I was testing rough mixes for a little something I've written this week, fairly old school-ish. I've tried different combinations - Logic's own plug-ins, NI's Solid Mix, a bit of Magnetic here and there.
Comparing my overall mix (basically just a static balance w/ some eq and comp + bus comp) to my target, something was definitely missing (notwithstanding the master I mean). The Solid Mix mix wasn't bad, I felt instruments sit better but it just sounded... I don't know. A bit rigid and square. When comparing it to other albums and more recent stuff, it wasn't so bad, but that's not what I was after.
So I figured I'd download MixBus and give it a spin.
I'm impressed. As is often the case w/ software which is modeled after hardware for example, the simplicity can actually be an advantage, it forces you to take certain decisions instead of laying an endless list of options in front of you. That's the case w/ Mixbus.
A couple of minutes and I was up and running. The Ardour software is pretty straight forward - if you've ever dabbled with Pro Tools, you'll feel at home quickly, as the GUI bears striking resemblances. I've imported the 14 audio files from my Logic demo project and Ardour created and labelled tracks. Done for now.
On to the mix window, because this is what it's all about. Each channels comes loaded w/ a 3 bands EQ + a HiPass Filter and built-in dynamics. No frequency analyzer and such here. You can use 3rd party plug-ins, but I wanted to see how that thing would behave on its own - the only thing 3rd party I loaded for my first test was SSL's free X-ism reference meter.
This is one of the case where less can be more - using the 3 bands of EQ, I quickly managed to get each track to sit in it's own place. No surgery here, it's pure old-school mixing. Then I headed on to the dynamics and enabled the compressor. Very few controls there too - attack and threshold. Once again, nothing too fancy, BUT, man, these channel compressors do deliver the good. It's also easy to overdo it as I soon noticed, but even then - it doesn't sound sucky, more like a bit too much of a good thing.
I added a bit of the built in tape saturation on the master buss, adjust faders here and there while the mix was playing back, rarely leaving the Mix view. Surprisingly quick, I had something that sounded like a mix. A rough mix, sure, but not an ugly one.
My overall impression is quite favorable so far. In fact, I don't remember putting a rough mix/balance together so quickly, and one that I'm actually happy with for that matter. The fact that, at the basis, the software somehow forces you into more radical decisions can pay off. It quickly gets you some place nice with your song - it's a bit as if you don't have to worry about priming and sculpting and
then mixing the song.
It's really closer to mixing w/ hardware - it has the limitations and the desirable character. Of course, it has its drawbacks - if you typically start to mix while recording and putting the song together - as I often do - that's a solution that might not work for you. On the other hand, if you take it for what it is - a virtual mixing environment, it's quite amazing - it gives you something consistent to begin with.
At least for this project I'm currently working on, Mixbus seems like a worthy option which I'll definitely continue to evaluate - it could certainly cut down on the time I usually spend trying to make things sound less ITB w/ plug-ins and all before I start mixing.
post edited by Rain - 2012/03/03 17:12:49