Gain Staging: DAW & ANALOG 

Glad to hear! 👍

lol! Hey George! congrats on the mixer! Hope the Mrs forgives you. If you put an api EQ in the 500 slots, the combo of the 312, the 527 and 550/560 is a devastating recording channel. Enjoy!

​@@hopetownsound I’m saving my pennies for the APIs. It never ends when your a GearsluXX.I also have a couple of Avedis e27s but I don’t know how they will sound. Maybe for the inserts on the summing side in the future but for now I will use the software eqs on my ssl 360 with my Uf1.No plugins purchased yet.I purchased a Studio Technologies 742 mixer for now for my effect returns for my Lexocn 300 and cheap TC M300 through the Program Sum.Still waiting for it The Box 8 to arriive. All this because the one of the fader broke on my Midas Vf24 and there are no replacement parts. Thanks again for your helpful posts Pier. George

@@GeorgeBet-mn3no Avedis stuff is good. 👍

@@hopetownsound Thank You, will try them.

Hey Pier, wanted to ask you how reliable your API Box 2 is. I’m sure you record every day/night probably with now issues. I just got mine Thursday with output problems on the control and PGM outputs.On the control output with the CR knob at 2 o’clock and a sine wave at 0VU, pin 3 is dead and pin 2 is outputting .377 volts..On the PGM bus output, I'm getting .889 Volts on pin 2 and .321 volts on pin three, such a difference for a balanced signal that should equal 1.23Volts.It was the last one from vintage king and it came with a Sweetwater pamphlet inside the crate..Sorry for the off topic, man, but I’m worried about this mixer with all these problems already.(2520 op amps on control and master bus)? Thank You, George

Sorry to take so long replying. i agree that gain staging is more important with UAD - i suspect this is because they do a more thorough job of simulating analog gear at the component level, and non-linear responses of real gear (transformers, tubes, etc). The weirdest UAD gainstage i know of is their fairchild. You really have to use the headroom setting and use the input metering to get it performing correctly.

awesome! 🙏

Thx! yes, if you're careful logic is great!

ty! 🙏👍

Ty! 👍

you can feel free to reach out through email or DMs. studio@hopetownsound.com

😂

Oh thats cool! I knew they used the photo in an ad. yes, the bento pros have been great. they actually supply 500ma per slot which is higher than most. When I first replaced a standard bento with the analog pro I felt like I could hear an increase in headroom. They've been reliable, sound great, great feature like cascading to the adjacent slot (make a channel strip). And like I mentioned in the video, having the VU meter is very addictive. i think they're the best choice by far in a 500 series rack.

Im always thinking about it :). At the moment i can't justify the expense. Also with adding the X-Desk i have 32 channels, with 16 channel EQs so... i am definitely doing full mixing. IDK, if i were going to upgrade, it would be tough to beat the Neve 8424. 24 channels with full console recall for under $30k. Im worried though that i would miss the API sound. Right now, with the EQs i have im getting a really sweet, big sound. As i'm working on it I'm really not sure i need anything more. We'll see. congrats on the 2448! im sure it is amazing!

i actually haven't done it in over a year but i think it was -16

i've been using Nuendo since version 2 in 2002. its been incredibly stable. Nuendo in particular is nice for a hybrid set up because it has separate input/ output bus channels. - what I like most is the way nuendo clearly labels channels. Everything isn't just a "bus". You specifically have FX channels, group, channels, input channels, output channels. And so for instance, when my mix comes back to the computer from my analog Console, I can add additional plug-ins to the input channel, then just capture it on a normal audio channel. I don't have to create 2 normal channels, and then a bus send from one to the other. It's a small point, but it's nice. There is a German efficiency to that design that i appreciate. I have Nuendo, Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton (and Wavelab). they all have their pluses and minuses, and they can all get the job done. The best DAW is the one you know best. i'm a commercial recording studio, so I work with Musician all the time who are doing their own work mostly on logic because it's the cheapest option. it's not about who's a newbie or who isn't, it's about musicians who are more interested in their music than learning software, and frankly, I see a lot of engineers who aren't new who are still screwing up gain staging. Logic's GUI is a little bit worse than the others for that, but if you're careful, it's not a big deal. The Steinberg design is the most straightforwardly similar to an analog workflow, which was what attracted me to it in the first place. yes, the API has a stereo summing input on the mix buss. i'm using the X-Desk as a drum submixer. Its working very nicely. The drums arrive at the API already having hit parallel compression, and drum reverb. between the two mixers, I have 32 analog channels that all have 4 auxes, inserts, pan, mute, faders. there are no sub layers - its all in front of me. The matrix is nice, I considered it quite a bit. Also the XL desk. In the end, I decided I wanted the API sound. SSL does an excellent job with adding features though. Even the X desk has some very nice things like input trim and alt channels

@@hopetownsound I must admit it was Cubase 4 that finally broke me being a fan. I go back to before Logic to Emagic and before that tape, but I agree with you on Nuendo. It was reliable then. Also a fan of Doug Fearn. I have the two channel mic pre VT2 and VT4EQ. . We have some similar gear. Cjeers. Enjoying your videos

So the API console has built in stereo 527 compressors, that's what the signal hits first. Then the Master Channel has Analog inserts. And that's where I am patched to the D.W. Fearn limiter and the Chandler EQ. And the insert return is just before the master fader which I can use to control the recording level when capturing the mix back to the computer. Also, that master fader controls how hard I hit the output transformers in the mixer. They don't have much sonic affect at low levels but once you get louder, even a couple of dB up or down, can make a big sonic difference because of the transformers.

@@hopetownsound Thanks for sharing that...I had a Neumann fader for that purpose I found the biggest bonus of tranformers was how waffly bass was nailed down and definite in the mix. I am a fan of transformers. Cheers for you excellent posts on here. Cliff

great! I find it really is a sweet spot. Hitting a transformer too hard will apply a Compression very similar to not using a side chain high pass filter. I find it helpful to mix with it lower than I ultimately will use it, and then as a last stage find the exact perfect spot which will be different for every mix.

the X-Desk's 8 channels inserts are normalled in the bay to 8 API EQs. (2) 560, (2) 550A, (2) 550B and (2) 560. In the triple bay rack there are a pair of Audioscape pultec clones, a pair of hazelrigg VLC-1 (also passive tube EQ), and a Chandler Curve Bender.

the 8 faders on the left? there aren't detents on any of the faders. They are very smooth.

@@hopetownsound left is what I meant! Just curious! Really wanting to get one of these soon

its a great board!

I am very pro Mac (my first was an 8100 tower in 1995), and I happen to like logic for composition (also since 1995). If you use any of the track presets, it automatically slaps a bunch of plug-ins on the track. Yes you can start with no preset and that's fine, but as I mentioned in the video I've had to fix more than a few logic projects for this very reason. it's certainly possible to use logic correctly, but I'm saying that of all the DAWs I see this problem the most in logic. it's typical Apple software design, making things harder when they try to make it easier, or more complicated when they try to make it simpler. Track presets are supposed to make things easier, but instead they create a gain staging problem. it's still the software that I would recommend to any musician starting out, but I would caution them to be careful about the presets.

@@hopetownsound but who's using track presets? the people using track presets probably have no concept of gain staging anyway. i would say that telling people to not use a platform full-stop, is more detrimental than saying, "if you use logic, then to avoid creep don't use track presets and just set up your tracks manually like a professional does and you'll avoid all of these problems." honestly, i'm not sure why this got me all bent out of shape, i love logic but i have been migrating to Luna. lol. love the API

@@timsknuckleball2029 I 'm sorry Tim I really don't remember telling anyone not to use Logic. I've always said it's the best choice for composition. If I did say that in the video it was definitely a mistake. I'd be very interested why you're migrating to LUNA. I have both Logic and LUNA and but neither one is my go to DAW so it's good to get your perspective.