Mixing Before Pro Tools

[trashmetalx]

Does anyone have any links, pages, or information about the analog mixing process? I would like to know exactly how we did it before we had computers and Pro Tools. Having some trouble understanding the outboard effects thing.

Thanks in advance dudes everyone on here rocks!

 

[ahjteam]

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Glass-Record-Producers-Softcover/dp/0879306149[/ame]

 

[pikachu69]

http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Glass-Record-Producers-Softcover/dp/0879306149

This is a great book. I have read it from cover to cover several times and I can tell you it is well worth it.

 

[colonel kurtz]

Does anyone have any links, pages, or information about the analog mixing process? I would like to know exactly how we did it before we had computers and Pro Tools. Having some trouble understanding the outboard effects thing.

Thanks in advance dudes everyone on here rocks!

mics got patched into console preamps, which got patched into outboard gear, which got patched into a tape machine. tracks were recorded to tape, then later patched back into the console thru the tape returns, and then each track that needed any sort of outboard processing would be sent out on a buss send or AUX out, then brought back into the console again.

basically, imagine a fuck ton of buttons, switches, cables, and patchbays which have been rendered totally useless by a keyboard and mouse

 

[John_C]

if you're used to protools then it wouldn't be 100% alien as the general routing structure is similar. But still, HUGE amounts of patching....

 

[trashmetalx]

Thanks dudes for the info and book suggestion. I will definitely check it out.

 

[mva801]

Having some trouble understanding the outboard effects thing.

Well, it's basically the exact same concept as what you use in Pro Tools. Say you want a delay on some vocals. In Pro Tools, you create a send to an aux track, put a delay on it, and route that to your main output. Well in the real world, you do the exact same thing. Turn up a send on the console, plug it in to a delay, then plug that delay into your console and send it to the main output. Voila. Delay.

Same with a compressor. In Pro Tools, you choose a compressor on a channel insert. On a console, you plug in a compressor to the insert point of your console, and press the insert button. Then the signal goes through the compressor and back to the channel.

 

[trashmetalx]

So it's a big pain in the ass because if you have only one of a particular effect and you want to use it on 2 or 3 tracks, then you have to print them one at a time while processing. Right?

 

[Trevoire520]

Yep. Or buy more.

 

[egan.]

Don't discount the beauty of limitation in those situations. If you don't have a billion things to play with you learn to make due and make the most of what you have.

 

[C_F_H_13]

This whole thread is crazy to me. I don't mean for this to come off in a dick kind of way, but is there seriously this much disconnect with younger people and the recording process?

None of you can be that much younger then me (I'm 27...so what maybe a decade younger?), yet it's like you guys are talking about analog as if it's ancient history.This stuff is still getting used all the time. I'm literally sitting at an SSL right now, and I feel like I just had my mind blown.

As I said, I don't mean any of this negatively towards anyone, I'm just honestly shocked.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Like others have said, Pro Tools is laid out very much like an analog mixing console, and many of the basic concepts are the same. Replace the waveforms with audio on magnetic tape, and the plug-ins with console processing and hardware units, and you're much of the way there.

Also, like CFH said, MANY engineers are still using an analog or hybrid (analog and digital) workflow - it's still being done every day.

 

[colonel kurtz]

This whole thread is crazy to me. I don't mean for this to come off in a dick kind of way, but is there seriously this much disconnect with younger people and the recording process?

None of you can be that much younger then me (I'm 27...so what maybe a decade younger?), yet it's like you guys are talking about analog as if it's ancient history.This stuff is still getting used all the time. I'm literally sitting at an SSL right now, and I feel like I just had my mind blown.

As I said, I don't mean any of this negatively towards anyone, I'm just honestly shocked.

i'm 28 myself and while my hands-on experience in analog recording is pretty limited, i have a good deal amount of knowledge about the ins and outs of analog signal flow and processing from the time i spent studying recording in college

if it wasn't for the classes i'd taken, going straight into the home-brew digital shit myself, i can guarantee i wouldn't know a damn thing about analog recording, due to the cost differential in the 2 formats.

 

[mva801]

This whole thread is crazy to me. I don't mean for this to come off in a dick kind of way, but is there seriously this much disconnect with younger people and the recording process?

None of you can be that much younger then me (I'm 27...so what maybe a decade younger?), yet it's like you guys are talking about analog as if it's ancient history.This stuff is still getting used all the time. I'm literally sitting at an SSL right now, and I feel like I just had my mind blown.

As I said, I don't mean any of this negatively towards anyone, I'm just honestly shocked.

I just think the younger guys these days don't get any exposure to that stuff. If you can record for cheap on your pc with cubase, why would you go into a studio? That's the mentality a lot of kids have. However, there is still plenty of analog recording going on. At least 30-40% of what I do still gets recorded to 2" tape.

Matter of fact I just finished tracking a full length for an Indie rock band using 24 track 2 inch tape through a vintage API, all with vintage gear and amps from the 60's - 70's. I wouldn't do a metal band that way, but if I can convince other types of bands to spring for a roll of tape, I'm all for it.

 

[C_F_H_13]

I just think the younger guys these days don't get any exposure to that stuff. If you can record for cheap on your pc with cubase, why would you go into a studio? That's the mentality a lot of kids have. However, there is still plenty of analog recording going on. At least 30-40% of what I do still gets recorded to 2" tape.

Matter of fact I just finished tracking a full length for an Indie rock band using 24 track 2 inch tape through a vintage API, all with vintage gear and amps from the 60's - 70's. I wouldn't do a metal band that way, but if I can convince other types of bands to spring for a roll of tape, I'm all for it.

Its not so much exposure that's crazy to me, as much as it is the lack of research. When I was like 14 and started making basement recordings with the sound recorder on my dads laptop and realized it was something I liked, I made him take me to the public library and I got out every book on recording I could find. I studied recording and recording theory religiously.

I think the difference is really in the technology. Whereas I went into libraries and read 100s of magazines and books, people can now just use google or forums to search for just specific things they want to know, instead of learning about the whole range of the process.