In The Box

[cosmicdolphin]

I think you get a huge amount of bang for your buck working entirely ITB. I don't really own any outboard these days and I used to have a rack full but it was all stuff that I have plugins now that do as good or better job. None of it was high end I must say..project studio level gear.

YMMV but...better ears than mine think summing boxes are snake oil, whilst others wouldn't mix without them. Personally I think that doing what we do and for where our music will likely end up then mixing ITB is entirely appropriate.

My Dad is a HiFi buff and I get to go to shows where they take over a wing of a hotel for a weekend and every room is set up with various high end systems. They range from the cost of my car at the low end to more than my house at the high end. Most of the music they play to demo these systems is 30-40yrs old...recorded in the " Golden Age " before budgets shrunk and digital came in ..it was a relief when Daft Punk made a modern record that sounded great a few years ago !

Whilst I appreciate them and some of them do sound amazing we aren't making super HiFi records that will be listened to on those kind of systems..Most likely our music will be underneath some reality show contestant talking or yelling. They won't be listened to by people with trained ears and the quality of speakers they are likely to be heard on is generally sub optimal.

If you're happy ITB then I wouldn't sweat over it.

Mark

[Len911]

I suppose technically if I used Api micpres, and compressors on the front end and an API summing mixer like the discontinued 8200A as a summing mixer on the back end, I would essentially have a mini API console. I use API as an example because all their stuff is built around the same design. If you mixed components, who knows what you'd have. It'd would be like inserting different components in a console. Actually, in my setup I have an API mic pre and compressor that goes through an Oram summing mixer and then on to my a/d converter then to the daw. I know it's weird.