or producer talk about their favourite boards, or the take in a particular studio? Of course you have. When Sound City shut down, Dave Grohl went out of his way to get every piece of that famous studio’s original Rupert Neve console. which of course includes a Neve channel strip on every track of the board.
How many artists have wanted to record at EMI Studios in London (now Abbey Road) because of the brilliant recordings made there by the Beatles and Sir George Martin? Plenty of them.
How much of the sound of Led Zeppelin I’s sound as produced by Jimmy Page is due to the channel strips at Olympic Studios where that record was recorded and mixed? I have no idea, I was not there, but many folks think that if they use the same or clones of those devices, that they will get the same sound and feel? Lots. Will they? Probably not, but using replicants of those old channel strips may get them into the ball park, but without the skills of an Eddie Kramer, or Alan Parsons or Roy Thomas Baker at the board. The use of replicants of those old channel strips may also bring a level of psychological confidence as well and that’s not a bad thing.
Digital channel strips are pristine. They are sonically perfect adding no colouration or feel on their own. But just as some guitarists only want old tube amps, or an old effects pedal, those less pristine tools have a following that is part fact, part emotion and part cult. If you are a guitar player, you are probably aware of the famous Klon pedal. The originals have been replicated by everybody and their cat but people still pay thousands of dollars for what is a pretty simple device. Last year I saw a perfect recreation of a sixties Tone Bender fuzz pedal. It had a price tag of $700. Actual costs of all the parts, including the housing which is most expensive is less than $25. Is it better? If you think it is, it might be.
When I look at my own collection of channel strips and isolate the ones that I actually use, they are most commonly plug in reproductions of old analog studio equipment. Neve channel strips make up a big number. But I have also spent good money on API Vision, Century Tube, Avalon VT-737, Helios Type 69, Manley and SSL E and G series as well as replicant plugins of every piece of gear at Abbey Road.
Why So Many?
That is a damn fine question. Some just came with a subscription, others I bought as perpetual licenses years ago, because they gave a sound or flavour that the built in digital preamps didn’t offer. The plugins that I kept are so good at sounding analog that they also replicate the weaknesses of those old analog devices and for me, that makes an enormous difference. The real challenge is not finding a good channel strip, it is making the personal investment of time in learning to use it well. Jimmy Page is best known as a guitarist, but he is an incredible producer because he spent so much time in the control room when he was a session player, learning how to get the most out of the equipment that was available. The same can be true for you.
Making It Work
Let’s say that you find the default channel strip in your DAW, just a bit too crystal clean for your goal. So you get yourself one channel strip, let’s say a Neve 1073 plugin. And you just slap it on. Will it sound different. Yes, but it will be subtle unless you have a superb listening structure, but even then, it won’t do magic for you. You will have to experiment with it and spend time trying different settings, bouncing your experiments to files for playback later and then comparing the work that you did on each try to find what worked best for that particular track. You build expertise with that channel strip and figure out what works great for electric guitar. Are the settings going to be the same for a female vocalist with great tone, but a limited range? Not likely. What about bass? Or drums? Or individual drum tracks if you record drums that way? On each track you discover more and more how the one channel strip works best as well as not to your liking. That’s how an Eddie Kramer achieved his incredible level of skill and talent. By doing.
So record something simple like a four bar section then loop it so it runs for a minute. Record it completely raw, and then add the channel strip in post, and then starting making experiments, bouncing everything that you think sounds pretty good while noting your settings. Then do it again at a different time, starting with the raw track again. Good sound is work and slamming a preset on it might get you partway, but never all the way.
Wrapping Up
Many musicians tell me, that like me, they hit times of frustration and boredom. Learning the principles of basic recording and using channel strips can be incredibly energizing. More than I can count, a channel strip experiment resulted in my creating something new for me that I really liked. Fortunately I recorded these before I forgot them and sometimes, I can use them years later and I can get that same sound because I kept a record of what I did.
If you like what I do here for you, please become a supporter on Patreon. Your monthly contribution makes an enormous difference and helps me keep things going. To become a Patreon Patron, just click the link or the button below. Always feel comfortable to send in a question or to post a comment. I read them all and respond as appropriate. Thanks for your support of my work. I’m Ross Chevalier and I look forward to sharing with you again soon.
