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Studio Jiimaan 2 April 2024

Ok here is my situation....this summer I will be spending a month or more up north at the cottage.....away from the studio.....but I still want to work on music (especially my own) while up there....including recording & mixing.

I work in a hybrid setup....fortunate to have an analog console to track as well as mix on (initial mix while tracking and then final summing mix for added analog flavour).

Recently I have had the luck to work on a RND 5088 with Shelford 5052 EQs....pure magic....especially with the Silk engaged (I love the Red Silk).  Something about that sound is truly beautiful, at least to my ears.

While our own studio has a different console than a 5088 (though at some point we might change that), we do use the RND rack gear specifically the Master Bus Converter, the Diode Bridge Compressor and Shelford Channels strips...

So not dragging a console up north to a cottage.....wanting to keep it as simple as possible....here are my thoughts as a possible solution to getting a 'console sound'....especially something close to the 5088 sound I have fallen in love with, after working on one for several weeks:

1) Still wanting to take a hybrid approach, I am thinking of taking up the racks I have (on wheels so easy to move around) that have the following item: one with 2 channel strips each of RND Shelford Channel, H2 Helios Channel, EMI Chandler Limited TG Cassette, a 500 box (with 4 Undertone Audio UTEQ 500s, 2 Sunset Tutti 500 Mic Pres, 2 Maag Audio Pre-Q2 500 Mic Pres with Air Band, 1 Cranesong Innsina EQ and 1 Cranesong Syren Mic Pre). Manley Vox Box, Manley Massive Passive Tube EQ and a Bricasti M7 Stereo Reverb Processor; one with SSL Buss + Next Generation Stereo Buss Compressor, Wes Audio NG Buss Compressor, RND Master Buss Converter, RND 5254 Dual Diode Bridge Compressor, 2 Empirical Distressors EL8X-Ss, IGS Audio One Leveling Amplifier Optical Compressor, Heritage Herchild 670 Stereo Tube Compressor and 2 Wes Audio NG 76 FET Compressor with Digital Recall (Matched Stereo Pair); and finally 4 Blac Lion PBR Patchbays, Lynx Aurora 32 ch. converter and 2 Furman P-2400 Voltage Regulators/Power Conditioners.

With a good assortment of mics, mic stands and cables, I should have more than enough channels available for any tracing I do even if a small group. And provide a good analog front end

2) Take along my Mac Pro Studio to run everything....I use Logic Pro mainly....and track through to DAW (using as tape machine). Mix initially ITB with available analog hardware (prefer to plugins)..

3) Then send digital tracks back out through a RND 5060 Centrepiece, possibly a 5059 as well....then bac to DAW for final print.

My thinking is this way I can add analog goodness from beginning through to end....get close to the 5088 sound I like....and even possibly find that this work flow is preferable to one including current analog console (again not a 5088).

Any thoughts? Or am I missing anything? Or worse overthinking?

 

Comments

audiokid Tue, 04/02/2024 - 12:06

I did hybrid for years and used the very best converters and hardware money can buy. I am 100 % convinced once ITB, stay ITB.

That being said: Hybrid is super fun.

Studio Jiimaan Tue, 04/02/2024 - 12:12

I prefer hybrid to ITB completely....but each to their own....and my reason for post was not to argue virtues of hybrid vs, ITB though.....more to get opinions on possible setup.

audiokid Tue, 04/02/2024 - 21:58

I'll add some helpful links for you.

Dangerous Music make some really nice stuff. The Dangerous Monitor ST is excellent for hybrid monitoring. You can switch 3 points ITB, OTB and example: audio coming from a 3rd point like a second DAW (2 DAW system). Hard to explain the importance of an external monitoring device in a paragraph but the Dangerous Monitor ST is definitely worth checking.

What is a 2 DAW system? Boswell and I both used a 2 DAW system (two-box as he calls it).

As to why 2 DAW'S for a hybrid system and why I got into it in a big way, Bos talks about this briefly here: (I started the quest into what resulted in the two-box).

If you are going hybrid it's good to know where your greatest benefits come from and how to achieve it. Many people waste a lot of time and money going hybrid via round trip summing. They get G.A.S and start Recording, mixing and summing OTB. 2 DAWS eliminate round trip issues and opens your eyes and ears to a lot more of what's really going on between ITB and OTB processing and the capture process itself.

Many top engineers that hung out on our forum during our analog years talked about how they left their big consoles behind after they discovered hybrid summing. Those threads are all in these forums.

Here a link to the DM Monitor ST: https://www.dangero…

If you want to dig in a bit more will find a lot of hybrid summing info sifting through the recording.org hybrid audio tags https://recording.o…

Have you checked out the RMS216 FOLCROM Passive Summing Device? It sounds like something you would benefit from, especially in reference to your post and running a sweet sounding hybrid system up in your cabin. Passive summing is very cool. Whatever preamp you use is how you get your sonic colour. https://www.rollmus… . I owned one but never got a chance to use it. The Folcrom is affordable and very effective.

If I was starting up again I would re buy another mastering box like the Dangerous Master . It is awesome. The Dangerous Master combined with the Dangerous ST is the bomb for inserting and switching analog gear in a M/S processing array. I used one in my 2 DAW system and as I learned it became the center point of everything.

Fab Dupont talks about Dangerous processing here:

Boswell Wed, 04/03/2024 - 11:13

Hi Studio Jiimaan,

It sounds as though you could have a lot of fun in your cottage with that setup!

I followed your explanation of how you intended to operate, but got a bit stuck at the point where you said "Mix initially ITB with available analog hardware". What actually does the mix summation? Is it external analogue or is it the DAW?

Do you patch them up for each track so that every external piece of analogue hardware has its own conversion path through the Aurora before and after, and then mix the result ITB?

For mixing, I still run a hybrid system, with separate DAWs for replay to external hardware and capture afterwards. Since upgrading my PC, I can concurrently run on the same PC a simple DAW such as Reaper for sending out the tracks and then a more sophisticated DAW (e.g. Harrison Mixbus32C) for capture and preparation of 2-bus tracks for sending out for mastering.The DAWs can be running at different sampling rates, so mixing from recorded 96KHz tracks to a 44.1KHz stereo mix is straightforward, while avoiding digital sampling-rate conversion. For a lot of the material I work with, Mixbus produces a lovely sound. You should try it!

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