Mixing on Console vs. mix "In The Box"

Console or "In The Box"

  • Total voters
    159
MCI2424 said:
...As to if it sounds better, who knows. That is a whole 'nother debate probably full of red chicklets and stuff.
Click to expand...

Just like any equipment or effect, digital recording/mixing will sound amazing in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, just like analog recording/mixing will sound amazing in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. It's all in your ears/hands :)
 
i mix in the box because i don't have a console! i'd love to have a nice control surface though, but i dunno if i'd really want to make the switch to mixing on a console, just because i'm pretty comfortable mixing ITB. maybe i'll get a summing box one day or something, but yeah i like to mix ITB.
 
I mixed 4 tracks of my band's EP on a lovely desk, got it all to MP3, played it around and noticed a few things I wanted to tweak in the mix.
That's where the problem comes. If I'd mixed in Cubase I could have just brought the mix up and turned the backing vocals down (for instance), but now I have to re-do the whole thing and try and get it to sound similar to the mix I was originally happy with.
 
I mix ITB. I do think Lee R. hit it right with it dpends on WHO is doing the project. I've heard shit with both digital and analog. My most favorite albums are analog. But, I have heard some GREAT stuff entirely digital. For me the recall is vital. I HAVE to be able to recall a mix or just tweak someones anal fetish about bumping up this or that.
 
I do it all in Cubase. I'm saving for a console and better converters, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon.
 
I mix ITB, again because I dont have any gear that can justify analog mixing. However, if it is just me hanging out in the studio, sometimes I like to mix through the console, just for fun. I kind of get a kick out of it.
 
notbradsohner said:
...if it is just me hanging out in the studio, sometimes I like to mix through the console, just for fun. I kind of get a kick out of it.
Click to expand...

I'd hate to tell you what I do when it's just me hanging out in the studio! :D :o
 
i mixdown on an analog board to 2 24 track hard disk recorders 95% and the other to daw...i just like having faders and knobs when doing mixdown. also i dont have to worry about buying converters.
 
I prefer mixing outside of the box also, however, I integrate both worlds into the project.

What I will do is use the DAW as multi-track recorder by connecting the ins and outs of my console to a set of 3 Delta 1010's. I record through the console straight to the DAW. When I do the mixing I will play the tracks out of the DAW and mix it on the console while recording back on to the DAW.

So for instance, if I have a 16-track project, the DAW will output all 16 tracks as I mix it down while recording simutaneously on tracks 17 and 18. Sometimes I will re-record each channel from the console as 16 additional tracks (on 19-34) so I can record exactly what I did as far as outboard processing goes.

This is a bit of overkill, however, in that circumstance where the client comes back a few days later and asks me to "bump up" something, I can do it inside of the box without having to remix the whole thing. So if he wants to change something about the lead singer, I have both the original raw track and the processed track to work with. The only down side to that is I cannot remove anything or lower the volume. There have been cases, however, where I managed to turn up the background vocals as a means to drown out the lead singer a little bit and then recompress the entire mix but that never works as good as doing the whole mix over again.
 
i do both at two different studios.

Give me a good drum room and good mics and preamps.

Ill enjoy the recording and mixing process either way.

You cant be picky IMO.

If someone wants you to work for them, you go where you go and do what you do. It shouldnt matter if you have a console or not. Just make a kick ass record then go home.
 
Just to make a point, I do not consider a control surface as any kind of a replacement for mixing on a console. To me the benefits of mixing on a console involve far more than just having faders. For me it has a lot to do with how the consoles EQ sounds, the way the depth and imaging in the panning changes, and the way I change how and why I do certain things. There are definately qualities of each that I greatly prefer. I can tell you this though.... If my console was 100% recallable then EVERY mix would get done on the console and triggered track by track from the DAW so I could take advantage of ALL of my resources simultaneously.
 
This poll needs a "both" category. Practically everything I do now involves mixing both inside the box *and* outside the box. I use plugins and also outboard hardware, and I think a lot of other people have this approach as well.
 
SonicAlbert said:
This poll needs a "both" category. Practically everything I do now involves mixing both inside the box *and* outside the box. I use plugins and also outboard hardware, and I think a lot of other people have this approach as well.
Click to expand...

I'm in this category too. For me it's a best of both worlds situation. Sometimes everything gets routed to the hardware mixer. Other times I mix ITB to a handful of busses which then go out to hardware.

However, I really don't like the results when I do everything ITB. This makes it sound canned and static to me.
 
We just sold off our last trident, briefly tried to see if the SSL AWS900 would do it as a "best of both worlds" thing, ended up being not for me...cool system though

I have been happy to spend the last 10 years almost exclusively freed from the tyranny of inconsistent behaviours and adrenaline charged automation attempts
 
Fishmed_Returns said:
I read somewhere somebody said it is still ITB, but of course once you start adding outboard gear to it, then you have moved into the Hybrid world.
Click to expand...

I'm using a sort of hybrid approach with Yammy N12, but mostly just using the mixer since my projects aren't too big. But it's easy to free up channels with this N12 so my days of screw balling around mixing with a mouse are over. I really like 100mm faders/:cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top