Home Recording Forum - Blogs - paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/ Skyrocket your home recordings faster than ever with recordingreview.com en Mon, 20 May 2013 13:45:57 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forum.recordingreview.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Home Recording Forum - Blogs - paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/ Finally I have the most fun studio on planet earth! http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/235-finally-i-have-most-fun-studio-planet-earth.html Thu, 09 May 2013 06:51:32 GMT This is a bold statement but recording, mixing... This is a bold statement but recording, mixing and playing are about making bold and calculated moves. Inching our way to success.

What is so fun about Smith Music's recording studio?

Over the last year my entire mind set has shifted. This is the main reason I've been able to make the best possible studio experience for myself and translate that to my clients. I LOVE mixing now. My experience until the last few years has been one of mixes getting progressively better but never hitting the mark of what I hear in my head. This changed over the course of this year. Until I could get a mix that I heard in my head to come alive in the speakers in front of me I would struggle turning out pretty good mixes. The only thing that propelled me forward was knowing that one day I would successed consistently. Fun was not a factor.

Of course this does not mean I do not have much to learn or that I am the best engineer in the place. There was a time when learning instruments that I hit this same point. It was then time to go out into the world and use the skill. I knew that I was good, could be realistic about my skill set and make music that inspired me. This has now happened with recording for me. To be honest it is just a freakin relief. The massive struggle, the never measuring up, the hunt for the next tool, knowledge or magic that would roll this forward a minuscule notch has ended. Ahhhhhhhh!

Many, of you know what I am talking about. Many of you have likely long passed this threshold and are finding new challenges in this field.

Whats next?

Now that I've sorted the B.S. about gear have skills to a reasonable degree I felt it was time to totally customize my control room and studio to me. So this is what I set out to do.

Do What is Inspiring

This is my new mindset. If I have background vocals that I feel could benifit from tonelux eq's then I go ahead and use them not afraid that I'll regret not saving them for later. If I am struggling with a source I erase everything very quickly and change to the opposite of what I am doing. If I am ITB I'll go OTB or vise versa. It is like picking up a new guitar to get new song writing ideas. There is nothing wrong with the old one but a new perspective inspires.

Now that I understand that digital and analog hardware are equal tools that need to be used in a way that excentuates their strengths I don't worry about using my expensive gear on the "important" instruments and plug ins on the rest. I use what is inspiring in the moment. I may have lead vocals all processed ITB one day and a full mix spread out over 48 channels of analog gear the next. It depends on my mood and what is working for me in the moment.


[SIZE=]Looking Back Now Ten Things I Wish I Knew Starting Out Are... [/SIZE]

1. HPF is the most powerful tool in your arsenal.
2. Build a fort out of roxul to record in.
3. Mic pres matter but they don't need to be $1000 each.
4. Expensive gear can be fun, inspiring and a good learning tool. But it never inherently sounds good just going through it(that only happens when you are VERY skilled and have done 1000 right before hand)
5. Never accept a bad take.
6. NOTHING is considered cheating.
7. Sm57's sound great as overheads
8. The q's on analog eqs tend to be FAR wider then we select when using a daw eq and they boost or cut less then we are inclined to go.
9. Having a slick workflow is worth putting money into.
10. Take Saturdays off.

Bonus 11. Convertors like mic pres are important but Convertors never inspire me with their sonics. They impress me when they stay out of the way. ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/235-finally-i-have-most-fun-studio-planet-earth.html I might even argue that digital sounds better then analog. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/225-i-might-even-argue-digital-sounds-better-then-analog.html Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:51:34 GMT This is a pretty bold statement that doesn't come easily from me.

Background

When I started to get pretty good as a musician I went though a phase were I was super picky about everything. Instrument, string brand, cable length, Even building custom instruments to achieve perfection.

As I achieved success I ditched all that pickiness insisting that 99% of my tone was the player. I played on absolute crap for a while. I continued working even when my band mates were sometimes embarrassed by my gear:)

Now I play on nice gear again but I am not nearly as picky as I once was and I don't sweat the little insignificant things I used to. Now I play on quality gear and just freakin play.

Recording has followed this exact same experiential curve for me. My skills definitely took a turn for the better this year. I am now in the part of the curve where I could almost care less what I use to mix with.

The better its tracked the less critical your mixing tools are

I am really proud of the tracking I've managed to pull out of my studio since I decided to go to extreme room treatment. Because I am happy with the tracking I need to do less mixing. Because I am now getting good room sounds now my reverbs aren't relied on as much, mojo is in great supply and I repair a lot less.

Where Does Digital Sound Better Then Analog?

In specific places.

Digital is cleaner. When I am trying to clean up a cloudy mix why the hell am I adding eq's and compressors with massive harmonic content? Sure it may be a little harsh is some areas(but not nearly as much if its tracked well) but there plenty of digital solutions for this like multi bands and deessers. Low end is not as full (well so what since when is that an issue.)

I would now argue that digital distortion in the digital world sounds better than in the analog world because A. plugins have advanced really far in this area B. the distortion is much more controllable. I can take the waves tape machine and add distortion that is very pleasant to synths, guitars and voices in ways I'd never dream in the analog world.

Digital does not have the same depth as digital. I believe this to be true. However if things are tracked correctly you can get more depth then you can use. With the dynamic range of recordings being to reduced to an all time low the depth of recordings is also reduced and things being forward and in your face is the sound of modern recordings. Depth is not the sound of modern recordings. My ears have finally acclimated to digital.

The Test

I've been mixing 100% ITB the last 2+weeks and I can say that even though I miss the comfort of my analog gear, and I perceive that there is something missing from my mixes. There isn't. When I sit back and listen they sound great. I can't believe that they are ITB. When I need more oomph I have tools like max bass. I did some recalls over the last few days that required me firing up the console. They did not sound better period.

Will I Sell My Analog Gear?

Not yet. I still love my gear and I think I might be going through my "I don't care what I mix on phase". I am guessing I'll end up somewhere in the middle.

Conclusion

While the digital vs analog war is over it is true that the rules have changed. The sound of digital has become familiar and we are all effected by it. There are many ways of solving problems and what I've found is that not all plugins are created equally. Having great quality digital plugs is essential.

Happy mixing
Paul ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/225-i-might-even-argue-digital-sounds-better-then-analog.html <![CDATA[Paul999's Ultimate Template eats Daws for Breakfast!]]> http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/218-paul999s-ultimate-template-eats-daws-breakfast.html Mon, 07 Jan 2013 01:24:04 GMT After exploring Reaper and have it crash and burn... After exploring Reaper and have it crash and burn 75% of the way through getting my template set up I decided to learn more about Logic(the Daw I've used for the last couple years after switching from cubase). Reaper has AWESOME import/export functions and it turns out that logic has pretty good ones but far more rudimentary then Reapers. Logic has handled my crazy routing though.

I decided to take some time making my ultimate template for mixing and another one for tracking now that I can easily import recorded tracks into a mixing template and all my common stuff is already there including fairly complex routing.

Here are the basics of my routing. 64 individual tracks and 16 F/X auxes are routed to 12 subgroups. Nothing special so far. These tracks also have a combination of 48 hardware inserts as plugins in all different places. This tends to stress daws a little and confuse latency io plugs.

The next place is where Reaper was quirky and logic down right failed. Taking my 12 groups I send them to 12 stereo audio stems. These are used to record all the aux stems for quick recall. Lastly these stems are sent to 8 channels of summing in my console and the 2 buss of that is recorded into logic on a master track.

In reaper when I would load it up sometimes all the latency worked. Other times it would not. I'd have to save, close and reopen and then it might work. It may also take several times. In logic what I figured out is that auxiliary tracks were causing a problem. When I replaced them with audio tracks doing the same function and switched the latency mode to audio and instrument tracks everything syncs up. Every time. When the latency mode is set to all which includes aux tracks it actually screws things up! No latency compensation is closer to being timed correctly.

That is dumb IMO.

I never had issues like this in cubase. I found its latency compensation far easier and better. It just did it for you(pretty well). However Cubase was such a non stop headache with other buggy and crashing issues that this was barely noticed.

In conclusion. I seem to have the bugs worked out on logic for my template and I am very excited to go back to work tomorrow saving about 40 min per mix because of my template. Not to mention super easy and far more accurate recall. ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/218-paul999s-ultimate-template-eats-daws-breakfast.html Full on Reaper trial. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/217-full-reaper-trial.html Sun, 06 Jan 2013 05:42:44 GMT So I had sinus surgery just before Christmas and... So I had sinus surgery just before Christmas and while I was recovering I decided to learn everything I could about reaper and see if it was a better daw then logic. A much better solution then watching T.V. and feeling miserable.


What did I do to give it a fair shot?

I watched a video course on line. I really was able to dig into every aspect of the program.


What it can do.

It can do everything that logic and cubase can do and some really cool things that logic and cubase can't. I had tried to learn reaper before using a course and it was tough. I used the groove3 tutorials and found it really informative.


What it can do the logic and cubase can't!

Reaper only has one kind of track and you can route it to anywhere you want even multiple places easily. They can function as folders, audio, midi, aux etc.

Reapers import, export options and screen shot options are super slick. You can save plug in chains that can be combined with each other. For example you could have a vocal chain and then add a bass guitar chain after(not that you'd need to do that). You can save any part of your mixer settings like just bass channels and send them to another song. You can also save them while you try out a different bass sound for example and revert those tracks back at any time. You can do this with your whole session and only recall which ever portions you want. Far example you could save the whole mixer window but later only recall a couple of channels of it. Awesome!


You can also make a custom skins for how your mixer and arrange window looks. I have my mixer looking like an API console. It is Awesome looking.


Reapers limitations.

For me I use really complex routing that reaper does way better then logic. It was a bit of a pita getting my latency sorted out. Ultimately reaper could not handle the massive amount of CPU load that I use. It started crashing when I had 75% of my usual routing and plugins happening and I could not get it to recover. This happened every time. I understand that reaper is far less stable on Mac then pc. I also tried it without my custom skin. No help:-(

Conclusion

If I could have gotten past this limitation I would have switched DAWS for sure.

I totally recommend checking out this daw. If you can get it working for you it is very slick. ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/217-full-reaper-trial.html Grrrrr Room mic........HULK SMASH!!! http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/214-grrrrr-room-mic-hulk-smash.html Sat, 29 Dec 2012 08:59:53 GMT One of the places I've struggled with recording and mixing is with room mics. If I had shame I'd say I've struggled to an embarrassing degree:-) With no formal training(not for lack of looking) and a decade and a half experience I've finally started to make some head way into the black art of room mics. My other blogs and threads will mark the headway in the battle.

I'll start off by saying that I like my drum tones. I found ways around, and even not, needing room mics. This would not stop the voice in the back of my brain from saying "learn to use room mics".


The light in the vail.


You hear engineers say "I love crushing room mics". Crush, crush, crush mmmmmm Hulk Smash!

You also hear engineers say "I don't gate my Toms I get the body of my snare from Toms"


Crush rm mic. Check. Don't gate Toms. Check


I start off smashing room mics. I mean I made them ultra distorted. That didn't sound very good. Hmmmm. They seem to sound better without compression but I can't get too much of that in a mix before the kit starts disappearing on me. Damn. But what am I trying to achieve with these things anyway? I don't know. For quite a while I settle on pulling my overheads back further and getting a little room tone this way. It's cool.

What about this Tom insanity I hear about. Have you tried making a pounding rock record and leaving your Tom mics on the whole time. Talk about washed out.


WTF!!!!!!! Grrrrrrr HULK SMAAAAAAASH!?!?!?!?!


So one of the things I do is send most of my channels and sometimes the drum buss to room impulse reverbs. Especially since getting the waves IR. It helps take away that little too dry thing that sometimes happens. It sounds really "natural". Sometimes I even compress the room impulse a little and use a transient designer to pull out some attacks. I'll also roll off some highs or not send cymbals to it.

I also mixed in samples of my room with my kit. That is easy to mix. Cymbals getting in the way is what separates the boys from the men with room mics.

Epiphany! Eureka.... HULK NO SMASH!

I dawned on me a few weeks ago that maybe I was doing what people do with room mics but I was doing it to an impulse response(room) instead of a mic. Maybe I had figured it out but didn't know.

I decided to try a quick ITB mix of some drums using a track my assistant recorded. I had become so disillusioned with room mics that I've even stopped tracking them! I happened to have a track with some because I decided to try again a while back. They were not in "smart places" one between a gobo and the kick about 2 feet back aiming at the kick. The other behind the drummer aiming at his back with a gobo between the mic and the drummer. Oh well it is what I had to work with. There were other instruments recorded live off the floor as you'll hear.


What I did


First off these are not be all end all drum mixes. They are experiments to understand room mics.

I took these room mics and gently rolled off about 6 db of gain reduction with a Cla 1176 fast attack and fairly fast release. I rolled off some top to get the cymbals out of the way with a 6db/octave HPF to about 4-6k, pulled out some low mids and rolled off some of the lows because of the bass guitar bleed. Next I used a transient designer to pull back the attacks on snare and kick so my close mics don't get smeared. I time the release to breathe as the snare decays emphasizing the snare decay. I sent this track to an room reverb just to make it sound a little more distant. Sometimes I've been putting reverb directly on the track before the compressor and the TD. That can be cool and extreme. In the examples I include I panned them in to 30% on each side. Sometimes wide works here I didn't like it.

What About Those F'ing Toms!

Well what if I did the same thing to the toms that I did to the room mics? I can compress them enough to keep the Tom level the same as or similar to the rest of the elements while still only taking off 10db of gentle gain reduction:-). Hey that sounds kind of cool. But what do I do for toms tracks now. Duh copy paste the tracks! I can either gate my tom track for toms or use samples etc. Regardless I have a new copy that I am using like room mics. That added some serious weight the the snare and is a familiar sound:-) Cool now we are getting somewhere.


What I learned


These know it all big boy engineers are wimps when it comes to SMASHING things. 20db of gain reduction is what I call a good start:-). Seriously I have backed off a ton but when I need to step on something I'll step hard. Apparently HULK SMASH=BAAAAAAAD when it comes to room mics. If it sounds like a drum set being played in a pop can factory and then sent to a Walmart pa and then lastly through a tube screamer it ain't what the cool kids are doing. If it sounds like @$$ alone. It will sound like @$$ along with nice close mics when you put them together. Make sure they sound nice alone.

It is the transients that matter. You can pull these quasi room sounds up pretty loud before the kit starts to sound like it is disappearing. THAT has been my missing ingredient.


Conclusion


I know now that sometimes room mics will be used very subtly and other times quite aggressively. At least now I have a frame of reference and the song can dictate.

Room mics need to be used along with a whole arsenal of other ambience techniques but they can be a nice core to start with IMO. They are not just for Zepplin and Roomy music anymore.

I hope the sound clips help put this in perspective. The band is Death by Robot. A cool group of guys! The song is mixed but not mastered yet. Funny enough the room mics were not used in the mix because this needed a very different, bold, drum sound.

The tracks are the volume I mixed them at and not normalized. This means the song mix is a lot louder then the examples. The rm examples are quiet so you can take the Kick/snare/O.H. and mix it with the Tom crush and room mic track in your DAW with everything at zero. It should sound like my track with everything mixed. Then you can play.

Have fun!
Paul
Audio File Only Available To Members.
]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/214-grrrrr-room-mic-hulk-smash.html The Dream of An iPad Controller is Dead. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/212-dream-ipad-controller-dead.html Fri, 28 Dec 2012 06:13:32 GMT I wrote a bog a while back about how encouraged I... I wrote a bog a while back about how encouraged I was with the iPad and its possibility to be used as a controller.

I own them all. V-comtrol, touch OAC, and even Lemur.

With the exception of Lemur none of them are stabe enough to depend on. For short periods of time they all work great. Often if you don't touch one for a few minutes it "goes to sleep" and losses lock with the program. To means you need to reboot booth the daw and the app. Not cool

Lemur- it is so complex to program I feel like I need to invest my entire life into learning the programming language. That is a major flaw. Never got past that.

These work great for setting up phone mixes when playing drums in the live room etc.

Cheers ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/212-dream-ipad-controller-dead.html The ultimate gobo! http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/201-ultimate-gobo.html Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:51:57 GMT I've been on a room treatment kick again lately. This has become my holy grail.

I found what I thought was the perfect combination of cool idea and ease to build design and got to work. Here is the design I roughly followed. Primacoustic Acoustic Solutions

I like the stackable idea primacoustics have with this gobo. I wanted to make something anyone can build and afford. I made 4 2x4 gobos in round one.

Total cost
$210.00 for 4 gobo's that are 2x4 feet and 9 inches thick. That is $55 each!

Total time to build
3 hours

Materials needed per gobo
1-2’x4' sheet of hardboard
2-4'x9" 1/2 inch rough plywood
2-25"x9" 1/2 inch rough plywood
4-blocks of scrap
3-1.5" thick 2x4 slabs ofmoc703 mineral wool ridgid insulation.

One side has 3" of oc703 followed by a 4 inch air space to help with low end absorption. It has a hard board barrier to help with separation when being used as a gobo. The other side is one sheet of oc 703 up against the hardboard. I did this because I did not want the back side to be reflective.

I built these because I want to be able to make a 6 foot wall by putting two side by side and one on its side on top.

Ultimately I want 12. At $600 this will be some of the best money I've ever spent.

Putting these gobos in front of the drum set gave me the clearest sounding kick I've ever heard. I'll post a file comparison when I can.
Attached Images
]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/201-ultimate-gobo.html I love the sound of digital and have become a waves aholic. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/196-i-love-sound-digital-have-become-waves-aholic.html Sat, 29 Sep 2012 15:29:24 GMT I have documented my gradual shift into embracing... I have documented my gradual shift into embracing the digital world in probable painful detail but no one has said "shut up 999" so I'll continue:-)

The plugin addiction begins

I bought the waves MPX and NLS plugins. They convinced me that emulation technology can make great sounding plugs. Like the original no. Different yes. Better, sometimes. I can make such extreme harmonic distortion with these to plugs that it blows my mind. I can make more then any of my hardware will make! I have been loving mixing with these plugs.

But why is everyone gaga over Hardware

Good hardware does sound awesome. I love my hardware. Coming from a very analog type brain I have been very biased against digital. It wasn't because of things I read on the Internet. I wasn't hooked up to the Internet to read that stuff. It was because I had a modest reel to reel studio with a small amount of hardware and then went all digital in the 1990’s with the promise of digital. I regretted selling my gear and buying into the UAD-1 craze. Convinced that analog was the way to go and then discovering the Internet in the mid 2000's I started a very expensive buying spree of hardware that landed me where I am today.

Where I landed

I have a bunch of great hardware that works for me, make good recordings and have a roster of happy clients. All thanks to hardware. Then a few years ago I start hearing Danzi, Fhumble, Brandon, rocker dude and a bunch of other guys using digital stuff making great recordings. Hmm. Why can they get this digital stuff to sound good and I can't.

Cup half full /cup half empty

I think I figured it out. I bet that when people that are good at using digital plugs pull up a plug in they instantly hear what they like about the plug and move to enhance that which by default de-emphasizes the nasty part. I very much have not been able to find this is most plugs. I would hear them from a "cup half empty" perspective. I would hear hardware from a "cup half full" perspective and could then work from a place inspiration.

Eureka I've found it!

I got an offer from waves in an email for the native power pack at 50% off. $150 for 15 plugs that are 20 years old.lol. Hardly a deal but whatever. The L1, super tap, convolution reverb, eq etc. I bought the package. Mostly because logics deesser is inept and this has one. I started messing around with them and I noticed something. When I use logics plugs there is a gradual darkening and stereo smear that happens to the image. It builds up over time and sometimes it happens all at once when you put on a plug like a compressor. I found stock cubase plugs brutal for this. I would then use my hardware to repair the damage as best as I could.

With the waves plug ins I noticed that they didn't do this darkening thing. The L1 is an exceptional plug and using it to condition a signal before going into a hardware compressor is AWESOME. It actually adds clarity. For the first time I said to myself "I like the sound of these plugs". Instantly I was working from a place of inspiration and not repair. This changes everything. The balance of hybrid recording is amazing. The plugs keeping the analog gear check and the analog gear softening or empowering the digital plugs is fun relationship to manage.

I could see the waves plugs driving me crazy if I didn't have the hardware to keep the problems in check. Working from a place of inspiration is absolutely essential and these plugs have inspired it.

Conclusion

For the first time in my brain digital and analog have come together as equal powerhouses for mixing purposes. My bias is in check and the L1 is as valuable to me as my API 525. The sum of how they interact is far more important then the dollar value of each of the parts.

I haven't fired up my tape machines in months and doubt they'll be on anytime soon. Too much hassle. Using digital plugs has helped my cherish my hardware as well. I feel I've landed at a good balance of 24 hardware channels and a killer 2 buss that is a mix of plugs and hardware. The mixture of outboard and plugin f/x adds more depth then I can achieve in either world.

My pursuit of the analog studio is officially over and the hybrid reality has brought me further then I thought I'd ever go in the studio business. ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/196-i-love-sound-digital-have-become-waves-aholic.html <![CDATA[The definitive API shoot out. Why you need hardware but can't hear why.]]> http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/191-definitive-api-shoot-out-why-you-need-hardware-but-cant-hear-why.html Tue, 28 Aug 2012 02:28:20 GMT I had the good fortune to have some time on my... I had the good fortune to have some time on my hands and I've always wanted to a "head to head" plugin vs hardware shoot out. I own a bunch of API(and other hardware) gear including some API 550b eqs. The waves audio API collection is a well respected emulation of some API pieces. The 550b eq is the only direct comparison that I own.

How I set it up

I did a mix that was about 80-90% done. No automation or fixes etc. I used all my normal hardware on 24 channels and 2buss. I used hardware 550b's for 1 of 3 kick channels, 1 of 3 snare channels and vocals.

When I was finished I printed the track. Next I exchanged the plug for the hardware 550b's and ensured the volume and settings were the same. I must say I was astonished at how good the plugs sound. I ran this ultra bright snare track pushing a sweet spot on the API. When I A/Bed them I could not tell which was which. The kick was the same experience. On the vocals I could hear the re-emergence of some sibilance but it was still good sounding to me.

Next I did a null test of just the 3 tracks with the 550b's getting rid of all the f/x and random sounds. The snare is not a sample and the kick is a single sample with no dynamic's so it should be a true null test. There is quite a difference in the null test, especially in the high end.

Lastly I printed a mix with the plugins replacing the 3 550b's I used to hear them in mix. This is where I thought I could really her a difference. Don't forget that the snare and kick tracks are only 1 of 3 tracks stacked on each other but the vocal is a single track. I felt that the vocal fell back in the mix a little. I messed with the volume and this did not fix what I heard. The printed version hear is the same volume, ie apples to apples.

Hardware vs software.

Speaking from a strictly personal perspective this is what the experiment showed me. First of all hardware vs software is a stupid argument. There are some differences but the world has moved beyond "what is better" and has moved to "what works for me".

My listening perspective tells me that I hear a SLIGHT amount of difference in frequency response particularly in the low mids and high end. This is not compelling enough of a reason to buy hardware over the software. Some tiny adjustments can lessen this. I can even argue that these simply don't matter.

2 reasons why hardware is better then software.


Reason 1. The sound of hardware isn't that different but the way it moves the air is different. People tend to think I am a little loopy when I say this. What I mean is that the actual movement of the air from drum attacks, bass notes, pick attack etc. tends to get lost by about 3% when I replace the hardware with a plug. People tend to describe software as harsh which confuses me. I describe it as soft. When you loose this "muscle"(air movement) it makes the less appealing aspects of the sound a little louder to me. For example vocals tend to get a little more sibilant when they loose some air movement.

The remedies for this can be quite simple for drums a slight tweak of a transient designer can give you tons of air movement. A really good de-esser can tuck the sibilance back into a nice sounding territory. Never the less this gives hardware a slight and I do mean slight(but not unimportant) edge.

Reason 2. Speed. I find hardware so much quicker. There are a ton of places that it is not but head to head when I adjust the API 550b hardware on a sound I get something I like really quick. I mean seconds usually. When I am adjusting the 550b plug in I rarely experience this. I have no reasonable explanation why. Even when I am using a controller to operate the knobs to make it as much like hardware as possible I find that it takes upwards of 4 times longer to get what I like. On the flip side if I get what I want with the hardware and then flip to the software with the same settings I usually like it and keep the same settings. Perplexing but this has been my experience.

I am lucky enough to be in a position where I get to look more towards ideal as opposed to best bang for the buck when it comes to purchases. I do consider myself extremely frugal and refuse to waste money but I get to look at the ideal and sometimes purchase it. These 2 reasons may not be enough of a benefit for some to buy hardware and for good reason.

Need for Speed

Speed is important when it comes to running a business. You need to be able predict roughly how long things will take and time equals dollars. More importantly though, is the artistic freedom speed gives you. I took a speed reading course years ago. Before I knew it I was reading whole books in a couple hours. What I noticed is that with speed comprehension improved. It is not a relaxing type sit on the beech and read but it is utilitarian. The same applies to mixing. The quicker you can do it the better perspective you can keep and the better your mixes will ultimately be. Speed keeps motivation high and stops projects from dragging on.


The advantage of both

This is where this gets cool IMO. People talk about using different gear and settings on different channels to make things stand out etc. This soft vs muscular sound difference can be another tool. For example. The API 550b software really got this certain high end sizzle from the hardware eq nailed with their emulation. I've never heard any other eq do this and what it does to snare is awesome IMO. Using the hardware on the select tracks that I want to be forward like kick snare and vocals while using the plug in on OH's and fx lets the tracks that I want pushed back a little go where I need them to go. It gives a smidge more depth then may even be possible with hardware alone.


Conclusion

I had a blast doing this shootout for myself and thought I'd share it. It has taken about 2 weeks for me to actually get the time to post this and in that time I've purchased the API 550 package which at $88 is a stealIMO. I passed on the 2500 compressor because I just wasn't that impressed. I am disappointed that I couldn't sell off a bunch of hardware. I was starting to think I might. In the hardware world a 550b, 525 or 527comp on every channel would cover 90% of my needs. Sadly I did a mix with the API plugs and none of my hardware except 2buss and it just plain sucked. I know some guys can kill in the digital world but not me at this time. I am convinced there is no magic in these hardware boxes yet I can't seem to function with out them. My hardware collection will likely not get much bigger and my plugins will grow. It may take time but eventually I can see being ITB and being happy just not right now.

Best
Paul
Audio File Only Available To Members.
]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/191-definitive-api-shoot-out-why-you-need-hardware-but-cant-hear-why.html All DAW Controllers suck......Until Now. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/189-all-daw-controllers-suck-until-now.html Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:34:38 GMT It is funny that the functionality of an $50... It is funny that the functionality of an $50 mouse only seems to get beaten by a $20,000 protools command station.

I have tried a ton of controllers out trying to find something that comes close to the speed, straightforward workflow and functionality of a mouse.

Over time I developed a great knowledge of key commands, and have a really good transport control on my Focusrite 2802 with a fantastic jog wheel.

So why replace a mouse?

If it is so good and cheap what is the problem? Well for me after doing a ton of editing my wrist would get sore. This started to get worse and worse bordering on injury. A major crisis for a musician.

I hear explanations like I'd rather use a knob because it fools my brain into thinking I'm using analog gear. While this may be true I can't justify spending a fortune because of a lame excuse like that.

Enter the track pad

A solution that I've been very happy with has been the track pad. Being able to use gestures is fast. For example clicking on the arrange track and spreading my index finger and thumb to zoom in is an incredible time saver. Using a mouse pad wrist rest has almost eliminated wrist fatigue for me. After the track pad I will never use a mouse again.

But a Track Pad is Not a Controller

No it is not. Plus the best protection against repetitive strain injury is to do different activities all the time and avoid doing the same movement again and again. Something us musicians must not take for granted if we want a full life of playing music and recording.

Is the iPad the Solution?

I set out on a quest to find this out. It is cheap compared to high end controllers. All the high end stuff seems to be going to touch screens. I have purchased a ton of controller apps and finally found one that made a dent in the ongoing argument, should I grab the mouse or the controller?

Touch OSC is the app that made the dent. I looks God awful but it stands up where others fall. The biggest thing that sucked about other controllers is that I'd start to find a use for them but if they sat too long they would freeze. TouchOSC never does that thanks to an "always on feature". The biggest thing that it has is that I can edit the interface. I can get rid of details that I don't want and add stuff I do want(sort of).

The Biggest Reason Controllers Suck

For me the answer is that when I look at a screen and then down at a controller I need to orient myself with what I am seeing before I can start adjusting. This totally interrupts my work flow. The other reason is that most controllers are just faders and I spend .002% of my time adjusting faders. Adding, selecting and adjusting plugins is huge. The novation is supposed to be good when it works as reviewers put it. I haven't tried it. Still needing to switch from mouse to controller interrupts work flowIMO.

The Solution was a surprise

With touch OSC I could adjust the interface so I took the stock logic template and started getting rid of stuff I wouldn't use to neaten the screen. Then I'd use it until something else annoyed me and I'd adjust some more, repeat. I finally found that the labels were too small. I always had to hunt to find out which track I was working on. The small scribble strip was a huge problem for me. So I made it enormous and all of a sudden I could glance down and know where I was. My labels are so huge my thought was "others will laugh at me". I instantly knew I was on the right track.

Where it Excels

Arming, muting, or soloing multiple tracks quickly. It is awesome at this. I made a screen of super sized mute, select, record buttons and massive bank knobs. To mute or arm 8 tracks I slide my finger along the screen and bam they are all selected.

I made a super big plug in screen and most plugs work well with in it. A few don't. The ones with a million parameters don't.

Where it Still Sucks

The editing in touch OSC is tough to learn and the instructions just plan blow. There are certain things the OSC protocol doesn't do which makes no sense. For example I am limited to 8 faders, mute buttons or whatever that I can control at any one time on a screen. I wanted to make a screen that had all my tracks on it and a select button. I could simply tap the button and go to its channel strip. It will only do this for 8 tracks at once. There are a million other things like this as well.

Lemur looks promising and I haven't tried it yet. The editing looks daunting.

Conclusion

When there is an app controller that is easy to edit, will control everything and is reliable we will have controllers that don't suck. We are closer and I am not suffering from RSI anymore but I am still searching. ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/189-all-daw-controllers-suck-until-now.html