how to mix analog

doulos24

New member
I know this is a dumb question but how do you guys mix without automation? Is it just sub grouping and riding faders? I'm just curious cause I've grown use to my pro tools and being able to work on a few faders or a single pan pot at a time. I love the sound of analog tape, but I don't know if I could ever leave automation behind, but besides huge budgets and flying faders how is it done at a project/home studio level?
 
Yup...that's the art, and joy of it...how to get "that mix" doing at all in real-time...riding the knobs, switches and faders...there's a reason those really big consoles had an engineer's chair on rails. ;)
 
ahh I was afraid you'd say that. Thats not on option for me any advice for a hybrid setup? I have a digi001 tascam dm 24 and a budget of about 3k for a better setup any advice?
 
IIRC, some of the Mackie 24 or 32 channel boards had the ability for automation, with the right software or whatever. I could be totally off base, but I thought that was the case.

I had one for a while and thought I remember reading something in the manual about it but just brushing past it, thinking "I'll never need to worry about all that."

Of course, this could be the case with lots of mixers, and/or I could just be totally wrong!
 
I try to track as close as I can to the final mix. ofcourse I will have to carefully mix all the faders, EQ and effects no matter what but i try to track it so i wont have to do too much fader riding. if anything I use the mute buttons more than faders during the mixdown to limit hiss and random noises especially on the vocal tracks. Ive done th3 same with pro tools as well except instead of muting i would just cut out the silent parts out of the waveform.

its really not too difficult:)

The only reason I would LOVE to have automation is for total recall when switching back to an old project but then again the new mix is often times better than the old one.
 
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I don't want to sound rude, but to me this is sort of like asking, "How do you change the channel on the TV without a remote control?"

The short answer is ... you get up, walk over to the TV, and change the channel. Thousands and thousands of albums were mixed without animation. You just do what you need to do.

Rickson has given some good advice, but really, the best way to learn would be to try a song your self. You'll learn more from that one experience than anything we can tell you.
 
I used to love being in the studio with something like a 16-24 track board going onto 2" reels, w/ 2 or 3 people all participating in the mix down. It's like art, craft, and sport all rolled into one. Lots of fun.
 
I used to love being in the studio with something like a 16-24 track board going onto 2" reels, w/ 2 or 3 people all participating in the mix down. It's like art, craft, and sport all rolled into one. Lots of fun.

batterista that's awesome...spot on. ;)

doulos...upgrade? Why? If anything I'd ditch the 001 and get a firewire card for the DM-24, but other than that what is the the setup not doing for you?
 
Yep, In analog the actual mix and riding the faders can be as much a performance and a part of the final song as any instrument on that song. I think it gives it character...
 
doulos...upgrade? Why? If anything I'd ditch the 001 and get a firewire card for the DM-24, but other than that what is the the setup not doing for you?

find me a firewire card for the dm 24 there like non exsistant been looking almost 2 years now. I just don't like the sound of my converters. I can hear it kill the input it's hard to explain I've used a ton of converters in my day on a ton of systems. I love the workflow of protools, but not a fan of the converters. I once did an album on a fostex 16 channel reel to reel dumped to pro tools mixed and it's just one of my favorite things I've done. now that I'm starting to build my own analog gear I'm afraid if I spend more on digital I will be disapointed. So I'm wanting to just use pro tools as a recorder dump the tracks back out use outboard gear and be done with it. I could upgrade the 001 to the 003 for 800 bucks, but heres the thing I could build a 4 channel neve 1272 or 8 channel api type front end for that I mean which would you do? ;)
 
Goofy question, but does anyone else occasionally have to enlist a second set of hands for a mix? The analog mix for me is half the fun as it's just as live as the recording and you have to get everything just right.
 
Second hand? Heck the album my last band did we had to use a 3rd set of hands on my Mackie 8 buss.:eek: And I dont miss that board:rolleyes:
We had arms crossed all over the mixer.
 
Second hand? Heck the album my last band did we had to use a 3rd set of hands on my Mackie 8 buss. And I dont miss that board
We had arms crossed all over the mixer.

Yeah-yeah...been there, done that. We were laughing pretty hard though. It was fun.

So, Doulos...are you going into the DM-24 A->D and connecting digitally to the 001 into the DAW?
 
According to Al Jardine, it took the Beach Boys 2 full days (straight) to mix the song "Cool, Cool Water" in 1970:

"We were forced to go into creative hyperspeed because Brian was retreating in the opposite direction as fast as we were in the other direction. Carl and I had to piece together "Cool, Cool Water." That song was a 48-hour mixdown. I saw two sunrises on that. Bruce and I were just delirious and desperate. We were all just walking around like zombies. So weird. How could anything take so long?"
 
So, Doulos...are you going into the DM-24 A->D and connecting digitally to the 001 into the DAW?

I try to but sometimes just get lazy and plug direct to the 001s 2 inputs I have to move the computer closer I only have 12 feet long adat cables
 
I know this is a dumb question but how do you guys mix without automation? Is it just sub grouping and riding faders? I'm just curious cause I've grown use to my pro tools and being able to work on a few faders or a single pan pot at a time. I love the sound of analog tape, but I don't know if I could ever leave automation behind, but besides huge budgets and flying faders how is it done at a project/home studio level?

find me a firewire card for the dm 24 there like non exsistant been looking almost 2 years now. I just don't like the sound of my converters. I can hear it kill the input it's hard to explain I've used a ton of converters in my day on a ton of systems. I love the workflow of protools, but not a fan of the converters. I once did an album on a fostex 16 channel reel to reel dumped to pro tools mixed and it's just one of my favorite things I've done. now that I'm starting to build my own analog gear I'm afraid if I spend more on digital I will be disapointed. So I'm wanting to just use pro tools as a recorder dump the tracks back out use outboard gear and be done with it. I could upgrade the 001 to the 003 for 800 bucks, but heres the thing I could build a 4 channel neve 1272 or 8 channel api type front end for that I mean which would you do? ;)

There's a if/fw on Ebay now for a DM24.

How many tracks to tape. 8? I originally used my DM24 for several years both for the DAW and my 38. It worked fine. And of course the DM24 is fully automated.

The if/fw provides great conversion and no load at all on the DAW. Every time I think real hard about getting a Apogee or Lynx I think about how good the DM24 sounds and I decide it just ain't worth the money for the crossgrade. So I still use my DM24 for 24 i/o for the DAW but sub it into my ATB console which has my MS-16 plugged into it.

If you bought a analog console, what would you get ??

Danny
 
Second hand? Heck the album my last band did we had to use a 3rd set of hands on my Mackie 8 buss.:eek: And I dont miss that board:rolleyes:
We had arms crossed all over the mixer.

Oh Herm, I can always count on you to mirror my own analog experiences. Just used your 22-4 to track another band's 7 inch last weekend. Mixed it today and only needed two hands. I love it when a band asks for more fuzz...
 
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