Thread: Professional Mixing Setup

Fun topic, glad to see some new members here

If budget isn't an issue: Sequoia 12 is coming soon and it is supposed to work on Mac and PC. If you get a break on gear, I'd look into this beast. It is a killer DAW. The mastering section is worth every penny. I bought it because I know that the final mix is what counts and the editing on it is so logical, wow. Before I dove in, I searched to see what what the majority of mastering engineers use and why, Sequoia is it. Its stellar for mixing , mastering ,scoring, midi and routing hybrid.

Originally Posted by Mo Facta

What about Cubase, Digital Performer, Reaper, or others?

Cubase I haven't worked with but I understand it is a valid DAW program.(not the LE version however) Nuendo is my favorite Steinberg software DAW. I have Digital Performer and Reaper along with Pro Tools. My first jump from analog to digital was with Digital Performer in 1994 and i have been a loyal user since. The only reason I have ProTools is to convert sessions I do in DP to Pro Tools formats because other studios need the session files for their rooms. Other than that, I never use it. Too expensive to maintain and the plugs aren't any better than i can get for less elsewhere for DP. Reaper is a great MIDI DAW and I'm just now diving into it for scoring sketches and MDID notations. Very nice so far. I still feel that when it comes to mixing any project, music or film sound, got to a pro studio. You will be amazed at the differences and besides, mixing is an art in itself like mastering engineers, sound editors, dialog editors, Foley pit crew, etc., etc.. Specialization means you're getting a person that understands their specialty in audio better than anyone else because they focus on the methods, tricks and gear that produce the best sound in their specialty.

I could not agree with Mo Facta more, he said it perfectly. Converters, monitors, and the room you are mixing in are probably the three of the most overlooked and, to me at least, the most important pieces of the mix puzzle. Personally, I love using the tried and true NS-10's because they make me work to make it sound good and won't allow me to be lazy. The KRK's, in my opinion, will sometimes lie to me about what I've got going on in the low end. If the mix isn't balanced, isn't clear, or just sounds like crap the NS-10s let me know in a hurry. The engineer I came up under always used to tell me that the reason we use NS-10's is because if you can make your mix sound good on them, it will sound good anywhere. I would also budget heavily on the converters (big fan of Apogee and RME) and room tuning. Along with the NS-10's as near-fields, we have a set of Augsberger TAD's in the wall with a dual 18" sub setup. That combination is awesome, and gives me a very good sonic picture. At our studio, before every large project I have the room re-tuned by a professional just to make my listening environment as accurate as possible (It's that important).