In The Box

[jaymz]

Assuming you have a nice high quality digital audio interface, control surfaces, good preamps and mics.. what other hardware still consume you? Anyone still die hard on external mixers or other outboard gear/synths other than for novelty?

Seems like nowadays if your system is scaled in CPU, storage and memory, you can do just about anything in the box. Where is everyone else at?

[Danny]

Hey Jaymz.

Well, they always say the beginning of the signal chain is vital. I have Universal Audio pres for vocs or instrument DI. Other than that, everything else is done ITB.

I would certainly love to have an external board or rack effects for "Toys" but it's certainly not needed and I do not have the budget for them. There are actually shootouts with plugins vs the "Real" outboard gear and the specs are almost identical.

I would say the only thing I really crave externally is a DAW interface controller. I prefer using faders than mousing everything in my DAW.

You're right. Nower days people are doing everything ITB, even Hollywood trailers.

[jaymz]

Hey Jaymz.

Well, they always say the beginning of the chain is vital. I have Universal Audio pres for vocs or instrument DI. Other than that, everything else is done ITB.

UAD has great deals at the end of the year bundling their accelerators with their audio interface. Wish I could take advantage but I'm already invested in RME on the interface side.

[mojobone]

Two bits of hardware high on my wishlist are an 8 or 10 slot 500 series rack and a DB25 patchbay to integrate with the Zen Studio. I may also add a nice hardware tube compressor and of course I'll need some modules to fill those slots.

[LOCK88]

Hey Jaymz, cool thread here man. I've had a hybrid setup for the past several years, and don't imagine I'd stray from it for the foreseeable future. I certainly don't think analog gear is a necessity, but I feel it has helped me achieve a cohesive mix more often than when I was mixing 100% ITB.
My outboard gear includes a few analog pre's & compressors for recording vocals, guitars, bass, Ukes, and any other real instrument. These are a Neve 1073, UA 610, LA2A, CraneSong Falcon opto, and an 1176. Then I send my mix out to a 32 input SSL analog summing amp. From there, I send the 2-bus to a Shadow Hills Mastering Comp, curve Bender Eq, and then back into ProTools to print. Equally important to this setup are the 3 UA accelerators which handle a good amount of UA plugins. And finally, the Lynx Aurora (n) 32 channel Ad/da converter, which is the centerpiece of my studio.

[jaymz]

Then I send my mix out to a 32 input SSL analog summing amp. From there, I send the 2-bus to a Shadow Hills Mastering Comp, curve Bender Eq, and then back into ProTools to print.

This was the part I was curious about, the (diminishing?) popularity of running back out into summing mixers/amps. I suppose it will always exist if the ears and hands want it. I do think there's value in turning real knobs and running in the box instruments back out into high quality class a amps. I ran external digital mixing consoles for the longest and when I ditched them, I absolutely hated it, it threw me off, but I think im better with it now.

[mojobone]

We're all gonna make our own decisions, but for my money, analog summing boxes are overhyped. There's an exception to every rule, and at least one plugin I'm familiar with will absolutely, instantaneously make your mixes sound more analog, cuz they modeled like, thirty-odd channels of a vintage mixer, and the channels aren't at all matched. That's chaos, but repeatable. If your ears are up to the task, you could pick the optimum channel strip for each part/instrument. OR, you could just use your ears and a trusted monitor pair to make your mix sound as good as you can, in or out of the 'box'. I usually defer to what gets it done the fastest, cuz two things they don't make more of are real estate and time.

[ernstinen]

I bought one of the FIRST Soundcraft 1-S +4 boards in the late 70's. I still think the mic preamps and EQ can't be beat, and I use it daily. As a matter of fact, "The Eurythmics" recorded their first album ("Sweet Dreams...," "Here Comes The Rain" etc.) on that same board, and used the EXACT same TASCAM 8-track that I used on my best stuff at the time! I had better microphones, though LOL!

Ern

[LOCK88]

We're all gonna make our own decisions, but for my money, analog summing boxes are overhyped......... I usually defer to what gets it done the fastest, cuz two things they don't make more of are real estate and time.

Yeah MOJO, I think the more experienced you are at mixing, perhaps the less important the analog summing is to the finished product. But I can tell you that for me, the analog summing box helps me achieve a cohesive mix in 1/2 the time it would take me to get that same mix without it. So, if any mixers out there are on the fence about analog summing, my advice would be to try it out if you can reasonably afford to, and see what it does for your mixes. It may or may not help. In my case, I couldn't imagine ever going back to mixing without it.

[mojobone]

My foundational music experiences happened at pretty much the peak of the golden age of analog. I have Steely Dan's Aja on 180-gram virgin vinyl. I have no idea how it sounds, cuz it's still in the shrinkwrap, and will remain there, until I obtain the ultimate needle, cartridge, tonearm, turntable, preamp, amp and speakers and build a custom room to further optimize what I'm sure will be the ultimate in all-analog listening bliss. After that, I guess I'll have a threesome with a couple of high-end call girls, if I can still manage and there's any money left over. I should probably start that GoFundMe page, right about now.