Hybrid mixer here! I mix and master professionally for what that matters. I choose the 500 series route for many reasons. I like the portability and flexibility for one. I also quickly fell in love with the Cranborne Audio R8 which makes things like cable management and i/o incredibly simple and something that doesn't even need to be thought about. All that being said, I started like most people do, with a stereo buss compressor. I went with the WesAudio DIONE and I couldn't be happier! It's a FANTASTIC piece of kit. After that I started buying mono units. I started with 2 preamps. Then a channel strip and mono track compressor. I most stick to saturation and compression for hardware because I feel that's the places where plugins struggle the most. 9/10 I use a simple digital EQ so I didn't feel the need or desire to have all kinds of different analog EQ options. I use all kinds of different compressors and saturation tools tho so again, it just made the most sense for me to start there with hardware. I have 2 analog EQ's and rarely use them. I just don't really hear the advantage over the digital options when I A/B them. So my suggestion for people is always to start with your mixbuss. Get a good stereo buss comp and start there. Then branch out if you feel there is a benefit! In my opinion tho, analog compression and saturation are FAR superior to plugins but I still use lots of compressor and saturation plugins as well. It's knowing when and where to use the hardware that's important! P.S. - Thanks for mentioning Sesison Recall! I feel many people don't mention it and it's a fantastic tool! Not to mention the guy who owns it is fantastic. He's super responsive and very helpful. Quick to handle requests and suggestions as well! Great video, thanks for it!
hi! great video, stuff not a lot of people talk about :) One of the big points of using software and hardware is ofcourse the big diference in investement LOL...ive switched to in the box "mixing" on the Amiga 500 when i did my first release in 1996 or something like that...after that i always looked for the holy grail, but really, i didnt really happen until the M1 chips came out to give me enough power when on the road. Now, plugins are so unbelievable good that you can really get a good sound in the box. Also, the other day i opened an old box with a Virus TI and played around a bit...it sounded cool, but plugins like Spire now have the same warmth, width and low end as this legendary synth...I guess it all depends what you do with it. Sometimes you just want to tweak knobs, and other times a mouse is 1.000 x faster. I like to produce, write and record on my macbook hooked to my big studio with massive 4k monitor, then go to my kids and bounce stuff out while on the couch...even the speakers on the macbook pro's are okay to balance vocals haha
After years of using hardware then moving for a decade on software... I've returned back to hardware that is digitally controlled.... Why? To my ear hardware sounds better, always has because you can push it unlike software and get those sweet sounding harmonics. Having the flexibility of digitally control, I have instant recall. I do have a few pieces that doesn't have digital recall such as my Preamps/channel strips for tracking and some of my mastering/2 Buss gear such as my SPL Iron, IGS825EQ, Elysia nvelope transient shaper, SSL Buss+/Fusion and my Rupert Neve MBT.... I am swapping everything else to digitally controlled gear. My drum buss is WesAudio500 series, Dione NG500 compressor, Hyperion NG500 Stereo EQ, Prometheus Stereo EQ, and RHea NG 500 Vari-MU Tube Compressor. I own a second 500series box with the same gear to mix everything else and I just ordered the Pandora NG500 multiband compressor (I''ll use this on my drum buss and 2buss). I own the WesAudio NG tubeEQ and the ngBus compressor, Cranborne Audio HE2 harmonic EQ as part of my mastering chain as well and then finally my BetterMaker Mastering limiter.... and I use Flock audio to keep it all integrated as my digital patch-bay. The Flock allows me to take pictures of settings for the hardware that isn't digitally controlled. Eventually I'll replace everything that is digitally controlled when similar gear is available. It is so convenient to have hardware but with the flexibility of software controlled. And it isn't as expensive as you may think when you price it all out especially if this is your business where time is money and convenience for clients is paramount.
I have looked into getting some of the WesAudio stuff! It sounds like you are really enjoying it! Digital recall in hardware is the future that's for sure
Hybrid mixer here! I mix and master professionally for what that matters. I choose the 500 series route for many reasons. I like the portability and flexibility for one. I also quickly fell in love with the Cranborne Audio R8 which makes things like cable management and i/o incredibly simple and something that doesn't even need to be thought about. All that being said, I started like most people do, with a stereo buss compressor. I went with the WesAudio DIONE and I couldn't be happier! It's a FANTASTIC piece of kit. After that I started buying mono units. I started with 2 preamps. Then a channel strip and mono track compressor. I most stick to saturation and compression for hardware because I feel that's the places where plugins struggle the most. 9/10 I use a simple digital EQ so I didn't feel the need or desire to have all kinds of different analog EQ options. I use all kinds of different compressors and saturation tools tho so again, it just made the most sense for me to start there with hardware. I have 2 analog EQ's and rarely use them. I just don't really hear the advantage over the digital options when I A/B them. So my suggestion for people is always to start with your mixbuss. Get a good stereo buss comp and start there. Then branch out if you feel there is a benefit! In my opinion tho, analog compression and saturation are FAR superior to plugins but I still use lots of compressor and saturation plugins as well. It's knowing when and where to use the hardware that's important!
P.S. - Thanks for mentioning Sesison Recall! I feel many people don't mention it and it's a fantastic tool! Not to mention the guy who owns it is fantastic. He's super responsive and very helpful. Quick to handle requests and suggestions as well!
Great video, thanks for it!
hi! great video, stuff not a lot of people talk about :) One of the big points of using software and hardware is ofcourse the big diference in investement LOL...ive switched to in the box "mixing" on the Amiga 500 when i did my first release in 1996 or something like that...after that i always looked for the holy grail, but really, i didnt really happen until the M1 chips came out to give me enough power when on the road. Now, plugins are so unbelievable good that you can really get a good sound in the box. Also, the other day i opened an old box with a Virus TI and played around a bit...it sounded cool, but plugins like Spire now have the same warmth, width and low end as this legendary synth...I guess it all depends what you do with it. Sometimes you just want to tweak knobs, and other times a mouse is 1.000 x faster. I like to produce, write and record on my macbook hooked to my big studio with massive 4k monitor, then go to my kids and bounce stuff out while on the couch...even the speakers on the macbook pro's are okay to balance vocals haha
No need for hardware when your plugins sounds great in my mixes anyway!
Thank you!
@@kiiveaudio The NFuse are on all my vocal and masterchains from now on.
After years of using hardware then moving for a decade on software... I've returned back to hardware that is digitally controlled.... Why? To my ear hardware sounds better, always has because you can push it unlike software and get those sweet sounding harmonics. Having the flexibility of digitally control, I have instant recall. I do have a few pieces that doesn't have digital recall such as my Preamps/channel strips for tracking and some of my mastering/2 Buss gear such as my SPL Iron, IGS825EQ, Elysia nvelope transient shaper, SSL Buss+/Fusion and my Rupert Neve MBT.... I am swapping everything else to digitally controlled gear. My drum buss is WesAudio500 series, Dione NG500 compressor, Hyperion NG500 Stereo EQ, Prometheus Stereo EQ, and RHea NG 500 Vari-MU Tube Compressor. I own a second 500series box with the same gear to mix everything else and I just ordered the Pandora NG500 multiband compressor (I''ll use this on my drum buss and 2buss). I own the WesAudio NG tubeEQ and the ngBus compressor, Cranborne Audio HE2 harmonic EQ as part of my mastering chain as well and then finally my BetterMaker Mastering limiter.... and I use Flock audio to keep it all integrated as my digital patch-bay. The Flock allows me to take pictures of settings for the hardware that isn't digitally controlled. Eventually I'll replace everything that is digitally controlled when similar gear is available. It is so convenient to have hardware but with the flexibility of software controlled. And it isn't as expensive as you may think when you price it all out especially if this is your business where time is money and convenience for clients is paramount.
I have looked into getting some of the WesAudio stuff! It sounds like you are really enjoying it! Digital recall in hardware is the future that's for sure
I'm adding some hardware for tracking, Comps & Pres, and everything else ITB.
The best of both worlds!
I only have a bus compressor for submix the rest is ITB
Hey, sometimes that's all you need!
But who in they right mind would try to run a mono on stereo.