Interesting thread, but I tuned him out once he said, 'you can plug in analog gear and is it going to sound better? no. It'll just sound different" this is misleading and I think he's just justifying the convenience of digital over the sound of analog. Why are we trying to 'emulate' analog sounds with digital so much? that should tell you something. It's the benchmark and digital hasn't beat it yet sonically. However digital is i's own thing and can haz its own flavor. They should complement, not replace, each other.
He also said in the beginning of soft pluggies they sounded worse but meanwhile they don't if you know how to use them. I'd be really interested to see how he manages to do this exactly. Just plugging in a single (Neve) emu won't work again, exactly.
That's the thing. Although I don't believe he is 100% ITB. He can do this as he is just "mixing" records. I guarantee you if he was mostly tracking that console would still be sitting there. He is getting tracks that were recorded with the best a/d d/a's, consoles etc... I mean him or anyone can mix files like that ITB. Don't believe me? Download some pro stems off MWTM or a reputable site. You will quickly learn that when the tracks are recorded that good mixing is honestly subjective and it is honestly hard to fuck up. Download these stems to Ariana grande's side to side and watch you be BLOWN AWAY on how good max martin tracked this shit. https://drive.google.com/u/0/uc?id=0B-_VTrI5AhQvZV94VTZZVk84WVE&export=download That is what I want to know. You can have their mixing techniques. Show me what gear, room, and techniques these guys are using to track these records. Not A lot of info on that other than the basics...and that's for a reason. This is where the biggest difference lies.
Which is still smoke and mirrors anyway. Just emulating a band or live experience. Real sound is 360 degrees. We could have surround-a-sound systems like home theatres do, for creating music. See Jimi playing with Wilson Pickett there! And he mentions me @ 4:49...
Thinking about it, all those senior mixers that has been working OTB all their life want the power of ITB mixing, while most of us that starting ITB are working our way to the OTB way of mixing, both thinking that it can improves the workflow and sound. Which is true for both cases.
When I see Andrew Scheps, he always makes me ask myself "are you playing Jesus or Judas?" Well, when it comes to advertising Waves' plugins it is obvious, just too obvious. Most of the Waves plugs are not as good sounding as some other less known plugins. One has to pick an choose, and if you pick well your ITB mixes will sound really good. However, I'm one of those "hybrid is the best" types. Especially when it comes to compressors, distortions, saturation - dynamic effects, and phasers/flangers/chorus effects, they always sound better analogue, but best ITB ones don't sound bad, and the difference kinda gets lost in the mix... it depends on how important is that sound you're working with. I like how all the analogue non-linearities and natural saturation makes everything sound better [harmonics...] and more 3D as opposed to incredibly accurate and predictable ITB effects.
Excellent taste! I'm rockin ADAM A7xs but at some point I'm probably gonna get those Neumann's you have. Smaller but more accurate. How you liking that API BOX? I used to have an API setup that was upgraded with Red Dots. I miss the 550a and 560 EQs I had but I'm more of a Neve guy right now. Love the acoustic treatments, did you build those yourself?
I bet he can make ITB sound as good as OTB but only because he is very experienced, although he is blatantly endorsing waves and getting a lot of money out of it, probably a lot more than mixing for clients. Imo rock and punk thrive on analog. I have heard many ITB rock, metal, punk records and its just too clean or quantized, some genres just need analog to sound the best. Last edited: Mar 26, 2021
