Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Punky921
Posts: 675
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:15 pm

Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Post by Punky921 » Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:07 pm

Hey guys,

So is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer if you do all your mixing / mastering / tracking in Ableton Live? I'm coming at this mainly from the POV of a guy who does home recording, and doesn't like to sum signals before they hit Ableton. My computer's pretty beefy and I've yet to run into a situation where Ableton sucked up more than 15% of my CPU power. I'm curious if there's something I've missed as a rookie engineer / producer. When would a hardware mixer come in handy? What would I use it for? Just curious! :)

Thanks!

Tone Deft
Posts: 24152
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:19 pm

Re: Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Post by Tone Deft » Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:13 pm

get some friends, jam together, record it.
a multichannel synth.
my guitar outputs signals from the humbuckers, the piezo and I can drive a synth with it.
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?
-Moz

Punky921
Posts: 675
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:15 pm

Re: Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Post by Punky921 » Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:16 pm

Cool. I don't do anything like the second two, but I have done the first one. Though when I do that, I usually just connect everyone to my sound interface either via instrument ins or mics.

Tweekhead
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:13 am

Re: Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Post by Tweekhead » Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:43 pm

Hello!

This is such a subjective question it's been debated countless times. Myself, I have outboard gear I use during mixing, and a 16 channel passive summing mixer that I use 2 API style mic pres for makeup gain and there is a huge difference in the final mix. It all really comes down to your workflow, and the quality of the composition. One can spend rediculous amounts of money on A/D D/A, but being the huge Beatles fan I am I go back to thinking, if John Lennon was sitting in a bedroom with a 4 track cassette recorder and a RadioShack mic, as long as the song was good it would be a huge hit. Regardless of the tools, just write music you like and in the future adapt to whatever works well for you:)

Tweekhead

Punky921
Posts: 675
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:15 pm

Re: Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Post by Punky921 » Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:55 pm

What mixer do you use? And how do you feel like the mix is different when you do it that way?

Tweekhead
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:13 am

Re: Is there ever a reason to use a hardware mixer?

Post by Tweekhead » Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:42 pm

I use a passive mixer I put together called the Summthing. If your handy with a soldering iron you may be able to find boards for the project around. Otherwise it's the same as New York Dave's schematic for a passive mixer. Rolls makes a commercial one you can buy. I also have an 8 channel S800 EQ, various 500 series mic pres, and outboard compressors. I tend to record my final stereo bounce to a Korg DSD recorder at 1 bit, but I also have a 1/4" reel to reel that sounds great. It all depends on what you want in the end. Personally I'm not a fan of my audio interface, but over the years I've found it harder and harder to spend money on the newest digital piece. I'm also totally addicted to building a modular synth right now, so modules are getting ordered regularly:D I currently use a Digi 003R. Once I come out of my DAW into my external gear my Genelecs are singing, but if I try to bring it back in, the A/D on the 003R steals a lot of the air, and dimension I had. The mic pres I use for makeup gain have attenuators on them, so I can get more color out of the pre by making it work harder. Check out www.classicapi.com for fantastic kits.

Again, as far as mixing in the box goes people do it everyday with great results. I have a friend who only mixes in the box with a Pro Tools HD system.

Sound is subjective. I prefer tube guitar amps to solid state. I had a singer recording into a tube condenser mic with headphones and he just sounded like he wasn't part of the song. I put up a Shure SM7 in the mixing room facing away from my monitor speakers on a stand and did the reverse phase trick from Tapeop magazine and he sang great. In the end whatever works is what I'd use. I feel that OTB mixing is better for my workflow, but different strokes for different folks.

Hope this helps!

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