PC as multi track storgage for "Analog Studio"

A

alexspetty

New member
is any one using the PC as a place for tracking to? But then using an analog board and out board gear (rather than effects plugins and mouse controlled faders) for mixing.

If so... is there a noticable loss in quality since there is A/D (initial tracking) then a D/A(mixing playback) and yet another A/D for generating final mixdown (is that right)??

Is the sound quality loss from all of those conversions a huge deal?

Thanks for any feedback you can offer.

-Alex
 
Alex.

Yup. I've dabbled with that approach a bit and I have my 8 channel sound interface wired into my studio in such a way that I can route my outputs to my analog mixer and mix it all there.

I found that it sounds "better" when mixed through the board. The stereo separation is wider and the music sounds more real. Even through my low end Alesis Studio 24 mixer. I still use Pro Tools for my effects since I already have lots of plugins and not a whole lot of outboard gear, but it kicks butt to run my vocals through my RNC.

I also know at least one pro studio engineer that very much prefers to do it the same way. At one point he owned both a complete Pro Tools rig with a control surface and an analog console as well. He almost always preferred to route through the console and do all his mixing in analog.

Take care,
Chris
 
I would say that the converters you chose to use could make a great deal of difference. Myself, as well as many people I know went to complete PC-based recording and mixing in the virtual environment w/ plugins, while using MIDI hardware controllers for remote control. However, now I find myself (and my collegues as well) going in reverse and integrating a great deal of our analog gear back into our recording equation. I definately notice a difference in the sound when mixing through an analog desk while using hardware units for processing. But again, it can all go down to your A/D & D/A converters. Get some Apogees and your in business! :D

At any rate, give it a try w/ what you have and let your ears be the judge.

good luck
ls
 
thanks..

i much prefer to keep the analog outboard gear and board as my working interface (since the gear works so well.. and most of all sounds so good) working with plug-ins software effects cant be as clean... software code doesnt run as error free as code and signal running on ROMs and hard circuits. At least this is my feeling on the matter based on my background in physics.

I like very much the idea of using the PC with Sonar2.2xl as a "virtual stack of ADATs" so to speak.

I am using a mackie 24x8 and 3 synched darla's (6in's and 24 outs). So the Darla's are doing the conversions. I am not sure if the echoaudio converters on those cards are as good as apogee but they seem to be pretty good. Does anyone know how well they compare?

Anyhow.. Chris, can you tell me the "way" in whuch you wired your setup so I can compare it to my approach? I would greatly appreciate it... the more ideas I can encounter on how to set this up.. the better! :)

Thanks again,

Alex
www.drumfish.com
 
Alex,

I'm really not fully wired for a full analog/digital marriage.

I have a Digi 002 with Pro Tools LE. It has 8 analog ins and out, 1 adat i/o and one s/pdif i/o. I don't have any of the digital i/o hooked up so I only have 8 channals of i/o. All 8 outs are patched into the 8 channels on my Alesis Studio 24 mixer.

I typically record well over 8 tracks for my tunes, so I have to sub-mix them to my 8 outs. Thus I'm still doing a fair amount of digital mixing. I also use digital effects- reverbs and delays, mostly, with some compression if needed. The only decent outboard gear I own these days is an RNC- which usually ends up on the insert track either the vocals or the bass.

For mixdown, all tracks are mixed in both the digital and analog domains, with MIDI tracks routed to the stereo inputs on the Studio 24, and fed back out the group outputs on the mixer into 2 channels on the Digi 002. The convertors on the digi seem to do the trick- it still sounds good to me.

I don't do it very often, but it definatly sounds different that way. Better in some respects, but since I don't have much analog gear its really just running it through the mixer for the soung it gives it. I do find, though, that the stereo field is wider when I do that. I've just started to experiment with it, really, so I haven't set in stone what methods to use.

In my dream studio, I have have some NICE convertors on those ADAT and S/PDIF channals and a nice 24 channel mixer and there would be a lot easier to justify mixing in analog all the time. :D

Your setup sounds pretty sweet.

Take care,
Chris
 
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