Mixing with outboard tube gear - wait for it to warm up?

RecordingMaster

RecordingMaster

A Sarcastic Statement
Hey hey e'rybahday

I have a few different outboard tube rack units I like to use while mixing in real time (and tracking). On my interface/patchbay system, I just patch it in during a mix (like a plugin insert on a track or bus) and mix in real time with them. I've always heard that tube gear really starts to get it's "character" (even if not a heavy character piece like my Pro VLA II), after it's been on for about an hour or so. So what I have been doing is if I know I am going to be mixing later on, I will go into the control room and flick on my tube gear and let it warm up for at least a half hour or so.

Problem is, especially with having a new kid now, life is a lot of times unpredictable. Tracking is a different story, but i can't always plan ahead and know exactly when I might have a few minutes to fire open a mix I'm working on and spend a little (or a lot) of time on it. I might have 20 mins here or there which is better than using the excuse of "I'm too busy to work on music"...which is complete BS even for the busiest fellow.

I want to be able to crack open a mix and flick on all my gear and just start going. But what i worry about is, if I have a tube outboard comp as an active insert on a track/bus and I start mixing seconds after turning it on, won't the character/tonality change slightly as I mix? So let's say I turn on the mix and continue where i left off, compressors "cold" and I am making decisions to that track (and tracks surrounding it) based on how it sounds at that very moment. An hour passes by and the comp has gradually warmed up and now maybe the decisions i have made will sound slightly different? Maybe I am being overly paranoid and the change would be barely noticeable.

Any thoughts?

(Sorry about my usual novel)
 
First off, depending on the specific gear you have, the tube might not actually be giving you charactor, like a big boy tube unit. On a lot of the cheaper units (sub$1000), the tube is run at low voltage and run in parallel with the clean audio to add a little distortion to the sound. Since it is run at low voltage, it really never "warms up" in the sense you are thinking of.

Most of the starved plate tube designs are really solid state designs with a tube thrown in for effect.

That said, I have used the ProVLA compressors since they came out and I would have no problem turning them on and immeadiately start mixing.
 
I'll usually run all my tube gear for a good hour before really using it....so while I might start using it right away, there is always a "review" or setup period anyway....from where I left off on the mixing/tracking the day before. So while I play through everything a couple of times just the hear where I left off at, and maybe do some basic setting adjustments, etc.....at that point the gear has already been on for a good 20 minutes or so...and warmed up.

I mean.....I don't think I ever just walked into the studio, turned everything on, and immediately went into full-tilt tracking/mixing mode....regardless if I was using tube gear or not.
I don't know who does that. I think there's always a natural "ramp up" when you first come into the studio from the day before, and that most often first involves juts listening to some playbacks of yesterday's work.

That said....for more critical stuff, like tracking through a tube mic and/or tube preamp...or even when using my tape deck....I let the stuff get nice and toasty warm, simply because electronics, and especially tubes, need a bit of time to settle in.
I don't think the differences are going to be sop dramatic for a complete mix situation....but they may be noticeable in a single vocal or instrument track. The tonal flavor may have some subtle differences, which then becomes an issue when you go to edit/comp.
 
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I let my solid state gear warm up for at least 15 minutes before I turn a knob.

I used to joke about the tube stuff -- It's ready to go when the pizza sitting on top of it is done.
 
I warm true tube equipment up for half an hour. From my Fairchild manual:

"1. Allow the unit to warm up for at least half an hour."

Good enough for Fairchild, good enough for everything else.
 
mdainsd said:
I warm true tube equipment up for half an hour. From my Fairchild manual:

"1. Allow the unit to warm up for at least half an hour."

Good enough for Fairchild, good enough for everything else.
Click to expand...

You got the Fairchild to go with the manual? :)
 
I did some tests a couple of years ago on valve guitar amps and found that cathode biased stages stabilize their DC conditions within about 5 minutes.

"Fixed" biased output stages stabilized in about the same time but do drift slightly with the mains supply and new valves need a couple of hours before their grid current drops and stabilizes tho' this is very dependant on valve type and manfctr.

Since the anode and other voltages are "set" within this period I find it very hard to see what effect a longer warm up time might have on sound quality but if anyone would like to post some "cold and hot" clips I would be very interested to hear them.

Incidentally, these tests were part of an investigation to answer peoples asking if boutique and "NOS" valves were worth the extra money. My conclusions (FAR from scientific!) were that while it IS possible to tell differences between the same valve type but from different factories it is subtle and I would advise people NOT to spend silly monies!

Transistor gear has its DC conditions set in seconds or less. There is no mechanism I can think of that would make it sound "better" at 40C than 15?

Dave.
 
Boutique or NOS doesnt seem to make much difference for some tubes, er sorry ol chap, valves.
Priced any 6386s lately?
 
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