Then came ssl in the 80s and "mixing" became a separate thing. so like neve, api, harrison whatever consoles were used for the entire production process.
in the 60s and 70s there wasn't really a dedicated mix so you would track on a console and mixdown at the end of the song all on the that console. once "mixing" became a thing the recording console differed from the mixing console. the rest of the features aren't really necessary. IE 1073 pres have almost the same sound as a console w 1073 modules since you are just using that preamp signal as the console is not summing everything as you want the individual tracks)Įssentially a tracking console (not a mix console) in the modern world is a gigantic anchor, marketing tool, and a bunch of channel strips. you've now captured a drum kit lets say through good mics in a good room through a console (or a dedicated mic preamp which basically does the same thing. a popular method nowadays is tracking on something like a neve console with very nice pres on board and then things like drums get tracked from there onto a tape machine but then the individual outs goto PT via high quality converters. In general, a "desired" sound has a ton of saturation and color in the entire signal chain a-z in various ways. Someone already pointed out the signal chain.īut there are many uses and definitions to each. Prior to the last 15 years or the recording process a-z was basically all of the above (minus the plug ins and summing mixers) They are all similar but different at the same time. I don't know if you fully got an answer from this but there's kind of differences between a tracking console, a mixing console, analog summing, tape saturation, tape as mixdown medium, and plug in emultations. I really don't want to just throw on a plugin just because it sounds good if I don't have an understanding on what it does. I was hoping someone can explain to me the difference and what they do exactly. They said it would be exactly like it would be in real life That kind of threw me off, I'm kind of lost in what Consoles and tape do. Yesterday however I saw an interview by Steven Slate where he says he puts his Virtual Tape Machine model on all his tracks followed by the Virtual console collection. To be honest I was sure they both were doing the same thing because I hear about how they both add harmonic depth and saturation So I never really used them in conjunction. Since then I've bought Kramer's master tape and slates RC-tube. (Correct me if that's not exact) So i picked up Sonimus Satson. I remember hearing a few years back about how clean, in-the-box is and how we've lost harmonic distortion and saturation from consoles. Excuse me if its apparent, I've really tried to get an understanding on this.
I've been trying to understand analog summing and tape emulation lately. Hey guys I have question I'm hoping some of you guys can answer.