GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Do analogue consoles make sense today? Some folks still love and swear by their analogue consoles. Some folks think they are not worth the hassle. So where do they fit in?
Some clients want to go to tape. As a result, having a console that can feed the tape machine is handy. Sure, you could cut the console out of the equation if you wanted, but the point of this approach is to take the advantages of a console and marry them to the advantages of a tape deck so that you get a full analogue path to tape. This can result in a very warm and punchy mix that is hard to replicate in the box. That’s why you still see consoles around attached to 2 track tape decks for output. This became very trendy a bit back and some studios were using consoles not for tracking, but just to sum the mix and feed it to a tape machine to get that analogue goodness onto a given mix, even if it was tracks purely digitally.
One thing to remember is that analogue audio gear has its own character and it’s best to pay someone who knows what that character is, rather than just renting the room. Each console not only sounds different but can sound different at different times of the day based on various factors. A good engineer will know when his console is ready to do it’s best work.
There are some microtonal phase cancellations that happen in an analogue console that are now being recreated in plugin form like SOOTHE and others, that are designed to make a given digital mix less harsh. It’s the native properties of analogue consoles that make them sound cool. However, it became so easy to just stay “in the box” and just keep everything in the digital domain. After all, most deliverables are going to be digital files. Even if you print your song to tape using a console and tape machine, your still going to have to capture it to digital and prepare it for streaming which can mean compression and turning it in to a file format that changes the audio properties of your files.
It’s the clunky nature of analogue work flow that led many folks away from analogue gear. It’s time consuming and it makes life hard when a client needs you to make a small change in a mix and you have to reset the console and all of the outboard gear. One analogue recall can take hours just to get everything set up. Even if you get the desk back to where it was, is that the sound might be different just due to the nature of analogue. It’s this type of thing that moved most engineers in to the bix and away from the console. After all, if you just spent an hour or more recalling an analogue session, and now due to temperature variance and other factors, the mix sounds different that it did when you last finished it, you have to figure out how to make it sound like it did before.
Still, everything is a compromise. Even digital How many times have you lost time due to some sort of glitch? A file gets corrupted, a drive fails, the system crashed during a save and now the file won’t open, there was an automatic update which bricked your computer or prevented some software from working, etc.
That being said, even with all of the technical glitches in the digital world, it’s just more efficient to track and mix and master in the box. Also, it’s easier to recall a session when it’s just a software project file and you just open it and your ready to go.
On the analogue front, the gear does maintain value better than some digital gear. Its still worth money even years later. If it’s rare, it could be worth even more money than you paid. You can find a used console with great mic preamps that are far better for the money than external preamps. If you needs a large amount of mic pres and want to offer printing to tape to set your studio apart, it may be right for you to buy a console and tape machine. However, if you don’t plan on needing/offering that stuff, then it just doesn’t make sense. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
“Success is not obtained overnight. It comes in instalments; you get a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow until the whole package is given out. The day you procrastinate, you lose that day's success.”
GMC:er Posts: 4.552
Joined: 30-December 12
From: Los Angeles, CA
I personally would never go back to an analog recording work flow but that's just me. If you really need the "feel" of a console (big or small), there's plenty of controllers that also offer high end mic pres ... https://www.rspeaudio.com/Neve-Genesys-p/neve-genesys.htm Only $42,000.00 But hey, free shipping.
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Some of the greatest songs of all time were done of course on big analogue consoles. By guys like this
A video from a couple years back makes some arguments for adding a console. of course, this is from a guy who is demoing consoles at a trade event But still, some good arguments. A NEVE is still a NEVE and has a bank of killer pres and EQs. Id love to have one if they didn't cost more than my car
