Let us visit the land of tone again. Now, we've been talking about mixing and guitar versus vocals and the whole trip. But what are you mixing through? Are you mixing inside the box (ITB)? Or are you mixing outside the box (OTB)? (The box being the computer and associated software.)

Here is a stand for debate if ever there was one.

Whether or not you mix in the box or not, is completely dependent on your likes and dislikes about digital audio.

Many would say that you can get just as good of a sound inside the box as out, others will say that you've got to run your signals back through something analog to get a warmer sound. (Perception being reality of course.) I'm not quite sure if you could listen to the radio and say which song was mixed how, but to the people mixing the project, there's a big difference.

Many years ago, I had the opportunity in a studio to come across an old AMEK Matchless console. It was in horrible condition, most of the channels didn't work, the power supply was fading, patch bays with severely dirty contacts. It had been in room "C" of this L.A. studio for as long as anyone could remember. I asked what the studio would like to sell it for. Basically, they were glad to have me take it off of their hands, as they had no circuit level tech in house, and didn't want to send it back to AMEK for a re-build.

So I loaded it up into my neighbor's truck and brought it home.

After three months of off and on repair, cleaning parts, replacing pots, LED's, completely rebuilding the power supply, and changing out coupling capacitors, I brought her back to life.

I had been quite content until that moment.

Then I ran four stereo pairs out of my computer into eight channels of the console.

It became a whole new day. The stereo imaging was there. As well as having great warmth in sound. Whether the warmth I heard was imagined or not is up for debate, but I'll swear to it. I believe in discrete components and even order harmonics.

Soon I came to discover the benefits of an OTB console. While I had been using a simple interface to get my info into and out of the computer, I now was no longer stuck with the choice of that interface as my mic pre, or having to buy a separate mic pre. Or for that matter, what if I needed more than two channels of mic pre's? What then? With the AMEK I now had 26 mic pre's at my disposal, and English EQ as well for each channel. I could bus input signals however I wanted- straight to the computer or not. Maybe run the input signals through some analog effects that I still have in racks. The options seemed endless.

Now I had a set-up where I was bringing in signals into the console first, then routing them to the computer from the console. Then I'd route four stereo pairs (stems) of signals back to the console for final EQ's and warmth, then output of the console either back to the computer, or to a mastering deck of choice.

What I learned then was what I had remembered from the old 24 track studio days… consoles need maintenance! There are plenty of dirty pots and contacts clicking switches, pops, scratchy faders, the works. I was glad for my years of aerospace and studio electronics chops. So beware of the maintenance of analog gear. If you can't maintain it yourself, it can get costly to have a technician to come out and fix things. Especially when things only seem to break mid-session at about 2 A.M.!

Also while I was enjoying my "vintage" warmth, I also had vintage automation. Move those faders by yourself!

So I ended up pretty much keeping the console at unity gain and then running the computer signals through the board, but performing automation in the box. It became a hybrid set up of computer and console that I've really enjoyed.

Now to the people that haven't been as lucky as I to find a killer deal on an analog console, mixing in the box is not a bag thing. For years before, I had been getting killer mixes in the box. The deal is to think analog. Digital is much quieter than analog in many cases, but clips in a much more harsh fashion. In a terrible fashion to be more exact. You may need to add some stereo imaging plug-ins to get the bigger picture of sound happening.

The benefits though of mixing in the box are full automation, no cables or patchbays, access to third party effects, simplicity, and portability. Sonically, the sound from mixing in the box has been on many hit records, so it comes down to how you like you're music to sound.

I would suggest trying both if you can. Mixing inside and outside the box to see which works for you. My style is always outside the box whether I'm mixing or not.

Another option could be Summing Mixers. These are the latest rage in mixers. Usually sixteen channels, these are discrete component, analog mixers designed just to bring the stems from your mixes through analog before going to the mastering deck. There is a growing list of manufacturers making these, and they range from reasonable, to out of this world in price and quality.

Try to find some cool deals on older consoles, or there's always the new lines of "Summing Mixers" that are available, and sound great.

Ultimately, your taste is going to dictate which way you mix. But remember, if it sounds right, you did it right.

Have fun,
Phil

makintrax@philgates.com
http://www.philgates.com