Is PTHD "in the box"?

[Lawrence]

Just curious. Do people here consider mixing a song in PTHD as mixing in the box?

Considering that the HD cards are basically digital mixer hardware components why would mixing with a daw feeding a digital console be considered out of the box but PTHD (which again is also a hardware digital mixer) be considered "in the box".

I don't get the distinction. Surely the summing, mixing, processing in HD (minus the AU or other native plugs) is happening on the hardware the same as it would on a digital console with plugs, like a Mackie X-Bus. The mixer is just on computer cards instead of standing alone. And a digital mixer is a computer.

See what I mean? Is PTHD really "in the box"? If so is mixing with a daw and a digital console also "in the box"? If not why not and what's the difference? If I took all of the HD hardware and put it in a console shell which attaches to the PC with a control cable would that be "in the box"?

Perhaps the general understanding of that term needs to be revised as...

Mixing in the Box: Mixing entirely in the digital domain. 100% in the box mixing would mean that the none of the audio ever leaves the digital domain with the exception of the monitor feeds.

[zboy2854]

Yes, mixing in the box at the very least means you are summing everything inside the DAW itself, whether it's PTHD or any other DAW. In most cases it can also connotate using only plugins and not outboard hardware processing as well.

As far as breaking a mix out to a digital console, I think for most people that wouldn't be considered "in the box" anymore, as I certainly wouldn't consider breaking out a mix on a Sony Oxford or an SSL C200 as in the box. However, I don't know that there's a standardized definition here, when it comes to digital consoles perhaps some may feel that it is still "in the box".

[Lawrence]

I hear you. In my mind the box (unlike the daw) is the digital "box", the big calculator, mixing and summing using digital math, whether it be in a daw or on a digital console. To come out of the box in my mind would be going analog, to an analog desk or at least some type of analog summing.

I wouldn't expect the digital EQ on a megabuck digital desk to sound any better than (or as good as?) a Massenburg eq plugin. I also don't see any difference in mixing with PTHD/Icon and mxing with a digital console like a small format Sony being fed digitally by Radars.

It's all just math being calculated by computers.

[emkay]

is exactly that----In The Box--Once it leaves the "Front End", it is processed, mixed and summed in the computer domain and then burned to a CD. If the stereo bus is sent to "outboard"(hardware) before burning, then it becomes not a "total" ITB production. Just like the "old days" when some albums listed and broke down the recording process using the "A" and "D" designations i.e. recorded in "A"nalogue, mixed in "D"igital, mastewred in"A"nalogue etc. etc. So perhaps we should designate ITB as "Totally" In The Box and ITB-1 (mixed to "outboard"), ITB-2 (mixed through console) etc. etc..........Just a thought

[zboy2854]

Technically you're right, it is all just math. Where the differences lie is in the quality of the algorithms and to what degree of precision the calculations have been coded to carry out (i.e. how many places after the decimal point the numbers are kept), which is why, for instance, most people would consider mixing through a Sony Oxford to be superior to mixing through a Mackie digital board.

But it's really just semantics. From a real world, practical standpoint I would say that most people, if they were going to mix through a console rather than inside the DAW wouldn't opt for a digital console, and would probably just as well stay in the DAW. I know that if I was given the option to mix out of the DAW, I'd probably only take it if it was a nice analog console.

[dlmorley]

I think we should use my classification:

ITB = "Wrong"
ITB but stereo mixed to a recorder = "Still Wrong"
Seperate tracks to an analogue desk = "Correct"



joke btw...

[AlexLakis]

To me, ITB or OTB is simply dependant on the medium you record to. Once your tracks hit a DAW, you are ITB. If you bounce your tracks out of PT to tape, you are then OTB. If you record with a buncha outboard to PTHD, then mix thru a bunch of outboard gear, you are still ITB, because that's where your tracks reside. It's as simple as that to me. Not that all this classification matteres, it's all a buncha semantic bullshit anyways.

[emkay]

Originally Posted by dlmorley

I think we should use my classification:

ITB = "Wrong"
ITB but stereo mixed to a recorder = "Still Wrong"
Seperate tracks to an analogue desk = "Correct"



joke btw...

LOL!! Good one!

[emkay]

goin' 'round here!! Do I detect a bunch of anti-semantics?