Just curious as to what gear you prefer to use the most when mixing, in regards to board, any particular outboard gear, and whether or not you have a preference between 2" or digital.
Mixing.. what gear do you prefer to use Neil, and why?
- Thread starter Barnyard
- Start date
NK
Complete Bastard
I usually use SSLs for mixing. I prefer the E series EQ as it's a lot punchier than the G series. Having said that, many of the studios I mix at have hybrid SSLs with some channels of each type for flexibility so that works great as well, as the G does have some benefits over the E for certain things, in my opinion.
As far as outboard gear, I'll use whatever the studio has. Once again, the studios I work at have a full compliment of gear so when I need a specific effect, process etc. I'll just plug them in.
These days I do most of my work in Pro Tools HD, but to be honest I don't mind either way. I've done 250+ albums on analogue tape so it's easy to embrace the old way again. However, there are certain tools I use in PT for editing, plugins etc. that I'd still be able to incorporate either way. For a number of years I would track drums on tape and then edit in PT and either continue in PT or dump the edited drums back to tape again and continue the rest in that realm.
So I'm happy to work in any medium I suppose. I'm not too fond of the sound of the older PT systems that only go up to 44.1/48KHz etc. as I think they sound a bit thin and tinny compared to the higher rates available on HD.
Neil K.
As far as outboard gear, I'll use whatever the studio has. Once again, the studios I work at have a full compliment of gear so when I need a specific effect, process etc. I'll just plug them in.
These days I do most of my work in Pro Tools HD, but to be honest I don't mind either way. I've done 250+ albums on analogue tape so it's easy to embrace the old way again. However, there are certain tools I use in PT for editing, plugins etc. that I'd still be able to incorporate either way. For a number of years I would track drums on tape and then edit in PT and either continue in PT or dump the edited drums back to tape again and continue the rest in that realm.
So I'm happy to work in any medium I suppose. I'm not too fond of the sound of the older PT systems that only go up to 44.1/48KHz etc. as I think they sound a bit thin and tinny compared to the higher rates available on HD.
Neil K.
Thanks for the reply Neil.
So what would you consider the benefits of using an SSL as opposed to using a newer digital board when it comes to tracking and mixing. Are there certain things that the SSL can help provide sound-wise that a smaller less expensive board cannot?
So what would you consider the benefits of using an SSL as opposed to using a newer digital board when it comes to tracking and mixing. Are there certain things that the SSL can help provide sound-wise that a smaller less expensive board cannot?
NK
Complete Bastard
Barnyard said:
Well, the SSL is analogue, so the difference is quite large. I like to get as fat a signal path INTO Pro Tools as possible so I've got as much to work with as possible when mixing it. As I said, I'm happy to use SSL or Neve for mixing (as long as the Neve has flying fader automation on it).
SSL and Neve desks have very effective EQ and dynamics stages that I've not found much outboard processors to come close to and plugins can't touch em.
Neil K.
