I remember the days..

jc_terrones · Post by **jc_terrones** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:05 pm

I really miss not having a decent size console(even if it was a Mackie) to have hands on fader management. I so miss the days of the band standing around the board with their hands at the ready to control the volume on their certain tracks of interest.

Let's hear your best stories of group mixing.

p.s. I find myself getting lazy on the fader management in the computer.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:03 pm

I still mix on a console. I remember 30 minutes ago when I finished a mix of a band I really like and got to produce, record, and mix a record for.
I have 4 more days of mixing this project, and I wont let them near the console...

Mixing a band called dub trio, we were all running around the studioplaying tape echoes, delays, spring verbs, and filters... like a modern dance routine...

That is fun.

jc_terrones · Post by **jc_terrones** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:27 pm

joel hamilton wrote:I still mix on a console. I remember 30 minutes ago when I finished a mix of a band I really like and got to produce, record, and mix a record for.
I have 4 more days of mixing this project, and I wont let them near the console...

Mixing a band called dub trio, we were all running around the studioplaying tape echoes, delays, spring verbs, and filters... like a modern dance routine...

That is fun.

I am sure turning those knobs on the newly restored console is pretty god damn cool. I so miss the days of fellow band members and clients making run time decisions on the mix, sort of ensemble mixing.

Kasey · Post by **Kasey** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:29 pm

i still (and always will unless something crazy happens) mix on a console. Although i have a feeling Joel's Neve is a bit more rewarding to mix on than my Topaz. But I certainly love mixing on it. Nothing beats the feeling of "touching" your sound through knobs and faders. k maybe some things do. I certainly wouldn't trade it for a mouse though.

hmm... group mixing? No one really ever touches my board but me. In fact i've established within my studio that it's bad luck for the band to touch my board or sit in my seat. Not that I wouldn't let them, they just have to do so at their own risk of a curse. That said, the last project I mixed we worked on running the piano through a guitar amp and playing with distortion and lo-fi guitar crackle goodness on a piano. That was pretty fun.

jc_terrones · Post by **jc_terrones** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:26 pm

Kasey wrote:i still (and always will unless something crazy happens) mix on a console. Although i have a feeling Joel's Neve is a bit more rewarding to mix on than my Topaz. But I certainly love mixing on it. Nothing beats the feeling of "touching" your sound through knobs and faders. k maybe some things do. I certainly wouldn't trade it for a mouse though.

hmm... group mixing? No one really ever touches my board but me. In fact i've established within my studio that it's bad luck for the band to touch my board or sit in my seat. Not that I wouldn't let them, they just have to do so at their own risk of a curse. That said, the last project I mixed we worked on running the piano through a guitar amp and playing with distortion and lo-fi guitar crackle goodness on a piano. That was pretty fun.

Jeez. I was just talking about the days when you didn't have enough hands to massage the "Topaz" mix in real time. You know, those days when you don't have enough hands available to do non automated mixes?

How do folks ever learn from each other?

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:59 am

jc_terrones wrote:
Kasey wrote:i still (and always will unless something crazy happens) mix on a console. Although i have a feeling Joel's Neve is a bit more rewarding to mix on than my Topaz. But I certainly love mixing on it. Nothing beats the feeling of "touching" your sound through knobs and faders. k maybe some things do. I certainly wouldn't trade it for a mouse though.

hmm... group mixing? No one really ever touches my board but me. In fact i've established within my studio that it's bad luck for the band to touch my board or sit in my seat. Not that I wouldn't let them, they just have to do so at their own risk of a curse. That said, the last project I mixed we worked on running the piano through a guitar amp and playing with distortion and lo-fi guitar crackle goodness on a piano. That was pretty fun.
Jeez. I was just talking about the days when you didn't have enough hands to massage the "Topaz" mix in real time. You know, those days when you don't have enough hands available to do non automated mixes?

How do folks ever learn from each other?

I fully hear you. Spent many an hour/day/night shoulder to shoulder with three of the people in the band, rehearsing moves, then rolling the two track machine and going for it... cutting together the best "takes" of the rides and mutes.

I just dont miss it, is all. I do remember that time fondly, but I certainly dont miss it.

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:05 am

i remember those days... like in 2 hours when I start mixing a folk/psychadelic record on the auditronics. i mixed a live jazz/chamber music performance a few days ago in the box (because i was having some converter-console grounding issues) and it was fine, but so boring and sterile compared to mixing on a console... and i don't even mean in terms of the sound, just the actual feeling of the act of mixing.

if i had not first started recording with analog gear, i don't know if i would have gotten as into recording... i thought computer recording was silly when it first came out, when i was in high school, and i still kind of do... when my school got an audiomedia III card, it was cool, but i still considered a tascam 234 and that matching tascam mixer something to actually record on.... i tried using pt a few times, and used it for mastering, editing DATs, etc.... but it seemed like such a silly way to record and mix to me then, and still does.

bla bla bla, rant rant rant...

gonna pour myself another cup of coffee.

john

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:40 am

The thing is this,

unless you are 60 years old, automation existed in professional studios your whole life. I am old enough to have been recording/mixing before people even had computers in their houses, never mind computers that are capable of music production.. maybe some dedicated typesetting, like a compugraphics dumb terminal with the mainframe in the basement, but not audio.

Waxing nostalgic about the days when I HAD to do certain things because of budget constraints/technology of the day just isnt me. I couldnt afford a console with automation in 1990. If I could have, I would have.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:40 am

I remember those days like it was last week. Oh crap, it WAS last week. We broke the golden rule by allowing the guitarist to do levels on the guitar faders. Oh, man, good times.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:03 am

jc_terrones wrote: Let's hear your best stories of group mixing.

the only thing i can remember at the moment is mixing a band called the wicked farleys back in '99. i had the board, my friend was watching the 8 track, towards the end of the song he started messing with the reels...waxing and milking...i reached over and dropped it to half speed for the big finale. not much of a story but it was fun. worth noting that that song was tracked to gp9 with everything absolutely completely pinned the entire time, and then the mix went through an ART tube MP and we weren't shy with that either. the band's operative word was 'nasty'....

i used to love doing dub mixes on the board, it was really fun to "play" the faders and sends...that said, i have to admit i LOVE being able to sort out the arrangements on the computer. i remember a decade ago working on tape, doing soundscapey type stuff, lots of random stuff on each track...it was just too hard to keep track of what was what, when 'the good part' was, etc. sooo much easier when you can see everything in front of you. maybe that means i suck, but whatevs.

japmn · Post by **japmn** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:15 am

I wish someone would make a stupidly simple control surface with just banks of faders and transport controls. Nothing else. I do not mind using the mouse for everything else.

I just want 24 motorized faders and a master stereo fader, pan, Transport, and maybe solo and mutes. NO screens, banks, or anything else.

It would look like this:

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : ......
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||

It would be about the size of a medium sized midi controller and cost very little. Very Simple.

A man can dream can't he?

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:06 am

I still use a console for every session. I've avoided using a computer in the studio and will as long as I can. I'm lucky now because I have fader/mute automation so I can have the mix close to done before the client in allowed in the room.

There were some pretty fun times with like 4 people crowded around to Smackie each trying to get the mix right to DAT. I don't miss that much, but I don't think I could live without a console.

I'm with John on the computer being silly...

TV Lenny · Post by **TV Lenny** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:29 am

A while back I bought a Tascam 2400 control surface (now discontinued) which is almost just 24 faders and transport controls. It works pretty nicely.

Once I'm fully wired, I will be mixing using my console...I can't wait. A Group Mix Story-Hmmm, I've done very minor group mixing and while it's fun nothing really sticks out to me as that interesting. However, several times we all went out for a group of mix drinks afterward.

Tom

Ryan Silva · Post by **Ryan Silva** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:43 am

The first album I ever recorded (as a musician) was with Scott Solter at Division Hi-Fi S.F. (now defunct), and they had a Soundcraft Spirit that they taped a Neve logo over the soundcraft logo. I have to give it to Scott for putting up with these poorly written songs and pitchy singing (me); he really must have been in hell. Because of our lack of studio experience there was a lot of tuff moves to keep things in line, so I was at the faders with Scott (wow what an honor) on about the forth pass of this Rockabilly type song, and we got to the part where we had about 10 moves to make in about 30 sec and I noticed Scott was about to miss a mute. So I tackled him to get to the other side of the console to get that mute switch, and barely made it. Scott looks at me like he was going to punch me, and then gives me a big hug and expresses his love for me, avoiding one more run through.

That?s my story.

Ryan

Mane1234 · Post by **Mane1234** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:43 pm

I can't wait to have a mixing board again....I'm using the Digi002 mixer so I can ride faders and all but it's just not the same and if I have to get from one fader to another one that isn't in the same bank then it sucks and I end up automating...I got to sit in on some final mix sessions and do the whole fader rehersal stuff. Good times.

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