What is your method of recalling outboard gear settings?

Jeremy Garber · Post by **Jeremy Garber** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:08 pm

OK, so I've been spoiled with being able to instantly pick up where I left off when I am recording/mixing on my PC. I usually work on my music in little bursts as my life permits, so I'm constantly leaving and coming back to projects. As I want to expand my collection of outboard gear, I was just curious as to how some of you recall settings. I know some digital gear can be recalled via MIDI. I expect to get a lot of "use your ears" replies (which is great, and I'm sure will come after using said piece of gear for said amount of time). I figure you could use plain pencil and paper. I'm interested to see if there are any unusual methods being used out there. Tickle my brain.

weallfailed · Post by **weallfailed** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:00 pm

lsn110 · Post by **lsn110** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:25 am

I've come to realize recently, that for all of the documenting I do, I almost never come back to use those notes. There have been a few occasions where I started to recall a mix and then just decided to go from scratch. It was more fun that way.

And yeah...I just use pen and paper. I have printed mixsheets that I just fill in.

And I agree with weallfailed...if you can tape down the knobs that works too. I move between projects too much for that to work for me.

Jeremy Garber · Post by **Jeremy Garber** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:57 am

Ya, I go between songs too much to use tape. heh I'm sure I'll just use pen and paper. Can you describe those printed mix sheets? Is it just like a spreadsheet?

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:12 am

Search "recall sheet for 1176" (or whatever stuff you have) via google. There are a zillion out there. It is like a black and white line drawing of the front of the piece of gear. UA has them for all their stuff I think...I know I got one from the UA site...

Lots out there. I know I SHOULD write everything down, but I dont always do it. Sometimes I will have an assistant chart everything, then I never use it.... I just remix if I need to.

With outboard gear, the time it takes to do a recall is pretty serious, so I would rather just print 4 or 5 mixes the first time around... Like a vocal up, vocal down, instrumental/acapella... Takes the length of the song and saves headaches later...

lsn110 · Post by **lsn110** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:13 am

Like Joel said...there are many many recall sheets out there.

I've found this to be the best source:
http://www.barryrudolph.com/pages/recalldirectory.html

He has almost everything. edit: Well not everything....My DOD Rack Delay is nowhere to be seen....he has a lot.

For me...I oscillate between using these and just writing down numbers on a single piece of paper. That works well for me except for the subjectivity you get between marked values (esp when it's a logarithmic value).

Mark Alan Miller · Post by **Mark Alan Miller** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:18 am

Most of all of the recall I've done has always been pen-and-paper.
Takes a while to write down, takes a while to recall, and (and I know this to be true even when I've used diagrams to notate settings) that you never get the settings back 100% unless the gear has detented knobs. *Sigh*. Breaking friction on a knob can often have a profound effect on the actual setting.

Since I started printing stems for mixes on all but the most tight-budget projects, recall isn't even talked about around here.

That Barry Rudolph site rocks, though.

I guess I don't have much to add. Sorry. Thought I did when I started typing.

Jeremy Garber · Post by **Jeremy Garber** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:40 am

^^^ lol It's OK.

Barry's site is great. I was thinking about whipping up some stuff like that in Illustrator. I understand how not having detented knobs can make it a bit harder. Slight differences across multiple knobs could have a profound effect on a mix I imagine. At least it would give you a starting point though.

I had a desire to figure this out recently while working on a song on two different weekends. First run I tracked a verse section, and the following weekend I tracked a chorus. I managed to get things pretty close, but I can still hear a difference.

I really want to start documenting my work again. Years ago I used to transcribe/notate my music. I loved it. But I have really fallen away from that. I guess this question is part of that desire as well.

Cedar · Post by **Cedar** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:20 am

Take a close-up digital photo of the unit and save the photo in a folder dated and titled accoringly on your computer. I do that when I'm on tour so that if the engineer for the opening bands made any changes, I can recall them (especially on the graphic eq).

JB · Post by JB » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:34 am

"Session notes" embedded in Fairlight session.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:43 am

Cedar wrote:Take a close-up digital photo of the unit and save the photo in a folder dated and titled accoringly on your computer. I do that when I'm on tour so that if the engineer for the opening bands made any changes, I can recall them (especially on the graphic eq).

Damn, beat me to it

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:49 am

before cheap digital cameras we would make a photocopy of the front-panel diagrams from the gear manuals, and assemble them all on one sheet, and make little tick-marks where the knobs were set.

Toddf · Post by **Toddf** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:05 pm

Buy a digital camera and upload pics to yor computer. It is fast. takes a while to get the hang of getting rid of glare off the gear.

We put a piece of board tape across the flash of the camera. Hey another use for board tape.

We also document with docunetation sheets like the ones on the barry rudolf site.

I don't know why anyone would start over from scratch when they have a good mix dialed up and need to stop and start again after tearing down?

Todd

Mark Alan Miller · Post by **Mark Alan Miller** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:33 pm

Toddf wrote:I don't know why anyone would start over from scratch when they have a good mix dialed up and need to stop and start again after tearing down?

Often starting from scratch, you'll use your experiece from the first mix in setting up the second, but make a lot of little improvements along the way too.

I have found that a non-recall remix beats a recall remix sonically more often than not. And as I like to say: YMMV.

Toddf · Post by **Toddf** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:55 pm

When we are trying to get mixes fast for a client and they are happy with the sound of the mixes already done, we recall the last mix.

When we are mixing an album and we arrive at a sound for the drums etc. that we love, I wouldn't want to take a chance of messing things up. It is the clients money and I want to give them the best bang for the buck.

I have also found that my first instincts on a mix are usually best.

Todd

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What is your method of recalling outboard gear settings?

What is your method of recalling outboard gear settings?

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