Of course not. Nothing better than the sweet saturation and harmonics provided by solid state components.. the slight compression also helps gluing everything together. I dont' understand why even in electronic music they use outboard gear and summing boxes, stupid people...

 

Rendering your song to a wav then stretching it out just a little bit gives it a neat feel. Makes it sounds closer to what i think of as analog, though i could be way off. It's a fun thing to do anyway

 

Most of the electronic equipments have been practically useless by virtue of running softwares on micro-processors and those companies do not still want to admit it and they fence those questions and accuse us of ignorance.

 

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digital will always approximate the soundwaves.

 

That's not the issue when the subject is coloration. The accuracy of conversion is a totally different subject.

 

so that "coloration" isnt approximate??? ITB

 

Coloration is not supposed to be "approximated soundwaves". It's more like an approximation of the beahaviour of electrical components.

The result ITB will always be a soundwave, obviously.. but that's not the point of any analogue vs digital discussion.

 

If you're working purely in the box then you should try Acustica Audio's Nebula or one of their channel strip plugins like Navy or the new Amethyst (Available as a demo at the moment). They sound bad a$$. I am also using Emerald as a kind of finalizer on my master bus.

Also, the Klanghelm SDRR is simply phenomenal and for $20 you can't go wrong. It's a saturator with four different modes and we use it on everything from drums to lead vocals.

The X-Valve by SSL is another 'can't live without' - fantastic on drums and sub bass. It really makes your bottom end rattle and it has a tidal wave of vibe. Most likely you won't even have to dial in a setting!

There is a Waves Kramer plugin - I think the Pie bus compressor that sounds simply fantastic when instantiated, however the moment you start trying to dial in any settings it literally destroys your song..! You have been warned. Very lofi and vibey though.

For instruments, Kontakt is obviously a great start being as they are sampled performances of actual players and, as has already been noted in this thread, the majority of that analog sound comes from real instruments. I liked one of the posters suggestions about reverb too. Louder sounds have more reverb and quieter sounds less.

We always tend to use real drums and guitars, even if they are layered with electronic sounds, especially in EDM and Pop because not only does it give you a more human vibe but is also gives the music a different set of facets that people subconsciously recognize and are drawn too. There's a very primal, low level response in every listener to real playing and instrumentation.

Also, sounds stupid but standing up when you are playing, even on Maschine or Push will make your decisions more musical. Mouse producing is important but catching a beat while you are not sitting in front of a screen always makes you do something different. Love these groove boxes for that.

Of course velocity and quantize is another big thing. Play in a piano line on you controller if you can and then adjust the velocities a few notes at a time to match the emotional impact of the music. With quantize adjust your preferences so that you canquantize fractionally. ie at less than 100%. Ableton is great because you can nudge the quantize until it feels right. Loose but tight.

Sample wise the new Rawcutz label is absolutely amazing. Everything sampled from vinyl. Perfect for Hip-Hop and Nu School Vapor Wave type stuff.

As far as mixing goes then I agree with a couple of the posters here. pinching in the high end of the mix with low pass filtering does emulate that softer response of analog, and of course, a great tape emulator like u-he Satin contributes nicely. Be careful not to overdo it though.

Digital is so underrated as a positive advance in technology - when I was producing in LA for major Hip Hop acts in the late 90's and early 2000's, most of the time we were finding ways to connect gear quietly and kill ground noise and AC hum. I think that having those things on a plugin is asinine and on all the Waves emulations I automatically turn off any and all noise generating controls. To me it just sounds amateur to leave that kind of unpleasant noise in there. It's realistic yes, but it's also something that we worked very hard (and were successful at getting rid of) so it never reared it's head in a real record release.

Anyway, have fun - I think it's great that with all this amazing technology and software people are still interested and actively looking to get some vibe into their productions and what better place to look than a knowledgeable and friendly community like AudioSex!

 

learn how to play , know your craft and what you want it to sound like a midi keyboard with good piano action can add texture and nuance guitars and bass use a good pre-amp going in or good pics if recording actual amps, in the digital realm im a huge fan of PSP vintage warmer , I've gotten good results with it . to me music is not about perfection but heart. if you can play , when you play that won't be perfect. as long as its not glaringly out of time , leave it . with drums different drummers have different styles the best ones are not dead on the beat some a little before some a little after.... what makes them great is they do it all the same. when i program drum bits i usually play it and only make minor adjustments in Piano role as im doing it on a midi keyboard and not midi drums.

 

It seems there's a lot of confusion here.

The good parts of analogue that people want to have modelled aren't down to gratuitous noise. A bit of noise is part of it but you make it sound like this is about "with digital I have no noise, why would I want the noise from analogue gear?"

If you don't go beyond that thought, you're missing out.

 

Hello All in my opinion but Im not the master in same time : )

First Drop all your fader at -18 db but the master and aux at 0 to start your mix
and try to stay between - 10 to - 6 db in master view until end of you mix

because all software coding from the beginning are based on a copy of the real analog gear, after that you start to come back in the analog world : )

After that make the parallel processing in all your tracks ( not only drums but all ) to control your colours on each tracks and use the best plug for that UAudio ,SOFTUBE ,PLUGIN ALLIANCE ,STEVEN SLATE ,EIOSIS ,ACUSTICA-AUDIO ,KUSH ,CRANE SONG ,DAVE HILL ETC ETC

Well if you want something more analog after its the Choice of the Converter and a sum mixer or desk sure but that become expansive : )

for the converter we have tested in parallel practically all High-end converter in the Market some month ago.

First Remember that: the clock are very important and for that we clock all the stuff with the ANTELOPE I think is the best
today’s

and the best result for convert is :

The un contested and far in front Hahahaaaa but the most expansive too WEISS AUDIO (AD & DA Are Separated converter)

And you imagine Daniel Weiss have make that more than 15 year ago (ws update sure ) but AMAZING SOUND!!!!!!

Well after enough near of each others but colours ,depth and widening change a bit

CRANE SONG HEDD well Analog
MYTEK
LAVRY
DANGEROUS
BURL
UNIVERSAL AUDIO well Analog
LINX AURORA


after more clinic but better for the classic or unplug instruments by example ( sure work for all too )

MERGING HORUS , HAPPI

ANTELOPE ORION, PURE 2

after Totally correct but ….. ?????

AVID I/O OLD BLUE AND NEW BLACK SERIES

ANTELOPE ZODIAC GOLD

RME


and no tested totally bcs driver no work : (

FOCUSRITE REDNET SERIES

MOTU LAST 1248 AV SERIES

And sure no tested at this time Others like DAD,APOGEE,PRISM SOUND etc

And tested all crapy card and converter from the beginning of the digital world but practically all are shiny
and not fattening in the bottom

SUMM MIXER To more colorise your mix

CRANE SONG EGRET ( Amazing )
TUBE TECH TUBE SUMMER ( cool but to much fat 4 me : )
SHADOW HILL ( cool but to much fat 4 me : )
MANLEY 16X2 ( Amazing )
etc etc

Totally correct but…..???????

DANGEROUS MUSIC 2BUS 2BUS+ and D-BOX ( cool but shiny )
AMS NEVE (sounding absolutely not like a Neve desk : (
SSL ( to much clinic )

Not tested yet

RUPERT NEVE DESIGN 5059
ROLL MUSIC FOLCROM
SPL MIX DREAM
BLACK LION AUDIO
THERMIONIC CULTURE FAT BUSTARD 2
LOOPTROTTER SATUR8
etc etc etc

Well many other thing are welcome to have an analog sound with your dawn But with this base you changing your sounding life for ever I think ……..

cheers Spocksone

 

The source. Start your S1 project with Console Shaper.

One thing that is missing for the in-the-box way of doing things is the source.

Going through a preamp with a quality balanced transformer makes a big differnce.

A good quality solid state preamp or console with a well designed balanced input
is a good starting point.

There are many tricks or approaches depending on what it is you are working with.

Next would be the signal chain inside your DAW. Use only what is absolute needed
and, use plugins that actually that work like analog hardware. The plugins that come
with Samplitude do a good job. Fxpansion DCAM and some of the Waves Artist series
also do a good job.

 

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Listening to a lot of modern jazz will help tremendously. It allows your ears to soak up the warm dynamic vibe of the 70's and 80's while still achieving the perceived loudness levels of today's popular music. Honestly, I think it has more to do with the way people mix nowadays than it does the gear they are using or not. I've done mixes ITB some would say sound more analog. It has much to do with nonlinearity and realistic thinking. So many people mix their kick drum to trigger from what would be the front edge of the stage if you think about it rather than have any depth at all. They'll mix the drums with a hat panned hard right and a cymbal hard left. Instantly it's a small close environment they've created, and the only true perspective the listener can be in is that they are the drummer themselves and not part of the listening crowd. Most "punchy kicks" they pass around in those sample packs need a high shelf cut or bell cut to give them more depth. In short, don't allow any individual instruments to fill too much of the spectrum (you hear a case of that every day).. and your mixes will sound more real and dynamic. It doesn't have to sound distorted to be rich in character either. And as far as saturation, convolution reverbs with low wet ratios work better than most tape plugins.

 

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The Digital world is about perfection, 1's and 0's, perfect math every time.
The Analogue world is about imperfection, in all its glory.

To make ITB more analogue, add some chaos, or imperfection to your digital world. Many have listed ways, all great ideas, you'll have to figure out what imperfections you want to your digital world.

My personal favorite tool for bringing some analogue imperfection, sound wise, is Acustica Nebula, as it is the only plug bringing the actual imperfect harmonic distortion, from real analogue gear, into the computer world. Nebula is not for everyone, but it is perfectly, imperfect, for me and my work.

To each their own.

 

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first of all, high sample rate and bit depth, oversampling for less digital shit. Right top-quality SRCs, dithering systems for final product. Then almost everything posted here before me. And many more blah blah

 

I agree with everything you said in your post, except on boosting vs cutting. To get something to sparkle a little more way up top on a synth, it's MUCH easier to boost in the higher octaves, or lightly boosting in the 3.5-7k range on a vocal, then going to chase your own tail cutting everywhere. Also, I would care to say it's much more important to pay attention to the gain-staging of the thing if you are going to boost. Not saying that cutting is not important, I just think they both have their place and being able to differentiate between their place, and importance, will get you much further. There are various eq techniques to get a sound brighter without loosing its warmth.

 

They say that analogue is about imperfection. How then do we describe the analogue recordings of the classical masters? How do digital recordings of orchestras compare with analogue recordings of orchestras? In the context of the 'feel' of the final mix that is being discussed here. Do CD recordings of Vivaldi trash the music in the same way as is claimed to do to genres of contemporary music. If not, why not? And if not, is it just in our imaginations that analogue is better?

 

Yes,i know what you mean and i agree with you.I meant in general,ofcourse this isnt a strict rule but in general people tend to boost way too much(mid,high freq.) and it adds so much more,harshness and mudd into their mix.

 

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Try actually miking something.

 

+1 what SOUNDIZINERD wrote & where i go. UA, Softube, Slate Plugins etc. can get you pretty far when used wise.
I would add the Great River Mixmaster and Chandler Mini Mixer to the list but theyre pricey. A cheaper alternative would be maybe an old mixer like a Soundcraft for example..im thinking about but probably i will skip it and save for a hq summing unit.

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2016