good 80's/90's analog consoles/mixers.

Kurkkumopo said:
Oh i see. Well it sounds awesome and the plugins are like the real deal to me. :D
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That is the reason and latest trend. Much easier for any producer to use plugins and edit ITB. Now, that does not mean it is even possible to replicate exactly what tape sounds like. But that is more personal preference and ability to afford to use it. I would totally use tape if I could. Financially, it just does not make as much sense.

Then there is the love of touching actual knobs.... :)
 
jimmys69 said:
Then there is the love of touching actual knobs.... :)
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TMI :laughings:

I personally do not like the idea of using a mixer or outboard gear. The advantages of templates, automation and stored personal presets are so overwhelmingly obvious, to me it doesn't make sense to use hardware.

If you go with the thunderbolt option, buy the Apollo rackmount and get the satellite unit for free. You've got a few days left before the offer expires. You won't regret it. Then you can start building your plug-in library. I've got 24 UAD plugs!!!! :eek:

Imagine putting a Fairchild compressor on every channel. Can't do that in the real world. :D
 
Chili said:
I personally do not like the idea of using a mixer or outboard gear. The advantages of templates, automation and stored personal presets are so overwhelmingly obvious, to me it doesn't make sense to use hardware.
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Mmm...I don't want to turn the OP again...;)...but in my case, I look forward to using the hardware.

There IS something to touching the knobs...:o...but I also like the "fresh start" aspect, instead of falling back on the presets I used last time in the DAW..etc.
That said...with the hybrid approach, I'm still using the DAW, and any snapshots/automation I need, I do it at the DAW, and then run it all back out through the console...adding outboard as needed.
Yeah...I take notes...but then, I always take notes, even when I track...so it's not a bother.

By breaking up the different portions of the recording process...tracking with tape/console/outboard, Edits, comps, pre-mixing, automation in the DAW, final mixing back out from DAW to console/outboard, tape, and then mastering back in the DAW...
...I don't get glued in front of the computer and spend my entire time ITB.
I dunno...maybe it's just me, but I can't sit endlessly at the computer, staring at the screens. I do that shit at work all day, so being able to get more "hands-on" and having to plug-n-patch hardware, and all that...it just makes it more fun.

My favorite time is tracking...everything else is just about focused work to complete what I did during tracking.
 
And I envy your ability to have such a setup. I truly do man. I miss the days of twisting knobs on outboard gear...I only have a couple of input toys. :(
 
TBH...if I was starting out today, I probably would also end up with a mostly ITB setup...but having gotten into the recording thing many years ago, before DAWs became common in every house on the block...the hardware was it, and the shit just accumulated over time.
Once I was very much into it, I just kept expanding and adding hardware...but then I also added the DAW going way back to the mid-90s...so I've been stuck in that hybrid mode, and with the larger hardware setup for some time now, and I decided awhile ago that I wasn't going to change that...which is why I recently did a console swap, as crazy at that may seem to the typical ITB user.

All in all...I really do enjoy the hardware a lot.

I thought you had more than a couple of input toys, if I recall some earlier pics of your studio...?
Speaking of which...did you get everything done with the rebuild after all that madness with the outer walls?
 
miroslav said:
Mmm...I don't want to turn the OP again...;)...but in my case, I look forward to using the hardware.
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I truly respect your hybrid approach and find it cool that you are so well adept at both worlds. I think you are more about recording as a journey where as it is a means to an end for me. I'd rather find the one good set of parameters for each channel and save them for the next song, than to start fresh each time.

I had some outboard gear before (still have a focusrite mic pre lying around unused) but now it's just the one interface.
 
I am hybrid now and loving it! Analog board going into my R24 Zoom for tracking, no effects. I get my first 10-12 tracks down, get a good idea for later mixdown and if I'm ok with that, all goes into Reaper. I love that I was finally smart enough to listen to you guys! No effects processes at all... UNTIL my wav's hit my DAW. That was a huge mistake I made at first. EQ's/effects, should be used to enhance, not to try to undo what I was trying to add to in the first place. The cleanest sound I've worked with in a couple of decades.

For me, it really helps with final mixdown to have another set of ears in the studio with me. I do my thing, we listen, then they do theirs, we listen. Amazing how two folks sitting side by side will hear such different things! I'm rambling now but I hope someone gets the idea! ;)
 
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miroslav said:
I thought you had more than a couple of input toys, if I recall some earlier pics of your studio...?
Speaking of which...did you get everything done with the rebuild after all that madness with the outer walls?
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I still have the X73i and the old '73 DBX160x. The other stuff was just IMO crap preamps that I got rid of as I upgraded from the Tascam unit to two much better Steinberg UR824's. ART TPS/DPS/TP. Such as the ART Pro VLA. I just didn't find it working for me so I gave it to a friend to use.

I have purchased and have in the basement a shit ton of insulation, 80 yards of cloth, 20 sheets of 5/8" drywall, a 3 layer glass window for the vocal tracking room, and started framing. But time for me to continue the build has been cramped by the holidays. Not a bad thing!

At least my walls are not caving in and will never! :)

I can't wait to get out of this temporary 7x12' room with my 'Star Trek' like video/audio monitor system. I feel like I am imprisoned...lol

So, we likely totally jacked doods thread.

Sorry man!
 
Funny.

Vintage analog consoles turned into high tech computers and converters.
:D
Ah, the circle of life.
 
I stay far away from the shadowy places.

And I like mixing without looking at a screen.

All my knobs are happy.
 
RFR said:
I stay far away from the shadowy places.

And I like mixing without looking at a screen.

All my knobs are happy.
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At the other studio I work in I track through a console. I prefer it, especially for bigger sessions with full bands playing. It's a lot easier managing monitor mixes and stuff. Muscle memory gets me to the right control faster than using a mouse, and a meter bridge really makes overseeing levels a breeze.
 
I haven't done "solo artist" style recording since my 4 track days.
As soon as i was able to track bands, or at least live drums, I never looked back.

But then again, not many have the ability to do that.
An 8 input interface is quite alot, and many get by with 2

The trade off for the good is the potential available to the beginner. Its a far cry from what could be done with a cassette 4 track.
 
Not a problem with jacking my thread, keep it up, it keeps it alive atleast. :D

Anyways, i think that trying to replicate exactly the "tone" of an analog device is hard also because every unit of a certain model will all sound different from each other, so when you emulate a certain unit and after that someone compares it to an another unit of that specific model, it will sound different, and that's pretty normal and can stay that way if it's asked from me.

I think i actually wouldn't like to have a way too analogy sound after i understood really how much processed and hi-fi/digital sounding the music that i like actually is, but the UAD interfaces give the analog feel in them anyways and plugins nail the the sound of the hardware units right on (for me at least).

And i understand the knob theory, luckily i will have my mesa boogie still that has plenty of knobs to fiddle with, also i will get the already mentioned Roland jv-1080 and E-mu vintage keys, i think they have atleast one knob in them (or buttons). :D Oh and the interface too!

I think in the end i'll probably be more ITB leaning hybrid that still uses few hardware units like few sound modules, interface and a tube amp. It is good that people have so much to choose from these days, i could only imagine how fucked up i would be if i would live in the 80's and try to do the same thing, not only that but because getting equipment like that back then was literally impossible from finland so you had to import them. D:

Talking about circle of life, i think the plugins might have probably caused the younger generation to get more interested in the physical analog equipment also as the plugins are introducing those to us youngsters in a one way. :D

I've never actually thought of recording any other band or an artist, i've actually thought always that it would be really hard for me to work with others in a thing that means a lot to me.
 
Getting an "analog " sound has as much to do with workflow, approach, method of thinking as it does gear.

For one example; My exoerience working with bands only 30 to 40 % of people I've worked with have used a click track. The drummer IS the clicktrack (if he's good)
Youll have the tempo groove with the flow of the song. It may not be a clock perfect tempo, but it flows and sounds like 'real' music.
I'm not opposed to clicks, but have gotten more organic, 'natural' sounding stuff easier that way.

With virtual drums and going all ITB, going 'click less' is almost unheard of..
Sure theres different 'humanizing' editing that can be done, but what a pain in the ass! :)

With taking a band and doing it in a more old school approach, a more convincing 'analog' sound can be achieved.

Good gear helps too. :)


Eh, just my thoughts. Not gospel
:D
 
Actually i wonder if i should use click for the music that i'm going to do.

Superior drummer has a velocity layers so that helps with the realiness. It's just the click that i'm thinking

Metronome is a good tool to clean your playing tho, especially lead playing. :D
 
Making an artificial drummer artificially sloppy is not the same as the natural variations you get from real musicians playing together.
 
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