Rain
Thanks guys.
The reason I ask is that I see my favorite engineers still relying on consoles to mix and since I've never had the opportunity to work w/ one of these, I'm curious as to what elusive quality it imprints.
I sometimes ear albums that were tracked an mixed in the box, and for certain genres, it sometimes feel like something is missing. But I'm starting to think that at least for certain styles, ITB might actually be better.
But maybe that little something just can't be re-created w/ plugs.
Well digital is going to track what you put into it. Plugs or hardware, are going to color the sound. This coloration in my opinion, is subjective. Hardware gear, depending on what you decide to use, may lightly saturate a sound....it may color it and add warmth which takes away a little top end etc. 9 out of 10 times, you can get these results with a good ear and an eq. I've been fighting guys for years on this, but no one seems to believe me because they just don't want to bother to take the time to experiment for themselves.
The only thing you're not going to be able to do, is cop the sound of a saturated tape deck. No one has that down in my opinion, but the UAD stuff is as close as your going to get. I have 2 tape machines here. A 16 track 1 inch and a 24 track 2 inch. All they do when I push the signals a bit, is lightly compress the sounds and give me a little saturation. What this is in reality...less highs due to the tape taking them away, and tape compression. Use a fat eq and a good compressor while experimenting a bit, and I swear to you, as God is my witness, it will be so close only you will be able to tell.
As for consoles....a good console should NOT really alter the sound of your audio. I've done tests here to where the differences are so miniscule, it's not worth bothering. Listen to something 3 times. If you can't hear a difference and are forcing yourself to hear the difference, it ain't there enough to worry about it. Yeah, there are some goodies out there that can make a difference in sounds...there is no fallacy in that part of it. However, it's still possible to get close no matter what gets used.
When someone uses a console strip, most of the time they do so because of the eq that is supplied in that console. Certain eq's give you control that others do not. You'll notice less movement to notice sound changes in a good console strip with eq than an off brand that has the same features. A good example of this is the Mackie console vs the Behringer console that were supposedly created from the same mold which ended in some suit. The Behringer eq's were not sensitive and you had to really jump on them to notice a difference. This resulted in more of an eq'd sound and at times, a more harsh timbre.
The Mackie has noticeable results with slight eq knob movements. This is the type of eq you want...something that doesn't need to be jumped on hard to notice a difference. Sometimes the circuitry in a console will alter the sound, other times you won't be able to tell. You can nail the sound of anything you want with the right eq and the right ears, trust me when I tell you. Tape saturation done right and mic phasing is the only thing plugins aren't going to get right. Everything else...is all hype and completely achieveable...trust me brother.
If you hear a mix that sounds like something is missing and it happens to have been done ITB, either you don't like the mix, or that engineer may not have been up to your specs that time. We can't blame ITB for being better or worse for something. It's all in the ears of the artists and engineers as well as how the sources were tracked and how the rooms were utilized during tracking. Make no mistake...these channel emulators are not making a difference in anyone's world for the better. The only good thing they offer is the closest thing to a light tape saturation. Add a good compressor along with them, low pass 16k with something like a Sonitus eq that allows you Q control within a low pass/high pass to tweak just how much you want out, (it's one of the only EQ's that allows this by the way) and you got instant tape/analog sound and warmth. Add UAD plugs to your arsenal, and it gets even closer.
I use my consoles for 3 reasons:
1. All the stuff in the console can be sent to disc in one shot. Every instrument and processor goes into my console and has its own dedicated channel.
2. No input monitoring or latency control needed. I set my stuff to 2048 and leave it alone because the console is my live monitor.
3. Fader automation and onboard hardware. I like to lightly compress my signals going to disc and have dedicated compressors on each channel of my board to do this. No need for a patch bay or anything else. The automated faders in my console sync right up with Sonar so it's also a controller. Though I try my best NOT to use any console eq and get the source right from the start, it's nice to just press a high pass button on a guitar, bass or kick drum. I can always add it back later if need be.
But my main reason for the console is #1. It's nice to have everything you own ready to go in the console. Arm your track and it gets sent to disc without patching anything and the only time I need to adjust my latency is if I record a soft synth in real time or some drum module while using my V-Drums kit. Other than that, it never gets touched.
I've tried going right to disc and bypassing my consoles....not a difference I can notice. So in my particular case, the console isn't adding anything spectacular other than multiple channels and the ability to use a few compressors going to disc. They are just used to condition the signal to control peaks...not to add saturation or a "compressed" sound, if you will.
Another thing to keep in mind, if you are not mic'ing things up, you're losing loads of tracking elements. As much as we love speaker sims and they make things easier on us, the sound size is always smaller than if you mic an amp. Mic an acoustic guitar at the 12th fret or where the neck meets the body. Then record the acoustic (if it has a pup) using speaker sim or something. The sound size is drastically different. Same with mic'ing an amp. The combination of mics used on a guitar amp literally increase the size of the sound. Being able to nail that while also being in a room to where you can have the right amount of volume in that sound, is the key. Same with drums....these drum modules we all love are awesome! Mic a real kit and the sound size grows if you know what you're doing. The only drum module out there in my experience that gets "real drums in a room" is BFD2. Everything else is overly processed, small and doesn't even sound like a real drum if you kill all the processing. They sound like drum machines from the 80's.
So keep some of this stuff in mind, Rain. It's super important. Just about none of the pro's are using speaker sims on guitar. They'll layer them in with a mic'd amp, but that is not their "core" soundsource. Drums are all hybridded these days, so you have a mix of the real kit and some samples on top to enhance the real kit. These two instruments alone are your true core for rock music. A bass in the mix is well, just a bass. It's rare you listen to a rock mix and say "hey, that's a fantastic bass tone" unless the bass shows itself BY itself.
That's not to say don't worry about your bass. A good example of this...John Myung from Dream Theater. Worst bass tone known to man...but you wouldn't know it until the thing shows up by itself. It works perfectly in DT's mixes. Shame too...the dude is a fantastic bassist. His tone is just horrendous. Keys/synths etc are fake anyway so they don't play as much of a role and chances are you don't own a real piano to mic up or have access to a real string ensemble. :) Vocals....picking the right mic for the voice and then knowing how to process that particular voice is the key. Everything else brother...is all hype in my opinion.
-Danny