If you talk about a mixing board : NO
Nowaday every DAW softwares allow mixing with a mouse..
Some like me use a controler to still have the physical feel, but it's optionnal.

A drum kit can be recorded with 2 or 3 mics.. but most modern production will have 1 mic per drum part + 2 overhead and possibly a room mic.
So a small kit will be :
Bassdrum
Snare
Hihat
Tom 1
Floor
OV Left
OV right
Room

this gives you the 8 inputs of the 18I20

Technically you've got a couple of mixers built into your system. There's one in the interface input monitoring feature that lets you mix playback with inputs, and the DAW is a mixer. Between them they perform all the functions of a physical mixer. I happen to prefer having a big analog mixer to use as my input monitor controller, but it's not a required tool.

I still have my soundcraft desk which nowadays just brings back all the old synths, keys and modules into the monitors. None of the faders, bar the master ever get moved. I could easily do without it and with a patchbay connect anything I needed into the DAW. It's just too much hassle to remove it. I've even got an X32R in the rack in the studio, but again, this isn't really that useful when the most I seem to need are three or four mics and maybe a guitar?

Thank you for your thoughts. I'm planning to set up a home recording studio for our band soon.

Well since 2019, I've dumped the Soundcraft, and the X32 isn't even in the rack anymore.

Went mixerless in 2008. Miss it with every mix I have done since. But no you don't need it.

Link555, post: 467797, member: 31690 wrote:
Went mixerless in 2008. Miss it with every mix I have done since. But no you don't need it.

I did it in 2011, I had a soundcraft 32ch ;)
I focused on getting highend preamps instead.. Big difference.. !
To compensate I bought a controler.. at least I have a few faders to do automation..

pcrecord, post: 467811, member: 46460 wrote:
I did it in 2011, I had a soundcraft 32ch ;)
I focused on getting highend preamps instead.. Big difference.. !
To compensate I bought a controler.. at least I have a few faders to do automation..

Sorry for the derail but..... when I first moved into the box I bought a Mackie MCU with 2 extenders, so I had 24 faders. That coupled with Nuendo 3 really sucked as a mixer replacement, the fader response time was hard to deal with. So I opted to sell it and use the mouse only. I imagine controllers and the DAW control has gotten much better since 2008.

Link555, post: 467813, member: 31690 wrote:
I imagine controllers and the DAW control has gotten much better since 2008.

I can't say it's all perfect but the QCon Pro X I have works ok.. where it fails is when you move too many faders at once.. (a midi limitation I think)
But other than that.. it's nice.

I am doing more and more mixing totally ITB. I love mixing on my console however it only use it on about half of my mixes. Instead I am very hybrid. If I am mixing ITB and I end up struggling with something I'll send that source out to my console and patch in whatever I need. I'll dump it back to my DAW and proceed. Really good front end is all that is absolutely necessary, not a full studio console.

The Bare Minimum for a Studio is this!  

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Of course I'm kidding but in a good way.....Pink Floyd's EMI in case anyone asks

Thats awesome!

what i find interesting is that no one has said they dumped an API / Neve/ MCI or any other real large format console to mix in the box. does it happen? yes, but not that often.

but what i have heard from some is that they dumped small format table top mixers for itb and were disappointed in the results.

there's consoles and then there's mixers. there is a difference. below, the first image is a mixer. it's not a console. the second image is a console.

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Nice old MCI. And for what it's worth , those Cal Perkins EQ Mackies didn't sound bad at all.

"Console" just means several devices consolidated into one chassis. So, mic preamps, distribution, patch panels, eq, level controls, summing buses, metering etc. in one chassis is a mixing console.

My preferred workflow is to have a good mixer as the front end for the preamps and monitor control plus some patching capacity for outboard used during tracking, then mix ITB.

Nice comments :sneaky: What do you guys think about the music producers and can a young band become popular without the help of a producer? In fact, we have a limited budget, but we would like our music to bring us some income otherwise we will soon be living on the street and playing under the bridge, lol. Well, we've heard a lot of good things about Raz Klinghoffer who is a record producer, songwriter, mix & audio engineer (here razklinghoffer.com you can read more about him) and would like to get to him in LA. Do you think this is a good idea?

Gracekb, post: 468026, member: 52514 wrote:
Nice comments :sneaky: What do you guys think about the music producers and can a young band become popular without the help of a producer? In fact, we have a limited budget, but we would like our music to bring us some income otherwise we will soon be living on the street and playing under the bridge, lol. Well, we've heard a lot of good things about Raz Klinghoffer who is a record producer, songwriter, mix & audio engineer (here razklinghoffer.com you can read more about him) and would like to get to him in LA. Do you think this is a good idea?

Anytime you hire a producer you are putting your musical creations into the hands of another set of ears/skill set/emotions....A lot of times this is necessary to keep a project on track and to get it finished. MOST times the artist is too close to the music to make decisions about the minute details which sometimes can make or break a song or a project.

Not all producers work the same way. And it's always a crapshoot to hire someone you don't know.

These days the Producer is more likely to accept your business if you have something that interests him/her and something that may have a value in the marketplace after the completion.

A bands popularity is an extension of their contact and interplay with their audience. This is where a good management company does what they do best.

We've moved from physical gigs making money, through to gigs as a loss leader for sales , now back to gigs are where the money is.

My first royalty cheque was in the early 80s due to the BBC local radio here featuring live band sets. I've tried everything and have concluded over 40 years that this business is down to sheer, utter, luck. Nothing remotely to do with talent. Producers now are very different from producers in the past. Being friends with one opens doors. Being cheeky helps. I did an instrumental cover of a 60s band we were due to work with in a few weeks time - when we worked with them before the start of their stage show was a bit of a mess - so I recorded 'walking on music' - one of their hits but slower, and no vocals. I gave the 'name' the CD before the show and said it would make the show start nicer. Despite being a miserable devil, he took the CD and used it - not all the time, but when it was right. I didn't expect payment and of course didn't get any - but two years later, a few royalties started to appear from venues that reported music in detail.

Will a producer even listen to your music? Doubtful. My tribute band tour all over the UK but Europe is now out for us - all the pre-civid overseas bookings were also pre-Brexit, so Germany, Portugal and France are now lost to us. One of our rules was that we never seek jobs in our own area. We don't do any marketing locally - only nationally. Local = cheap. We're around the two grand cost typically for a buyout - this covers van, two cars, hotel rooms and food and we don't get rich. Locally, we'd be lucky to cover our costs, and while close to home is great, it cuts your earning capacity.

I expect you're distributing music via streaming and download services? That never gets you rich at the tiny sums per stream. Unless you get very lucky and it gets picked up and goes viral. even then from bitter personal experience, it does't mean serious money.

I work for myself, have no "proper job" so I spend a lot of time on wasted effort and I'm keeping my head above water.

Management and producers work on percentages - even 10% of nothing is nothing. For them to work hard on you means you have to be totally controlled and special. Most of us resent that control part, and frankly - we're no that special. I'm beginning to think you need to be from a minority, have a condition or two and be fat or thin. If you have had a bad background and gone good, even better. Being in the majority category places you in a long line at a producers door.