Prefader

Pre fader is a term used in sound engineering or mixer technology .

It says that a signal tap - in most cases an aux path - is located in a mixer channel in front of the channel fader and thus the tapped signal is not influenced by it. This is not exactly true, because the signal branched off at the "pre" position is fixed in the "working position" of the controller, i.e. mostly 10 dB (12 dB) below the full maximum level.
The opposite is post fader : here the tap in the signal flow is behind the fader, so it is also influenced by it. With many mixing consoles , the behavior can be switched for at least some of the aux paths .

Also equalizer or insert jacks sometimes pre / post switch.

A common use case is, for example, the following:

• A signal tap after the fader is used to feed a signal to an effects device in the same ratio as in the main mix. This means that when the volume is changed via the fader, the volume of the effect also changes, which is usually desired.
• A signal tap in front of the fader is used to send a signal to the monitor speakers at unchanged volume. So a separate mix can be created for the stage.

literature

• Thomas Görne: Sound engineering. 1st edition, Carl Hanser Verlag, Leipzig, 2006, ISBN 3-446-40198-9
• Roland Enders: The home recording manual. 3rd edition, Carstensen Verlag, Munich, 2003, ISBN 3-910098-25-8