Console routing

Half of studio hum and noise comes from routing mistakes. A clean signal path is a boring signal path — and that is the goal.

The main rule

One signal, one path, no parallel shortcuts until you know what each knob does. Keep sends and returns labeled; keep unused channels muted. Check signal at every stage: preamp, EQ, fader, bus, converter.

Killing hum

Hum usually means a ground loop: two paths to ground fighting each other. Lift the ground on one DI box, keep audio and power cables separated, and never run signal unbalanced over long distances.

Frequently asked questions