Quote:
Originally Posted by Fletcher  ...coming out into the analog domain, being able to do my dynamic range manipulation [compression/limiting] in the analog domain, and then my final summing in the analog domain gives me a far "deeper" and more 3 dimensional result than I've ever been able to achieve "in the box"... |
I agree.
There has of course been a ridiculous amount of debate over ITB verses OTB etc... and I'm sure that some of the top-end ITB solutions can yield "excellent" results.
But, per my own first-hand experience, I still have not yet heard anything done fully ITB that truly made me happy. I can't put my finger on it, but when you do the bulk of processing in analog and summing in analog (with good gear of course), the end result has a character that to me simply cannot be matched via full ITB mixing. And it's noticeably superior, at least in a
musical sense.
And forget about plug-ins and processors that are supposed to make digital sound like analog... some of that stuff
may yield a localized "desired effect", but will in NO WAY take the place of actually working in analog.
If I couldn't mix in analog, I would simply not want to mix at all. I've tried it and I'm never happy... usually just leads to a certain degree of frustration. When mixing ITB, I'll tend to take a lot more time mixing because I guess I'm trying to achieve something that I just can't achieve ITB... there IS a sonic limitation there, and it's not fun when you finally encounter it after hours of mixing.