"Faking" a console w/ summing box

[springs]

I'm just curious how people using summing boxes are "faking" console moves, like occasionally using outboard gear via a bus, or if it's neigh on impossible. I guess I'm mainly talking about the equivalent of manual moves to outboard gear. Obviously in the box (using plugs, etc) you can just automate the internal mixer sends, etc.

For example - sometimes while mixing, I'll track a pass of outboard spring reverb that I'll occasionally throw onto a track using an aux buss (ie., if a synth solo, I'll ride the appropriate aux manually and only "wet" certain notes with the outboard reverb). Note that I'm not just recording a whole track of an effect - that would be easy. What I'm wondering about it how to OCCASIONALLY (ie., manually) throw on effects when there is no actual console/knobs/etc.

The only thing I can think of it automating the moves in the DAW but then routing the audio to your outboard and re-recording - sort of a two-step process, less spontaneous but potentially viable. Just wondering what other people's solutions are.

Hope this is...um...clear!

[thethrillfactor]

Originally posted by springs
I'm just curious how people using summing boxes are "faking" console moves, like occasionally using outboard gear via a bus, or if it's neigh on impossible. I guess I'm mainly talking about the equivalent of manual moves to outboard gear. Obviously in the box (using plugs, etc) you can just automate the internal mixer sends, etc.

For example - sometimes while mixing, I'll track a pass of outboard spring reverb that I'll occasionally throw onto a track using an aux buss (ie., if a synth solo, I'll ride the appropriate aux manually and only "wet" certain notes with the outboard reverb). Note that I'm not just recording a whole track of an effect - that would be easy. What I'm wondering about it how to OCCASIONALLY (ie., manually) throw on effects when there is no actual console/knobs/etc.

The only thing I can think of it automating the moves in the DAW but then routing the audio to your outboard and re-recording - sort of a two-step process, less spontaneous but potentially viable. Just wondering what other people's solutions are.

Hope this is...um...clear!

I did this for a while but found it to cumbersome and kills the spontaniety.

Since then i've gone back to just mixing on analog consoles and it makes a world of a difference.

Having everything at your fingertips helps the process be quicker and more enjoyable.

Less thinking more crankin.

[springs]

yeah Thrillfactor, that's an answer I feared.
As cool as I think summing boxes are for some people, I'm loathe to move from my console to one. But I started having bigtime EM/RF issues (the mixer is unbalanced) and thought I might have to move to something balanced and that acts as less of a noise antenna!

[Hiwatt]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem, maybe a little different than you are used to. Just send the track to two outputs, one connected to the summing box, the other going to your reverb then to the summing box. It's like doing an old school styled live mix. Just use the input or output level on the reverb unit to fade it in or out. But I guess the feasability of this technique all depends on how many da's you have on your interface.

[ulysses]

I highly recommend using a half-normalled patchbay between your DACs and the Folcrom (or whatever brand of summing device you happen to choose ). 90% of the time, you'll send most tracks straight through to the mixer but it's easy enough to slap a compressor or EQ across a couple of channels, or mult out to a reverb or delay. I personally still use the Neutrik modular 1/4" patchbays because they allow me to rearrange my stuff without any soldering, but for a ProTools-Folcrom bridge, a hardwired patchbay wired to short snakes with DB25s on both ends could be very practical. The thing I find interesting about the whole "getting out of the box" thing is that it's not entirely the same as mixing on a console. You have the freedom to mix and match analog and digital signal paths and techniques, and it really opens up a lot of possibilities for people to kind of forget the "standard" routing practices of either an analog studio or an in-the-box operation. You get to experiment and find a method and a signal flow that works for you. These summing devices are for the most part designed to maintain the repeatability of the DAW's automation, but you still have complete freedom to forego that when you want to start patching things around on the fly. We have some users that never put anything between their DACs and the Folcrom, and we have other users that aren't using them with a DAW at all. It's just a mixer, and you can do anything you want with it. It's a great way to add a bunch of stereo effects returns to a console you're beginning to outgrow.