mixing in the box myth...

H

hermanmern

New member
No protools, no outboard gear, no racks... just you and your DAW (sonar,cubase, FL studio, reaper etc) and your waves bundle.....

can you do it (mix/master) like the pros??? how did u do it? please share..

thanks
 
Ahhhh...but ProTools IS "in the box". ;)

But if you are saying any other DAW except PT...mmmmm...it's six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other. Each DAW has it's pros/cons, and PT isn't any different.

Anyway, the real secret is that it's NOT just about the mixing/mastering. Lots of pros mix/master ITB.
The trick to pro mixes is in the *tracking*...IMHO. So if you are just asking if a pro mix can be done ITB, the answer is "yes"...but it depends on the tracks that you have to work with and how they were recorded. :)
 
miroslav said:
Ahhhh...but ProTools IS "in the box". ;)

But if you are saying any other DAW except PT...mmmmm...it's six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other. Each DAW has it's pros/cons, and PT isn't any different.

Anyway, the real secret is that it's NOT just about the mixing/mastering. Lots of pros mix/master ITB.
The trick to pro mixes is in the *tracking*...IMHO. So if you are just asking if a pro mix can be done ITB, the answer is "yes"...but it depends on the tracks that you have to work with and how they were recorded. :)
Click to expand...

Well said.

Alot of Indie music is all done in a home based setup with minimal equipment. You can tweak some pretty good sounds out of the standard pro tools/logic plugins. When you get into live mixing/recording, it really is all about tracking. All the processors in the world ain't gonna help you if you can't set a mic properly.
 
I started digital recording using Logic and an ISIS interface. That interface only had line level inputs, so I used a mixer to supply line level to the interface.

I eventually got a Firepod, and for a while still used a mixer with it, even though I didn't need to. I was just used to it, and, well, it felt right.

But these days, I do everything in the box. The only things outside the box are the headphone amp, the interface and keyboards.
 
Years and years ago I attended a recording engineer school and learned how to do everything with 2" multitrack and SSL and Neve consoles. In the last few years I've gotten into "Int the Box" and have a Cubase 6 studio in my house. In my opinion, and for the jazz and fusion music I work with, in the box is just as good, and does most things better and faster than tracking and mixing from mult-track tape. I recently purchased a CLA UA-76 tube compressor plugin from Waves and it alone basically saved a 4 track analog tape session from 1987 that I transferred to hard drive. I also depend heavily on the Slate Console emulation plugins to get a big desk sound.
 
So u dont need outboard gears to make your instruments sound beter?? i mean, i only have interface and my sound is like i record my demo on walkman back in the day... u know what i mean? it just sound direct, dry and makes u wanna cry.

does plugins ONLY can make you sound better, richer, fuller like it went through a neve mixing board or something?? any coment on that? thanks
 
^^^ I think you're barking up the wrong tree. Plug-ins do the same things as hardware, so if you can't get the sounds you want with plug-ins, you wouldn't do any better with hardware. It seems to me what you need most is practice and experience. Learn how to better use compressors and equalizers, and what types of reverb sounds are useful etc.

--Ethan
 
hermanmern said:
So u dont need outboard gears to make your instruments sound beter?? i mean, i only have interface and my sound is like i record my demo on walkman back in the day... u know what i mean? it just sound direct, dry and makes u wanna cry.

does plugins ONLY can make you sound better, richer, fuller like it went through a neve mixing board or something?? any coment on that? thanks
Click to expand...
I'll throw in my 2cents. There's opportunity to capture analog goodies on the way in -pre's compression etc. Along with verious other plugs I use UAD. They certainly seem to have and add some real nice tone and options. How much vs other stuff..? Let's just say is wide pen to question/preception.
But really when I see 'limitations, it's 99% the source material.
Geez we have so much power/fedility/tone and power to do what's needed at our finger tips..
I don't believe there is much of a 'lack of tools problem.
 
mixsit said:
I'll throw in my 2cents. There's opportunity to capture analog goodies on the way in -pre's compression etc. Along with verious other plugs I use UAD. They certainly seem to have and add some real nice tone and options. How much vs other stuff..? Let's just say is wide pen to question/preception.
But really when I see 'limitations, it's 99% the source material.
Geez we have so much power/fedility/tone and power to do what's needed at our finger tips..
I don't believe there is much of a 'lack of tools problem.
Click to expand...

Great 2 cents. Those analog processors do kick out some gorgeous tones, and without hours of tweaking digital plugins, you can't reproduce them, but you can make some equally great tones with digital plugs. It's really just understanding what each knob and setting does and taking the time to fine tune everything.
 
So what you guys saying is that we still can produce a great song just like the big studio by just mixing in the box right?... Thanks guys!!
 
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