Quote:
Originally Posted by popmann  Digital "clean"...funny. |
What do you mean?
Are you trying to suggest that digital can't get a "clean" transcription of an audio signal or sum multiple signals cleanly?
Not just theory but practice -- as attested to by test gear many, many times more sensitive than any human ear -- show that what digital does well, straight signal capture, it does very well.
And as far as straight summing goes -- one can easily test that summing with null inversion tests. If the 'residue' from such testing is below the level of audibibility, you're summing would, by reasonable definition, be "clean."
Now, to go back to the OP... clearly, people are not necessarily
looking for straight, accurate summing, but rather want some of the
desirable signal degradation that analog summing is so 'good' at in the opinion of many. And that, to my thinking, revolves to great extent around the putatively desirable degradation offered by analog saturation as well as other analog processes that might be involved like EQ.
Also, since
most folks who mix through boards will almost certainly be using analog limiting/compression, there is that
crucial issue.
While
digital can be shown to offer very accurate transcription and summing -- it is notably less capable/desirable when it comes to the peculiarly non-linear processes at work in compression and/or saturation simulation.
And
that I suspect is a
real factor when people prefer analog mixed tracks.