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Originally Posted by Brad McGowan
Mixing OTB is all about the things that Nathan and a couple others have cited: phase shift, intermodulation distortion, harmonic distortion, etc. Once you figure out that you can add those things without using a mixer or "summing box" then you'll be well on your way to a more "analog" sounding mix.
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Sure, you're right in many ways. I've heard the difference for myself of the same techniques/skill set, etc of guys using ITB and OTB (who know their stuff on both platforms adhering to proper analog or digital gain staging), both on high quality gear...using outboard also ITB (by sending out, processing, then printing). By using the analog outboard, it sound FAR better than using plug ins IMO. But when hearing the difference between the console mixes and the ITB mixes were noticeable. The ITB, on their own merits, were as good or better than most people's than I've heard. The console mixes were ear candy, a definite step up (again, same engineer, same techniques, even much of the same outboard).
So just to me, in my own experience, this verifies that it's something beyond just noise, phase shift, distortion & digital headroom issues. Maybe it's just because PCM conversion makes the original analog signal smaller sounding (tonally speaking...and it does, even with the best conversion, it's like a cold day at the beach in speedos for the analog when transferring from the 2" 16 track...serious shrinkage). So one conversion out via D/A, one back in to the DAW via an A/D.
But that still doesn't explain it, because one conversion in via an A/D, then mixing via multiple D/A's into a console and then converting the stereo master one more time is the requirement for mixing on a hybrid DAW/console system. That's one more conversion than the ITB/outboard gear method. Not trying to be argumentative, just kicking some ideas and opinions around. It's just that every time the two are compared, even in the best circumstances, the OTB wins for me in an obvious way. It also seems a lot more convenient with the DAW/analog console system. The integration with the outboard gear is a lot easier, not to mention you get console EQ in most cases, auxes, etc, etc. Is ITB generally prefferred by some engineers because of convenience, cost, or physically space issues, or is it truly that they feel it's a sonic improvement over the alternative?