figureing out a my ideal studio setup.

[toadies]

Right now i have the digi001.

I am mixing in protools, which i get good results i would say, but i would like to mix with my hand and get a feel of what i am doing.

Here is what i was thinking of doing.

buying the alesis AI-3 8 I/O via lightpipe. which would get me a total of 16 channels. I would probably get a good world clock to help sync them better.

I would like to get the SoundCraft Ghost 24. Which has line input plus pre-amps for tracking and mixing. Where do you people uselly send the mix too? I have a 16bit DAT machine i would guess i could send it too.

Also I could use the plugins in protools while mixing analog right? or would that be even worth doing.

Would this be worth my while to get better sound. btw i'm still learning how to mix, but I personally think i'm doing a good job at it, so do my clients.

Am I dreaming to much?

[Track Rat]

Mr Toad, sorry i haven't gotten back with you yet. Personally, I like your idea. It's my bet that you'll like the way it sounds. The Ghost is a dandy console. I'm using a MOTU 2408 and an HD24 pretty much the same way. I'm using Cakewalk9 with a mixture of plug ins and hardware simultainiuosly. the advantages in my opinion are obvious, it sounds better and it's VERY flexible. The down side is repeatability of a mix. You can still take advantage of software automation but you still have non automated analog faders and EQ. Still, it's what I prefere.
This picture is kind of screwed up, things have changed a bit but you get the general idea

[toadies]

what kind of board are you using?

[Track Rat]

Right now it's a Studiomaster. That'll be changing soon.

[Roker1]

Originally posted by Track Rat
You can still take advantage of software automation but you still have non automated analog faders and EQ.

Do you find you need EQ automated very often...I was just curious how much people do use automation on EQ...to get special sound effects maybe??

[cominginsecond]

I've never automated EQ. I guess I never really automated any effects, really. The only thing I automate are volume, pan, aux send volume, and aux send pan. There are very, very limited circumstances I can think of where it might make sense to automate EQ. It might make sense if you need to increase the high end on something when there's 15 other tracks playing so that it sticks out, and then decrease it again when it's soloed.