Article written by Jason Lackie

Over the years I have had varied opinions on analog summing. At first I just thought it was a cool idea, how could it not be? “To send my digital mix through a sweet piece of analog gear would only help it” I thought. The truth is it only helps if you do it right, and that’s not always so simple. I have come to the conclusion that I really do like summing to analog, but it takes a little more effort and attention than I had previously given it. There are three concepts that I think are important to discuss: Degeneration, Gain Staging, and Quality, Purposeful Analog Gear.

Degeneration:
Everyone knows that with tape you lose a “generation” every time you make a copy. With digital, it’s a little different, but the same idea can apply. Of course if you make a digital clone (copy and paste/drag and drop/etc), there is no loss of any kind. It’s all just “1’s and 0’s” so it can be an exact clone with no degeneration. The way you start losing quality is when you bus your mix out of your DAW, and then back in again.

The loss is in the d/a-a/d conversion. The study of converters is a whole can of worms of its own, but I think we can get a good idea of what is happening here. First we have to have the most basic understanding of what the converter is doing. The a/d (analog to digital) side is converting the analog signal into something the computer can understand and read. The d/a (digital to analog) side is converting the digital from 1’s and 0’s back into something we can hear (at the time of this writing we humans are still analog). So every time you push play on your DAW, your d/a converter is working to translate those numbers back into music.

It stands to reason then that what you hear, has a great deal to do with the quality and craftsmanship of your converters. So before you send that mix out to your analog stereo compressor, first think about the quality of your converters. It won’t be much help to your cause if your degenerating the quality of your mix just so you can get that “analog sound” unless your audio is being properly preserved. If you have less than great quality gear, you may be better off staying “in the box” and just use your analog stuff for your “front end”. Good converters are very expensive, it takes a lot of research and skill to build a quality converter. It is also the single most important piece of gear in any digital studio.

Gain Staging:
So with that in mind, let’s assume for the sake of argument that you have a solid converter. Here at fastback we have a set of Apogee’s, one for a/d, and one for d/a (Really good ones usually separate the tasks into different enclosures). We also have the Digidesign 192’s clocked by a “Big Ben” (a good clock is also critical, but is a discussion of it’s own). Now it is a matter of how you are handling the audio path going out, and this part is all user driven.

Gain staging is a vastly misunderstood, and underestimated part of making good mixes. To understand what correct gain staging in the digital realm is, let’s explore what digital mixing is not. It is NOT analog. Let me say that again a little louder…IT IS NOT ANALOG!!! Sorry for raising my virtual voice at you all, but this fact is fundamental to your success. I know to a degree I’m stating what should be very obvious, but I can give you plenty of examples (and I mean hours worth) when I have seen it misunderstood, neglected, and abused.

Digital is not as forgiving as analog. Everyone seems to be somewhat aware of this fact but they do not necessarily understand why it is. In an all analog path, you can get away with a lot more gain, particularly when there are tubes and tape involved. When you over saturate tape, it compresses naturally, adds a desirable dimension, and sort of “glue’s” the mix together. When you try to achieve that same thing in the digital world, you get the opposite effect. The closer you get to the “digital ceiling” (actual physical limitation of what can be encoded), the thinner and more undesirable it becomes. I have actually heard so-called professional audio people completely disregard and contradict this truth. It is those people that you do not want mixing, or mastering your music! One guy at a audio conference I attended recently actually said “it depends on what you are going for”. *deep sigh* Digital doesn’t work like that, it’s like this; do you want to skydive with or without a parachute? Either way you are ruled by the law of gravity, but do you want to land on the ground and have a cold one with your buddies, or make the ten o’clock news?!

Take it from the point of origin. Let’s assume for the purpose of this discussion that you have everything already tracked and that you have taken good care of your tracks up to this point. now you have to maintain good gain staging at every point the audio is processed and re-processed from here on out. Are those little red lights coming on in your plug-in window? That’s not good! I once had someone tell me that it doesn’t matter as long as you can’t hear it. That would be ok were it not for the following truth: “Everything you do to your audio tracks affects what is to happen to them down the line. Audio processing is cumulative”. That means you have to plan ahead. Make sure that your audio is sounding good at each point in the chain.

That doesn’t mean you can’t distort things, or make funky, crazy sounds, or be spontaneous, all of this is still possible. You just have to do it in a way that makes the end result sound good. You can have fidelity and be creative at the same time, that’s what makes for the most interesting listening experience! You can even mix lo-fi sounds in and make a cool sounding record, but that does not equate to neglecting your signal path.

With all that in mind it’s time to talk quality, purposeful analog gear:
Defining “quality”,to a degree, is somewhat relative to one’s preferences and personal experience in the audio field. Two people can have a lengthy discussion about which piece of gear is the best but it really boils down to how you are using it and what you are trying to get out of it. In the future I will be posting a discussion on vintage vs. modern gear which I’m sure will ignite some fiery debate. For now I will just say quality is defined as well constructed, well wired, quiet, with good internal parts, pot’s, op-amps, wide bandwidth, lot’s of headroom, and good metering (for summing a mix this is pretty important). The point is that you don’t send it out to your gear JUST because it’s analog. If it’s a 3630, you can smash drum overheads or whatever, but you don’t really want to “print” your final mixes through it.

Which leads me to the “purposeful” part. Why are you summing out to analog and what are you using? I personally have a few favorites that I’d like to mention. For summing with compression I really love the the Smart research C2. It is fully recall-able and is perfect for “gluing” a mix together. It has that “smooth SSL style compression” that everyone raves about. For a Neve sound, I use the 32254e’s. The trick is not to hit them too hard on the way out. I know that may cause a blogger-war amongst some of you, but bare with me here. I think it is a good idea to leave lot’s of room for the mastering phase of things. You have to be able to anticipate what the mix is going to sound like after mastering. If you smash the crap out of it on the mix bus, chances are you will not have the room you want to work in mastering. A bit of quality analog compression on the back end of a digital mix can really help, but overdo it and you are defeating the whole purpose. Remember that everything is cumulative.

I also have recently re-discovered mini-mixer summing. At Fastback we have a Chandler TG series 16:2 mini mixer. It is built off of the design of the EMI TG 12345 which were used on Albums like the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon”. Now that’s no reason to run out and buy one, but I will tell you that after using the thing, it sounds really great! A summing mixer like this is a good option if you need something that sounds great, but have limited space. There are many good options out there that are affordable and fantastic sounding. I think it helps you more in the long run if you invest in quality not necessarily quantity. Having 16 channels of compression means nothing if they all sound cheap! I would stay clear of summing through your mixer unless you have one that will add something desirable to the sound. Cheap mixers are not console’s. There is a pretty remarkable difference between a professional mixing desk and the mixer you use for band practice!

Mixing is a process, an art form, a science, and does not come easy. With the advent of the DAW many more lay-people and home recordists are trying their hand at mixing and mastering. That’s all fine and great, but to quote a colleague, “owning a race car does not make you a professional race car driver.” Study, practice, and consult a professional when you need to. Do not underestimate the value of years of experience. Don’t be arrogant, we are all in the learning process together. Don’t ever stop listening back to your mixes with critical ears. Some are further along than others, but there is no end to learning the skill of mixing.

Jason Lackie
Producer/Head Engineer
Fastback Studios
Seattle, WA
http://fastbackstudios.com
jason@fastbackstudios.net