paul999

So I've been mixing ITB for the past few months and I am starting to notice some differences that may be attributable to analog summing vs Digital summing but there are too many variables to know for sure. I had been mixing fully analog for many months. I was running everything out through my convertors summing through hardware and my console and then recording 2 tracks back into my daw. A few months ago I set up my console so that each channel would be an input plug in on my daw and using my ...

Challenging project 1

I finished a strange gig. A local theater company needed a pianist to record a very complex score and then play the vocal lines on a separate track so I could make a mix for the production and a mix for them to learn vocal lines. It was a total of 55minutes of recorded music. Piano only. I needed to be able to record quickly so I thought that using a keyboard rather then micing my piano was the right thing to do. I hired a piano player and asked him to bring ...

For me it is well established that awesome mixes can done digitally and fully analog.

As I wrote in my last blog I am now summing fully digitally but using a boat load of analog gear with in my system.

What Happens to an Analog Guy ITB?

What I am finding is that as I am working ITB more then I was for the last 6 months there are changes to my mixing. I am finding that my mixes are consistently harder fought. They take more time and I don't get a ...

I've been summing my mixes analog for the last 6 months. I've done a ton of mixes during this time and I really enjoy the work flow of my console so why would I trade that?

Digital vs Analog summing. Is it important?

Not to me. On a scale of 1-10 I rate the benefits of analog summing as zero. Unless your console has some serious coloration in the master section there is no purpose IMO. There are also a ton of cheaper ways to get this coloration. A good 2 buss ...

I know most people don't own a commercial building as I do but I thought I would pass along this little piece of info to anyone that may be able to translate it to their situation. A year and a half ago I bought one of those portable signs that have removable letters where you can change the letters on it. It lets you has 13 characters on 5 lines. I bought it when myself and a group of friends held the "all candidates debate"(council and mayor) at my studio. It was our form of advertising. ...

How Soon After a Band Walks in the Door Should You Hit Record?


I like to have a band recording with in the first hour of them cracking open the door on the studio. This makes musicians feel good generally. If people are a little nervous or pumped up this makes them not waste their energy just sitting around. It also gives you a long tracking day. By far the first 6 hours are the most productive for most bands.

If it takes an hour to load in and set up drums ...

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I have two sets of studio speakers KRK5's and HS-50's plus some little altec speakers. I have ARC'd all of them. These are low budget speakers but I can pull decent mixes out of them especially with the help of ARC. I find that the reduced low end of ARC can be a little challenging in the 100 hz range. I am still guessing there a little. One thing I started doing is using my monitors with and without ARC. Treating them as 4 sets of monitors that show different parts of the mix. This helped ...

I love that I am still learning a ton about this stupid obsession. It definitely is not just a job. Recording=insanity.

So title is a little grand but here is what happened. I've been on the search for 2 buss eq. I had 2 API 550b's delivered yesterday and had very disappointing results putting them on 2 buss.

The Big Picture

If you read through my blogs you'll find that in October I said I was going to sell a bunch of stuff and get "the gear" ...

I bought 2 API 550b's to use on 2 buss because I had such a good experience when using a cheap live graphic eq. I'm hoping to really pull my 2 buss up to the next level.

My 2 buss chain has been the following. Mix->manley variable-mu->graphic eq-> waves Maxxbcl.

Starting to play

What I did today was put the APi's after the graphic so I could directly compare the effect.

I had a demo mix that I finished for a client still ...

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Focusrite 2802 @ Musician's Friend --- Focusrite 2802 @ ZZounds.com --- Focusrite 2802 @ Ebay.com --- Focusrite 2802 @ Amazon --- Focusrite 2802 @ B&H

This is a pretty complex unit. Their "dual layer" technology is what attracted me to it. The fact that I can patch in 8 channels with flying faders to automate my hardware is really cool since I mix 90% OTB.

At $5000 it needs to be a pretty stellar machine. It has 8 mic pre's that I haven't tried yet a very nicely featured dual channel compressor and a DAW controller. You can also sum 28 tracks plus 2 stereo aux's.

What ...

I got these tonelux eq's on the same day I received my ELI Doc derr module so it was like christmas came early

Right away you can tell that this is high end boutique gear from its construction. Slight imperfections from less robotic or automated assembly processes I'm not sure but I totally dig that kind of thing. I did have trouble fitting one of the eq's in the V8 box and am thankful I won't be needing to do that anytime soon. After I got over the installation I hooked ...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DocDerr

I've been using the Doc derr for the past couple days and have done 4 mixes with it. I started by running some sources through it. Snare, kick, guitar, bass, voice etc. It is a great eq. clean and utilitarian. The compressor either works or not for a given situation. The saturation circuit can be fun but sounds nothing like tape. I'm not sure what it sounds like.

On the outside this thing looks feature packed and ...

So I am in the middle of of my studio over haul and have discovered some interesting things. One thing is that I've sold is my KM84's. I am going to be auditioning several mic's to see what I think is going to be my new "staple". In the mean time I know I can use sm-81's and get an indistinguishable result in the mix. I also have less compressors while they are on order etc. Long story short I am recording and mixing in a minimalist "3rd world" environment. I have only ...

As I have been documenting I am in the middle of a major studio equipment/method shuffle. I have sold off a bunch of stuff that just wasn't working for me or I felt I wasn't getting 100% out of. I am very much going back to basic's. Part of my new system is that I am using my console in the "old fashioned way" writing out recall sheets for my hardware gear and even doing some automation by hand when mixing.

Why would anyone do this in this day and age you crazy Ba***rd? ...

I've been asking myself "if I could start all over again buying equipment would I buy the same things that I have now. For a long time I answered yes until a couple weeks ago. I realized I mostly like the gear I have because it is familiar. Not that I suffer from having garbage, inadequate or insufficient gear.

I did some soul searching

I've decided that my hybrid system will focus on having automation, recall and fast workflow as the center of the universe. ...