Referencing a Mix on a Sh*tty Speaker

[TalismanRich]

I guess they could have, if the equipment was available. They were cutting masters on a lathe as the musicians played, so adding more lathes adds more cost, manpower, etc. You pretty much have to babysit a record cutting lathe. Doug Sax and Lincoln Mayorga started Sheffield Labs as a record mastering facility, specifically to do very high quality record mastering. Sheffield had custom made equipment, much of it designed by Doug Sax's brother Sherwood. Remember, that this was all done in the early 70s. This wasn't a lot of off the shelf hardware.

They did do tape backups of their D2D sessions, and when it became available, they did run a second feed to early digital stereo recorders.

Over the years, Doug Sax mastered a laundry list of top albums, not just their D2D records. Later he did mastering of CDs. He was one of the acknowledged masters of the art.

 

[Papanate]

What am I not factoring in?
there's a fun factor of vinyl that's part of the experience

Thats not my experieince.

- I enjoy the cleaning process before playing a record using a home-concocted vacuum-irrigation process. There are high-quality LP pressings that are really quiet when cleaned. There's also wet playing but my understanding is it damages the grooves because the vinyl is more brittle due to the cooling effect and the peaks of the grooves break off.

Digital is great but they can take my turntable when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. ??

I Like the sound of Vinyl - don’t like what accompanies it anymore - conversely I like the sounds of digital and don’t like that nothing accompanies it.

 

[noah330]

I have an old iPhone I can patch into. I've been using my monitors for a long time, and they're set up correctly. I find things translate fine.

I do a mono check when I'm mixing.

 

[Papanate]

I think it has been discussed, either directly or indirectly. Using a bad speaker to check a mix on just to check how the mix will sound on a system most people will be listening on (except when you are the only listener) . It seems like a logical idea, if it sounds good on this ....

.

 

[Grustifrut]

Yep, I do it. Not to mix, just to check. If it holds up on a crappy speaker, you’re probably in good shape. Helps catch stuff studio monitors might hide.