Mixing externally?
- Thread starter n4eem
- Start date
Most any DAW software supports mixing outside the box, you just assign the track outputs to individule output channels instead of assigning them to the stereo buss. The requirement for this, other than having a suitable HW mixer, is to have enough digital to analog converters. You need one for every track you want to mix externally, so doing a 24 track mix requires 24 D/A converters.
What do I mean by a suitable analog mixer? That's a whole other question, and one that you should research thoroughly. Obviously it has to have enough channels. The big question is how much mixer do you need to buy, sound quality (and money) wise, to get where buying all those converters, all the cabling, all the outboard processing, and the console itself gets you a better sounding system than mixing ITB. And then you have to look at what you didn't buy when you were spending all your money on converters and cables and outboard gear and a console, like good microphones and preamps, and acoustical treatment.
What do I mean by a suitable analog mixer? That's a whole other question, and one that you should research thoroughly. Obviously it has to have enough channels. The big question is how much mixer do you need to buy, sound quality (and money) wise, to get where buying all those converters, all the cabling, all the outboard processing, and the console itself gets you a better sounding system than mixing ITB. And then you have to look at what you didn't buy when you were spending all your money on converters and cables and outboard gear and a console, like good microphones and preamps, and acoustical treatment.
I just realized you may have been asking about control surfaces. A control suface is a physical manifestation of the virtual mixer in a DAW. No audio actually enters the control surface, it just controls the software mixer. An example is the Mackie Control, or SAC. Most DAW software supports the major control surface models.
Ethan Winer
Acoustics Expert
n4eem said:
Why do you even want to do that? Mixing externally loses most of the benefit of having a DAW!
--Ethan
Wow, a sweetnubs sighting! Where ya been dudette?
Ethan - Non destructive editing is a pretty big feature, amoung a bunch of others well before you get to the mixing stage. Even then, you could still use mute and fader automation, but do the summing in hardware. You can still use effects inserts and automation........ lots of stuff. I like the control surface approach myself, but if somebody dropped a nice fat sounding analog console in my lap, not a mackie, but something with really great EQ and summing module, I'd probably go converter shopping.
Ethan - Non destructive editing is a pretty big feature, amoung a bunch of others well before you get to the mixing stage. Even then, you could still use mute and fader automation, but do the summing in hardware. You can still use effects inserts and automation........ lots of stuff. I like the control surface approach myself, but if somebody dropped a nice fat sounding analog console in my lap, not a mackie, but something with really great EQ and summing module, I'd probably go converter shopping.
LeeRosario
New member
n4eem said:
forgive me if I reiterate what was already said...a brainiacs crash course. But beleive me, it's important.
The basic principle is that a DAW system should be able to mix with or without an external mixing surface. It can essentially act as a Multitrack Recorder or MTR for short when you want to work with an external *analog* mixing surface. In that situation you can edit on it and play back from it, but you leave everything inside the software flattened out at a recommended level (unity). You leave panning, volume and automation (usually on a large format console), to the board.
A controller on the other hand is very different. It's really just a big ass mouse. It dosn't run a signal through it, it just pupeteers your DAW software. So be careful not to mix up a controller with an analog board.
Why this is important is for the reason MTRs where originally created and what thier purpose is in the studio.
An MTR can be an analog tape machine (like a studer tape machine), a stand alone digital unit (like the rack mounted MX2424), or in your case, a DAW system. Like the name implies, their task is to simply record and playback multiple channels of audio at a time. Essentially, all MTRs should give you some type of transport controls (play, rewind, record, etc). Next should be the ability to scrub through audio for location and editing purposes.
If you look into the history of it, then you can understand how DAWs actually evolved from tape machines and stand-alone MTRs. However, DAWs are such a big deal because of thier ability to edit in a non-linear fashion.
In other words, you can click wherever the hell you want on a screen without being at the mercy of fast foward and rewind.
Anyway...
If a DAW system can connect and work with an interface that gives you multiple connections in an industry standard fashion (etc. XLR, 1/4, D-sub, Lightpipe/ADAT, whatever), then you have a good chance of hooking that up to a mixing surface. Now skipping a bunch of fluff and straight to the chase...
The very basics is the DAW software, the ability to store and retrieve multiple tracks at once (at least a decent harddrive), the interface that indentifies the software, and exactly how you plan on connecting to that board...
If you want the ability to record *and* mix from the board, without having to connect and disconnect cables all the time, you're going to need an inline console. That really starts to complicate things for you.
Byt if you're dead set on mixing outside the box, it can be explained in detail.
I say that at this level, you may be better off starting inside the box, but that's all you.
And we're talking absolute bare bones here. Does that make any sense?