Hybrid Mixing Setup: An In-Depth look - PART 1 

Thank you this! I was almost giving up going hybrid because of mix revisions

I'm going to enjoy every second of this

The one i was patiently waiting. Great. Thanks. Looking forward to the next episodes.

Dude...this is by far and I mean by FAR the best series breakdown I've ever seen of a hybrid setup. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make these videos. Sub'd

OMG! Totally worth the wait! Thank you. This is exciting! I know you poured hours into this. Looking forward to all of the follow up you mentioned.

I'm an ITB guy myself. I do have a hardware compressor or two and some nice pre-amp, mics etc. Great monitors and all that. But this is on a whole nother level. Beautiful desk setup and your wire management is pristine.

I’m thinking about/planning making this jump to hybrid mixing through a console and this was super helpful.

always love the way this set up is looking ))

Very interesting! And nice to see your passion.

Totally awesome ❤

Hi, just a tip to help you with your workflow (maybe you know it already): From 4:50 to 5:05 I saw that you clicked on each individual track to send them to the Bus but a faster way of doing it is by holding down the CNTRL key and dragging across to all the channels you want to select and then, while still holding down the CNTRL key, select the appropriate Bus from the drop-down menu. Again, you might know this already, since you 've used Sonar for so many years, just wanted to point out this shortcut in case you didn't know it so I can save you some time. Great video, keep up the good content, you gained a new subscriber. Cheers Btw sorry if I made any mistakes when it comes to my English, I am from Greece so it's not my native language :)

Very cool❤

Great video and really glad you explained the workflow with block diagrams, as this is something I would also lke to personally try, beit in a more basic form.

Your set up is very similar to mine I have the x desk hooked up to a patch bay plus all my gear hooked up to two flock patch bays So I have all the up of the audio interface freed up as well as all the functionality of the x desk Nice video

Just found your channel. Looking forward to the coming videos :-) Thanks for sharing..

Can’t wait to see

I just set up the x-desk. One large issue with the method of printing the stems back into pro tools off the 1st 8 direct outs (which is a great idea i got from this video btw) is the commitment of individual tracks. Yes you can tweak the stems afterwards but thats just 8 stems with a lot of commitment. If someone wants one specific overdub (say a synth dub) up or down or changed you would have to go back and re print it, though since the latency would be the same to go back out of the DAW into the X-Desk again later, you could just run whichever tracks the client is asking tweaks later and print back in. Basically what i realized is the idea is to get everything to the analog world so you don't have some tracks sitting in the daw that aren't in sync with the new ones, but the X Desk can only send 8 plus the master and returns at once. But one thing thats cool about this is you could essentially print a parallel 2 mix processing for every group of 8 channels plus return fx. So perfect for drums for example. So yeah the only annoying thing is you might want to just send everything to the xdesk 8 channels at a time right off the bat at the early stage of the mix so thats everything is in sync incase someone asks for the hi hat up. Or just re run it if they ask. But I'm debating on maybe working with it like one instrument at a time. Do a drum pass with all the outboard, print back in, do all the guitars, print back in, all vocals etc that way you can also use the outboard over and over and do parallel with the 2bus. But if your mixing stuff on the xdesk while other tracks are in pro tools you would maybe want or need to monitor whats getting sent to pro tools to hear how its working with the other tracks so i was thinking either end DAW output to one of the returns and monitor from there or the xdesk seems to be able to monitor the xdesk as well a the ext in (which is my daw) a the same time. Just not sue if that fixes the latency. Or you wait until your ITB mix is almost there, and then you commit your final basic stems to the outboard and just sweeten and fine tune your stems almost like pre mastering, but again that would be a problem for revisions potentially. Still trying to figure out whats the better potentially workflow for me with this, start with it in the early stage or wait until the end just to strap a few extra bits on my drums/bass/vocals/guitars etc

Thank You.

Late to the party but, I just started watching your videos - by far the most coherently thought out and presented I've seen on these topics. Thanks for the effort! Could you say something about any to keep in mind, especially with hybrid mixing? Or point to an existing video if you've already addressed it.

OK! So you got rid of the big Console! That’s what really opened my eyes not seeing the Console, nice Setup!

Thx!! that's very cool

hi, very nice, understand Your setup now

great video and even if the set up is complex your explanation couldn't be more clear! And you found a way to get the SSL sound without breaking the bank, bravo! I am also considering the SSL X desk and your set up is quite inspiring, however, not owning as much outboard gear as you have, my question is: could you use in the box effects (ie plugins) through the Sends of the SSL (via AD converter of course)? thanks in advance!

I get taking desk or insert out of desk to interface and daw, but how do I wire or do a switchover to outputs from daw to desk and out to daw again or do I need a input bus to switch inputs on desk between interface and lines for instruments? I’m so confused lol

You can actually record 9-16 by pressing the post button and engaing the ATL at the top of the SSL X desk. This will send tracks 9-16 to the faders and and then out thru your busses to record back in. Now you would have to mute your tracks 1-8 in the DAW but it keeps from during serveral passing and you only have to do one for 9-16.

Thanks for a great video. Just wondering if you mix song after a song. i.e you wouldn't go for a new song until you complete the one you are working on because of the analog recalability is it ? Also I am wondering what is the hardware you are using for metering please. Thanks for a reply encouraging video. Cheers.

Great video!! Curious - when you print back in to do potential recalls I suppose you are now summing digital vs. Analog with the x-desk. Do you notice a difference between the first analog summed mix vs. a recall mix? Thanks!

How do you like that IGS Tilt EQ? I have the IGS Tubecore and its a great box.

Just wondering, after you print the stems back in for revisions, does that mean the revisions don’t get the analog summing since you do the revisions in the box? Love the vids man!

Hi is the mix out db25 or XLR?

Hi Weezna, I guess the SSL mixer is acting as an analog summing mixer. Are you still using Sonar or moved to Cakewalk by Bandlab? P.S. Like you, I love analog, which allows me to "print" my own audio signature. Unlike digital plugins, no two analog gear are the same.

Great studio and gear. in Part 6, I understand that customers may ask for something like vocals to be 1 db louder, or the bass to be a bit quieter and such. You mentioned that you dislike this part because of what's involved and what you have to disengage from the mix. My question is. Why not just use the "MIX Recall" build into Sonar. Record the entire take, send it to the customer and make the changes requested. Save the changes as SongName_Change 1. When another request is made again, use MIX Recall to bring up the last change and make the changes requested by the customer again and save as, SongName_Change 2. MIX Recall is a great feature in Sonar, I use it all of the time to make change, and they all are saved under the same session. IF I don't have to change anything on my Master Bus like hardware or a plugin-in, then level changes are a breeze.

Wow thanks for this, someone is lending me an Xdesk to try but i'll need another patch bay, extra snakes to really be able to try it out properly. Would the external Input be your DAW? Is that the best way to hear your DAW incase you weren't summing anything, or when your printing back in and want to hear your mix with a limiter or room correction? I like your idea of printing stems back in for when your still need to make little adjustments after, even if it does mean you have to re print through your mixbus gear separately as a hardware insert, though you could just print the 2 mix back onto the xdesk using the inserts? I essentially want to use the XDesk as a hub for my analog EQ's and bus comp without having to worry about latency issues in Pro Tools as well as the subtle difference analog summing makes

WOW NICE SETUP. Sound deadening the rooms; did you happen to treat your room corner to corner, because I've been considering it, to use the baffles to treat my walls in the apartment, I now reside in. Room Correction software; 1 mic or 2? Just curious about asking...

Nice setup! Curious what analog outboard gear you're using? Can't help but question if you didn't limit yourself by taking out the A&H GL desk? I mean, the routing options on that desk were close to limitless ;-) The SSL X desk seems like a very nice one, but limited in channels.

Actually your setup seems fairly simple and straightforward. I've seen some setups that makes me say, huh?

Very nice video. I have a question. I thiught the SSL Desk was 8 cahnnel, but as fas as I can see you are using it as a 16 cahnnel. Isne't it? How do you do that? Thank you so much.

Great setup and great explanation. Quick question - I assume there's no automation on the console, so that will all happen ITB prior to the analog chain. Is that correct? If so, do you find that this will greatly affect any any analog compression you might do?

W

Now here’s a guy who spends more time and energy on his toys than he actually does on his music! 😂

Why du you sell your Big Mixer?

What daw is that ?

😉😲

Man that's complicated..not logically speaking as I am following all of it but from a routing and conversion perspective. I wonder at what point do you lose the benefit of analog coloring when you have converted it in/out to digital what, 3 times? Would you not be better off running straight to hardware from daw, getting the effect you want and then at the end, summing through the SSL and printing the stereo output as the final mix in your daw? No question summing even through a basic analog mixer creates a nicer sonic spread. You'd never really notice if you don't compare the tracks but once you A/B them, there is no question which sounds best.

God damn, son. What a hot mess. So you're doing most of the processing in the DAW then outputting to hardware to mix stems (and apparently to watch the flashing lights), then somehow time-aligning back so you can room correct? Save yourself a headache and mix it all in the DAW.

TLDR: Step One: Spend at least half your budget on LED lighting. Because thumbnails. Step Two: Buy all kinds of over-priced unneccesary motorized faders. Because thumbnails. Step Three: There is no step three.