Empire Prod: For those of you who think I want to use line amps on the 2buss to try and save a mix or fix something in the mix, that is not correct. I am a professional mixer by trade and understand very well how to craft a mix. The Idea behind the line amps is to simply soften things slightly and add a hair of color and unity. I do use a compressor on the 2buss. The line amps will pre-feed a Red3. A huge part of the console sound is the line amps. Granted I am not going to have 1271’s on all the busses etc, but why not add a pair on the 2buss? I was looking for some feedback from people who work ITB that have done this, and I appreciate their feedback.
but shouldn’t the compressor go before the preamp?
with less dynamic range you get more audio in pre’s sweet spot… it should be easier to creep the post compressor gain right up to the breaking point of the iron… and you can use the transformer as sort of a post-compression limiter..
it’s cool if you use a pre with some iron in it and find that spot in the gain where it just starts to fur-up nicely.. you get some tapey rounding and ear candy.
i like a pre i can gain stage a few different ways to get different sounds because i never know which one will sound cooler till i twist around… and even then i usually have to print a few passes and burn a disk to know for sure.
that shadow hills box (equinox) looks cool for this application… 3 transformer sounds on a switch, what could be easier?
the folcrom idea is cool because you can base a workflow around it and then swap in different preamps for different records… so each record has a coherent (all songs go thru that pair) but slightly different sound from the last record… change the sound of your “desk” by getting (or even renting) a couple mic preamps… no more rewiring.. how cool is that?
i still like 1/4″ 15ips tape for mixing. GP9 if i can get it… to me this makes a record sound more “finished” and “official” than the preamps do…. reverb and cymbals also sound a LOT better coming back off tape… you lose a lil smack and immediacy but i can usually live with that. it’s not like smack is hard to get these days with all the SPL TD4s out there… you can even do it with a plug-in now.
tape is like a time machine for me… it really changes the way i hear records… call me an old skool romantic, maybe… but it always sounds like a demo to me until it plays back off the 1/4″. call me crazy…
i do believe that we’re working towards a multi-buss future and it’s only a matter of time before ppl see the wisdom of this… they want it. it’s good for music. they just don’t know that they want it yet. they will. hahaha. my crystal ball has spoken. heh
get 4 buss processors (comp, EQ, whatever) with different topologies and mix into em… you’ll find you like different processors on each instrument group.. develop a “preset” around your preferences and mixing will go a lot faster… this also works great with clients who think they can get your sounds at home because they have protools… let them take the tapes home and try. they’ll be back. bumpkin
the problem we have now is that everyone uses the same gear. we all have the same plug-ins. nobody has a SOUND–CAPITAL S, baby, SOUND. everything’s so ****ing GENERIC and HOMOGENIZED now… and it’s ruining music… these jokers actually think loudness is important. use your knob, as emeril says.
CONTRAST is important. always has been.
with outboard gear, everything has a sound… even a simple $100 effectron delay is also an eq, dynamics processor, HP/LP filters, unique chipset, aged components, non-linearities.. you know, sunspots and gremlins type stuff…. the plug-ins have taken this aspect away from mixing and replaced it with the null of precision.
I think the non-linearities are what’s gonna start separating people… the ear candy stuff that makes ppl listen [I]just one more time[/I] because they can’t quite put their finger on it…