Hello! Welcome to what will be a semi-regular column highlighting the pedals we love and some interesting or downright weird ways to use them in the studio. I'll kick this off with a deeper dive into my own discoveries (and missteps), while building out several mix-centric pedalboards for my home studio.
Why mix with pedals?
Stompboxes! Those insane little boxes o' fun lying around in every nook and cranny of your studio – or maybe that's just me? It's of no surprise to this audience that these versatile tools, which have long been used in outboard gear signal paths, can add fresh creative spice to our more extensive cookbook of available sounds when tracking or mixing. With most home studios relegated to digital interfaces and finite acoustic flavors, it makes sense to use as many options as possible to spark unexplored ideas or nudge mix elements into a more organic (and maybe less predictable) place. With the addition of MIDI control options in many modern pedals, we now have opportunities for all manner of time-synced effects or modulation, which, again, exponentially enriches the sonic feast we're creating. Plus, pedals are just fun, tactile little color (and colorful) boxes. I'm constantly finding new and mesmerizing creative applications for my growing pedal collection by simply changing the order in which they are connected. Entire worlds open up when you patch a reverb into a modulated distortion and then back into another reverb. Listen to most of Prince's studio work on 1999 and other classics, and you'll hear a variety of Boss stompboxes and other effects printed straight to tape – pulling otherwise dry instrument tracks into a vibe that will always be uniquely his. In short, why not mix with pedals?
What?
Let's start by looking at some of the supporting infrastructure on pedals that I've found helpful. In the latest iteration of my home studio, I've built a pedalboard on a 2 rack space sliding rack shelf from Penn Elcom . This rack sits on my desk just to the right of my mix position and is easily accessible for knob-twiddling or can be tucked away when I don't require direct access.I've set up this effects board with five pedals, an ML10X stereo loop switcher from Morningstar Engineering, and an EXTC-Stereo Effects Reamper [Tape Op#146] from Radial Engineering. I also have a Chase Bliss MIDIbox in the rack for MIDI control of certain pedals (we'll look at MIDI control in depth in a future article). I buy Canare L-2E5 (for TRS) and GS-4 (for TS) wire in bulk so I can solder my own cables to custom lengths to keep things tidy in the limited confines of my custom rack drawer. For pedalboards, I love using the SquarePlug low profile flat plugs, but I also need their SPS short body straight TS and TRS connectors for specific gear. The ML10X switcher has TRS outs that I split into TS cables. I usually get all of that raw material from Redco or Best-Tronics , then carefully plan and measure the cable lengths I'll need to wire everything up. Although the board is all hand-built and cable-managed via tie-downs and numerous zip ties, I leave enough play in the connections so I can easily swap out pedals with a similar form factor. I have one extra aux stereo pair of I/O running to the switcher, which allows me to send and receive to any other pedals I might want to grab from the shelf and add to my signal chain. The pedals, the switcher, and the Chase Bliss MIDI box are all powered by a CIOKS DC7 power supply . This supply has seven isolated DC outlets with four selectable voltages per outlet, so it is very flexible and super clean despite having such a low profile. Cable runs on the board follow the same general principles you'd use when wiring interfaces, preamps, or other powered gear – planning in advance and then following a template is highly recommended. Tidy cable runs make troubleshooting a hell of a lot easier when tracking down problems! One YouTube resource I've found valuable (and trustworthy) for these cabling fundamentals is the Vertex Effects channel – check out their Rig Builds & DIY Pedalboard Tips videos for some great tips.