Mastering with analog?

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RobbieD

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Hey question lets say someone mixes a song with digital and masters with analog, can it still become as loud as with mixing and mastering both with analog?
 
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RobbieD said:
Hey question lets say someone mixes a song with digital and masters with analog, can it still become as loud as with mixing and mastering both with analog?
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What do you mean by analog? Analog outboard, tape, console, vinyl?

If it's going to end up as a digital format in the end, it wouldn't really matter if the tracks were recorded analog or digital when it came to mastering for level. Sounding good is a first priority..sounding good loud might be a second. It all depend on how one goes about it. I do work for a couple studios that record analog through the whole chain up to 2 track analog and there isn't really a problem getting those mixes as loud and clean as ones recorded all digital and vise versa... if that was the question.
 
ok cuz someone told me mixing you can go eithier digital or analog, with a real mix board, but for the mastering go with someone who has a board becuz the end result will be louder because of the distortion analog bords make...
 
RobbieD said:
ok cuz someone told me mixing you can go eithier digital or analog, with a real mix board,
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That's true.

RobbieD said:
but for the mastering go with someone who has a board becuz the end result will be louder because of the distortion analog bords make...
Click to expand...
In mastering there's not really a "board" involved although there can be an analog console.
What they probably meant was analog outboard gear ie. eq and compression.
 
RobbieD said:
ok cuz someone told me mixing you can go eithier digital or analog, with a real mix board, but for the mastering go with someone who has a board becuz the end result will be louder because of the distortion analog bords make...
Click to expand...

Well, the person that told you that knows their stuff? NOT! "but for the mastering go with someone who has a board becuz the end result will be louder because of the distortion analog bords make..." So analog gear distorts?? Strange how all the great old classic recordings recorded, mixed and mastered sounds so distorted? The old recordings only became distorted when they were re-mastered for 16 bit digital CD's or MP3's.

Think I'll join you
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Alan.
 
short answer: yes.
the arrangment, recording & the mix is defining how loud (or lets say how "good loud") a production could be mastered & not the format it has been mixed or will be mastered with.
 
well doesnt it add like more color, i dunt mean distort like clip, i mean that anolog sound...
 
I use an analog mastering chain because of the obscene amount of headroom it has over digital. Certainly not for the distortion...
 
Massive,

On the topic of headroom. I understand that high quality analog components can have significantly more headroom than digital, but I think a lot of folks have trouble understanding how the two relate (or compare).

When you're speaking about analog headroom and how more is available I've always understood that it was because analog doesn't hard clip like digital? In other words once you start to hit the boundaries of how "loud" a given analog piece of equipment is pushed the signal isn't simply chopped like in a digital environment, is this what allows for the higher headroom you speak of? Essentially it's a function of power (measured in watts typically) available beyond what your current signals are at.

Also, in theory, this can continually be pushed as long as the analog components continue to increase in quality and output (this, however, quickly gets prohibitively expensive except for in labratory environments etc...etc...).

Mostly correct?
 
RobbieD said:
ok cuz someone told me mixing you can go eithier digital or analog, with a real mix board, but for the mastering go with someone who has a board becuz the end result will be louder because of the distortion analog bords make...
Click to expand...
RobbieD said:
well doesnt it add like more color, i dunt mean distort like clip, i mean that anolog sound...
Click to expand...

Maybe if you told us what you meant to say in the first place we could understand what you are saying.

Alan.
 
And all that as a first post. How many seconds did it take you to find that on the net, and what has it got to do with the question in the first place.

Now I wait
eatpopcorn.webp

It's alright he has been removed, so future readers are spared.
 
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It has to do with providing a vehicle for his SPAM signature.
 
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