I’m looking for some guidance / sanity check on my next musical purchase.
I’m quite happy with my music making gear but need to get better at post-performance editing and mixing. I would like to work with less reliance on my computer screen.
For gear I have some stereo equipment:
a synth
a small modular skiff
sp404 mkII
electric guitar/jc 22
Motu M6.
I would be recording maximum 3 things at a time (so 6 stereo inputs on the M6 is fine).
I’ve been really enjoying the hands-on real time composition of using the sp404 and being freed from a screen and from a grid. I’m making something akin to musique concrete - timing and intuitive playing of a sound is important so the less I need to fight the grid and the more subtle control I have over levels the better. Sound quality and headroom is important to me, too.
I have considered the following: SSL-Six: mix and compress using only my ears, live supposedly great ‘musical’ sound for the EQs and compressors, headroom any precise EQing would need to be done in Ableton, ditto for compression
Tascam Model 12: Can record in the same way as SSL-Six but then have stems for further modification in the DAW I’ve read about quality issues, lack of sound quality
Softube Console One: Flexibility of recording all stems into Ableton and then focussing on mixing without relying on a screen Much more control over EQs, gain, compression Am I back in DAW land?
You don’t need to use a grid in a DAW. It seems to me that you could use a multi-in audio interface, or a mixer with same, and just record blind into separate tracks of a DAW, screen off. It becomes a multi-track tape recorder.
You can easily drag any mistimed elements back to where you want them, and EQ etc are just a mouse click away when you’ve done with the musical part.
I’m all for performing and improvising with hardware, but trying to do edits mixes in hardware is just inflicting unnecessary cruelty on yourself.
Can you elaborate on your perceived “sound quality” issues with a Tascam Model 12? I have been using one for years, and I have never experienced this… ?
If you are referring to the fact that preamp gains need to be cranked for most sources, that is not a problem at all IME. The preamps on the Model 12 are super low self noise, you can crank them with no fear of adding extra noise
With regards to “precise EQing”, are you convinced that the type of music you are into absolutely requires this for decent results? First rule of mixing is “get it right at the source”, the perfect mix is one where you pull up faders to unity gain and it already sounds like a record…
I cannot help thinking that OPs “opinions” are observations/FUD caused by too many youtube videos, and not enought first hand experience…
I cannot help thinking that OPs “opinions” are observations/FUD caused by too many youtube videos, and not enought first hand experience…
Yes, I’m looking for the opinions of others that have encountered a similar problem and found a solution or have used the gear mentioned and can share their experience.
With regards to “precise EQing”, are you convinced that the type of music you are into absolutely requires this for decent results? First rule of mixing is “get it right at the source”
It’s too easy to get hung up on this idea of precision, usually relating to DAWs and plugins. I’ve never owned any of the gear you mention (though I have considered purchasing all of them at one time or another).
My advice would be to get yourself as far away from all that “precision” shit as possible and as close to something like a mixer into a stereo recorder as you can. So of the three, the SSL would be my bet, as that will get you where I think you need to be. You could also get basically any mixer with decent EQs on it and a decent stereo compressor to put on the output, probably achieve more or less the same as the SSL for a fair bit less wad.
I’m not a professional by any means, but I did some recordings for multiple bands. Some recordings were done track-by-track and some completely live with multiple mics in the room.
In these cases “precise” EQs are much more needed because you have bleeding from other instruments or high resonances from the room.
But if I’m doing sample-based or synthesizer-based electronic music my opinion is that you probably don’t need all the mixing stuff “that” much as for instrumental-based music, recorded by microphones. You just don’t have to think about a lot of stuff like dynamics and room reflections etc, that you want to edit via compression and precise EQing.
I also had a phase were I thought that I need multiple EQ-bands and compressors to get a good sounding song, but in the end it’s often a waste of time and ressources. Most of my older electronic music tracks were made entirely on an Octatrack or a Mackie mixer, and these still sound fine to my ear. It is more about leveling your sounds correctly and arranging the space than having ultra-precise mixing.
But this is just a strangers opionion on the internet from personal experience, so it may be all kind of wrong…
mix and compress using only my ears, live
any precise EQing would need to be done in Ableton, ditto for compression
