MIXING IN THE BOX( ITB) OR OUT OF THE BOX( OTB)
The battle of digital vs analog has been going for as long as the audio community can remember. There will always be a section of people that will side with producing and mixing purely with analog gear( OTB) while others stand for the benefits and the ease of mixing in a DAW software( ITB) using its stock plugins or third party plugins. Personally, I prefer using my API 512c Mic pre and JDK R22 Compressor during tracking but high-end outboard gear or expensive hardware may not be a reality for everyone. Besides, it ' s not the equipment that you use but how you mix it is what finally decides how your end product sound and ultimately, this is what counts to real world.
The Real Truth
The listener isn ' t concerned with whether you ' ve used hardware equipment or what plugins you ' ve used to produce the track, a minute into your track they ' ll be judging it on how it sounds to them. In most cases, it is almost impossible to tell by listening if a track has been mixed using an SSL or Neve analog console, for instance, or it has been mixed ITB using a DAW unless you ' re physically present during the session.
Nowadays, plugins have been developed to the point where they very accurately emulated analog hardware. The first name to pop up in your mind would be WAVES, which has managed to come out with tones of emulations of a lot top tier analog gear. Companies like McDSP, Sound Toys, Sonnox Oxford, UAD, Plugin Alliance, iZoptope and Steven Slate, to name a few, have put a lot of effort into accurately emulating hardware to get that specific tone and character.
Advantages of producing ITB
One of the main reasons for the massive shift towards producing ITB is the cost effectives and flexibility. There is also no need for patch cables and the space required to run an analog setup. DAW ' s allow a user to have as many tracks as they require
which tackles huge issue faced by users who use analog mixers. But while analog gear can be expensive, it has its own beauty and a certain tone for which users build a taste for.
Why are analog equipment expensive?
The fact is that the signature design, the expensive components which take years of research to develop and integrate and the great sound and tone that it imparts to your mix, all add up to their price. They use high-quality components with industry standard input and output transformers, valves( Tubes) and transistors which create that hard hitting tone in the mix. It should also be noted that added costs such as good patch cables and regular maintenance and servicing should be considered while maintaining an analog setup.
Advantages of using plugins
Plugins have the upper hand when it comes to ease of application and the lack of a need for maintenance and additional costs. A lot of companies have trial versions of the plugins available for free for a limited period of time. You can check the quality and applications of the plugins firsthand and then make a decision based on useful they seem to you. Patching outboard equipment to multiple tracks is a tedious task whereas plugins can very conveniently be used on as many tracks as very require. The only concern is that plugins may have to be updated from time to time, whenever an advanced option is released.
In Conclusion
It doesn ' t matter if you mix ITB or OTB as long as you are able to get the desired output using the means available to you. In fact, in a lot of cases, the use of both hardware equipment and software( Hybrid mixing) is quite predominant. In the end, it all comes down to how you use your tools and creativity in your mix to make it stand out.
Author: Baba. L. Prasad. He is the owner and chief Sound / Mix and Mastering Engineer at Digi Sound Studio. He also teaches Sound Engineering and Music Production courses. For more details, visit www. digisoundacademy. com
The Score Magazine
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