World-class front-end analog gear can make a HUGE difference to your recordings.
Getting a Neve Portico-II was one of the best musical purchases I've made.
Literally everything I run thru it sounds better (both mics and DI instruments).
DI electric bass is now sounds great (straight off the preamp)... whereas before (using inexpensive DI) it sounded anemic.

I've been heading towards more analog hardware, but just for tracking. 
 
I've just got 2 x GAP PRE-73 preamps which sound fantastic - one which now has a Carnhill output transformer, as the existing one was damaged (bought it 2nd hand).
 
I've also brought my old Alice 828 broadcast mixer back into service. Although it's not the quietest mixer around, the mic pre's sound fantastic and the EQ is very musical. As long as the signal is loud enough, noise isn't a problem anyhow. I believe Pinewood studios used one of these on the final mix of the Bond movie "Thunderball". 
 
For mixing I'm happy to mix in the box, although I've not dismissed the Alice as a summing mixer....

Jim Roseberry
DI electric bass is now sounds great (straight off the preamp)... whereas before (using inexpensive DI) it sounded anemic.

I am rewiring my patch bay now so that I can play bass through the Stam 1073 into the UAD Apollo with a bass amp on monitor (so recording dry).
 
Curious as to how that will sound...
 
James
 

msmcleod
For mixing I'm happy to mix in the box, although I've not dismissed the Alice as a summing mixer....

yeah I'm trying to keep the mixing aspect of analog to a minimum. I enjoy summing through my Midas but it takes some setup with respect to calibration before mixing a project. I don't use the EQ on the board because I take months to finish anything and I want to get as totally re callable as possible. I made the exception of the Stam SSL G bus clone on the master because the master is so darn important it makes sense (in my brain) to go through an analog compressor after analog summing and before going back into the digital realm.
 
I want the best analog front end I can manage, but that is pretty much vocals and bass at this time. I plan to run the bass through the Stam 1073 clone into the UAD Apollo in monitor mode with an amp plugin. This will let me hear the bass through an emulator but record raw bass so I can play with the amp later on.
 
Then there are vocals. Right now is WAY better than I deserve with my vocals using a Rode NTK tube mic with an updated tube into the Stam 1073 > Stam 1176 > Stam LA2A. I'm hoping to have the singer that sang on my last song back in here now that I've gotten some outboard. Grace is so awesome, but I am pretty sure you're all going to see her on the next season of American Idle so I might not get a chance to record her again. Then again, she is so nice that she might come back for one of my songs. If so, I may have to up my microphone - probably a Stam (go figure). :)
 
 

smallstonefan 
So, any of you got the hardware bug lately?
 
James

 
Yep.  I bought and sold and bought a few pieces of gear - it's fun to experiment.  Btw, after reviewing your summing experience, I'd all but given up on a summing box, but then Revive Audio listed a modified Whirlwind Mix-8S so I thought I'd try it going into a compressor and an eq, both of which I've yet to acquire.  Considering a Revive Audio modded ART Pro VLA II and possibly a Vintage Audio (Revive Audio) Skyline M3D Mastering EQ (seems to be similar in design to a Maag Audio EQ4M.)  We'll see.

You mentioned using a single master bus compressor, and since I played with that over the weekend, I made this video to try to show some of the results comparing the multiband mix I did first with the mix with two passes through a single compressor second. Both have the same average loudness (-12 on EBU).
 
http://youtu.be/_JQyB6cQoBE
 

smallstonefan

Jim Roseberry
DI electric bass is now sounds great (straight off the preamp)... whereas before (using inexpensive DI) it sounded anemic.

I am rewiring my patch bay now so that I can play bass through the Stam 1073 into the UAD Apollo with a bass amp on monitor (so recording dry).
 
Curious as to how that will sound...
 
James
 

I have the UAD Ampeg plugin.
I think it sounds pretty good.
(If you've got an Axe-FX or Helix, there are some great bass amp models in those devices.)
You might want to try running straight into the Apollo vs. hitting the 1073 first.
The UAD amp-sim plugins simulate impedance of the front end of the amp.
 
Running Helix Native with a Presonus Quantum (1ms total round-trip latency), I haven't decided which I prefer;

• Going straight into the Quantum
• Hitting the Portico-II first

For straight DI electric bass (no amp-sim), it's absolutely the Portico-II.

A lot of bass players talk about going direct and provide me feeds, but they never sound great to me. It is usually a feed from the back of the amp. I have never liked the sound. Slaps spike like crazy. I've often wondered if i just don't know how to do it right as i set up a Mic in front of the amp.

Bass players have the most frustration with my mixes. At least they express it most. Presenting a mix with bass that sounds like their amp gets me closer to what they like.

Hi Jim,
 
I've been recording bass direct through the Apollo using Unison - I'd just like to see if the 1073 adds anything to the equation for fun. :) I haven't tried the Fractal bass models since I have all the UAD amps and I really like that. I like that I can monitor through an amp sim but record dry so I can play with the sim later. Amazing toys we have!

gswitz
You mentioned using a single master bus compressor, and since I played with that over the weekend, I made this video to try to show some of the results comparing the multiband mix I did first with the mix with two passes through a single compressor second...

I watched about half the video but you are using compression on the bus a bit differently than the context I'm using. I'm got the SSL clone on the master to mix into, as opposed to squeezing more out of the mix when done. I even paid the upgrade to add a transformer option to the SSL just to impart a different character.
 
My thought is if I'm going to do anything outboard, it should add character because if I am going for some clean effect digital does that really well! :)