Thank you for the video, I suggest to replicate this challenge not comparing the hardware vs the same plugin but trying to achieve the same sound of that hardware with plugins. Because the problem is not if that plugin sounds like that hardware but if I could work only with plugins achieving the same result.
Feeling and experience win forever, I think Luca without hardware sounds better than most of us with hardware...but that's another topic. Thank's Luca another great video.
Like Dave Chappelle said, "I did commercials for Coke and Pepsi." "If you want to know the truth?" "Can't even taste the difference." Use your ears. I have herd mixes done all in the box and came out as good if not better than out of the box mixes. The listen does not care nor can tell the difference. All you "Pro Mixers" seem to really be able to tell the difference, but I promise you the listener doesn't care about the mix only if the song resonates with them. How many crappy mixed songs have gone on to be Iconic to the artist fans? Mix it to your standard whether it is in or out the box or both.
The thing nobody talks about is how you can compress much greater and more musically with hardware. I only have 4 pieces of hardware, have done extensive mixes with all plugins and they are fine, but if I was mixing the movie Avatar or something like that you better believe I would have some nice hardware. Reality is there is a ton of hardware now and a ton of plug-ins - do whatever works for you and get making music. Only piece of advice - I would give to save others a journey - is if you don’t have a couple pieces of hardware - really high end hardware, not cheap stuff- you will always be thinking about what it would be like - so it’s best to have at least a few high-end hardware pieces to experiment with - if you’re in this for the long run.
Does not matter. Use your ears. A combination of plugins when used correctly can do the job to get what you want, even sounding better than hardware. One of the advantage of plugins is "automation".
The difference dont justify the significant cost difference to pay for Real hardware, that's the truth, you would probably pay around 2k for that hardware Compressor vs a £50 software plugin and a decent computer for the same cost.
@@HOLLASOUNDS what about if cost isn't the problem, you want the best, go for it and I think he's just doing the comparison for people who want to know if you can get the same results with hardware or plugins.
Oh it definitely matters. Otherwise people wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars to acquire the hardware and artists would spend thousands to hire the engineers that use hardware over plugins. What is “correctly”?! There’s a depth and overall essence that hardware touches that plugins don’t. Then you stack those qualities with different gear on one source x 20 tracks, then the analog mix buss and analog mastering, it’s absolutely very different. You can get great results with plugins, but not the same results as hardware.
I love hardware.... most of the time I prefer my hardware over plugins... but plugins are just as good you don’t need hardware but i just love the vibe of hardware for mixing
Good stuff. I would hope the hardware would give a top pro some benefit due to the investment. My lounge is already 50% studio without a rack of hardware effects or a wall-sized modular synth. 😄
Interesting comparison by Luca, showing a difference between analog and plugins, but software is improving along with computer power so the gap will likely be reduced bit by bit in the future between hardware and software.
Short Answer: Yes Long Answer: You can get the same sound but to get there digitally you have to just use it differently, It's not as easy but stacking different compressors to get the same result as a single analog unit works sometimes, sometimes you have to compress a lot less, sometimes you have to add different effects or automations to get a certain result you just have to listen with your ears. No matter what setup you have you can get the same result as long as you follow your ears, it will just be more difficult and take a lot longer.
Well you can definitely hear the difference if you compare plugins by manufacturers that have never had a good history of mimicking analog ( like waves) slate/softube/uad actually have proper modelling in place (sometimes) of the full circuit I would suggest those next time. Of course you'll never get the same unit they modelled which will always sound different but at least the behaviour is there.
That still will never be able to emulate things like physical corrosion. Two compressors of the same model will sound different as they age and some engineers can hear the difference (not me ofc but some engineering friends of mine can)
@@ELISHACAEZ yes correct no two units are the same that's why we listen for behavioural and psychoacoustic traits. I was just pointing out though that the test is moot if you use bad examples. Waves have never been an analog modelling company, they just jumped on the band wagon recently. Others have much better expertise.
Thanks for the great video mr. Luca. I would love for you to make a video using the bettermaker mid side option as well as the combo where you hit the dangerous converter :)
At 25:15 I have to admit that it’s day and night but the Bettermaker is in “clippiter” mode so it introduces harmonics when the ProL doesn’t… I would love to compare the Clippiter mode with a mix of software clipping and limiting 🤔. I’m really hesitating between a Silver Bullet and this Bettermaker machine for clipping transients OTB. What do you think?
To make sense, the comparison should meet the following criteria: • comparing the analog unit and its actual plugin counterparts. • in case the first criteria can't be met, we should analyze how both things work and find the Y plugin settings that give the closest result to X hardware setting, but that would already fall in the "unfair comparison" area. However: • in most of the cases, you'll hear some sort of difference because of the ever-decaying nature of the hardware • in case the difference is negligible, you might still fall in the bias of feeling the difference because you set the comparison yourself In the end, the final product isn't something you can really tell "this has been mastered with this or that", and a single behavior can still be mimicked with a combination of other tools if necessary (if you know what you're doing). Also, it's undeniable that the capabilities of plugins are outpacing hardware performance thanks to the multiple angles of tweaking that the digital realm offers.
“Plugins are outpacing hardware performance” until you realize that hardware companies have started including plugins to control dedicated hardware. Like access ti synths or source audio pedals.
@@_B.C_ what does that mean though? Plugins can make hardware more accessible, and that doesn't exclude the fact that plugins are also outpacing hardware units.
thank you master; please, it would be very useful if you could share a copy of the audios to be able to listen to them well without the limitations of youtube!!!
Reid Stefan was using his titan interface as a limiter as an insert in ableton on my mix lab. Is it not the same as using a summing mixer? I do notice slightly more width and dynamics on the analog limiter as opposed to standard clip.
Reid directly clipping your stereo master thru converters is a slightly different process than Luca consolidating multiple tracks thru a summing mixer before going back into a computer thru converters
I like your videos, but why do you use electronic music to demonstrate using analog hardware vs digital plugins? I would suggest making the comparison with more acoustic music that was recorded with real instruments and microphones. That would be a truer test.
I think the test song is of such bad quality arrangement wise and sound choice wise that we can't really hear the analog greatness. I was excited but got disappointed. I would use a test track without deep long base notes that don't let the comp do what it does best.
Yeah agreed. I kinda cringe whenever someone tests their new plugins or gear and all they have is an electro drumloop. Like, man, give us proper, complex, humanized grooves to feel the vibe.
If the question is: are there differences? The answer is yes obviously, because they are different approach and every emulation cannot take in account of all variables in a real system. But if the question is: which is the best? the answer cannot be different than: it depends! Why? because it depends on the result you like. Music is not the result of an equation, so there is not an unique solution or result, music is art. When daw did not exists, the only way to do such things was to do it in analog hardware, so our ears have become accustomed to this kind of sound. In the digital age, sounds seems very clean and pure, with a noise floor really low...but raw and cold. What is missing? yes, it is missing everything that is tnot in the music itself, what in the age of analog devices, electronic engineers attempted to remove in every way: distorsions, noises, non linearities, today called "color". Digital age show us the beauty of such imperfections, So, the right imperfections give us good results, but nontheless digital plugins can do! results will be different but I believe it is only a point of view which is better or not. With digital, there is a great versatility and an not obvious added "plus": it is quite simple to have a very clean raw track and from that, you can make it as dirty as you like with various plugin but if you want every plugin can preserve quite the initial quality, even if the chain is very long...in the old age the starting track was dirty already from the beginning and then, every hardware add its "dirty" hand on it at every step with no way to avoid it! Obviously, if you compare the same track treated in hardware and in software, you can decide which one you like more. Probably your choice is the analog one, but, if between two tracks you don't know which one is done in hardware, I'm not so sure that your choice will be the hardware elaborated track necessarily 😉😁
It would have been easier to follow if you ciipped and muted 4 bar sections of h/w vs s/w with mutes so that you could play them through longer where they would automatically alternate. Generally the better way to does these, where I've done a few myself over the years. As for analog vs software, well its all about the math. for -4 GR, no big deal, but when I used a Cranesong Trakker doing -20db of GR and tried to do that with ANY s/w solution I had, the differences were way huge ans plugin artifacts popped out like crazy...This was 12 yrs ago and even today with far higher processing power, the math still isn't there. Al said, Im 100% ITB at this time and.
Nowadays, there's no need for hardware. If you know what you're doing, you can replicate whatever you want with plugins. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't get hardware! The more you grow, you may endup with a great studio and economic surpluss, and although plugins sound as good still, the hardware will create that "studio feel"... which is always a plus. It is like having a DAW controller! There's no need for that either today, but of course, a studio with one, looks nicer than one without it. In the end the "listener" will not notice anything. Fact... soon, we won't even notice, if the singer is a real person or AI doing its magic!
Is it just me, or does the mix sound distorted AF? I'm listening on my Audio-Technica ATH-M50X and this mix sounds not very enjoyable. Yea yea yea, that's probably blasphemy to say about a Pretolesi mix.
In my opinion the limiter are very close, but the EQ and compression are way more different. Those analog one sounds more open and the low end are significantly rounded. Sometimes I send my mix to the mastering house although they got analog gears they still mastering. Luckily I can listen the different and tell them don’t be lazy, after that they sent me the master with hardware mastering because good sound is sound. Good sound can’t be lie in any software plugins promotion right😃?
To be honest, the people who buy the records are not going be able tell if you used hardware or a plugin as long as it sounds good to the average person not a sound engineer.
Nowadays software still can’t totally replace most of the legendary hardware such as SSL comp on the desk. I can said plug-ins got there own character but not the clone of the original unit. We can still use plugins to make good music. However if you need a superior sounds some hardware is a must.
When it comes to Analog vs Digital or software it's never going to be possible to match the sound because Analog is not set in stone, it can fluctuate depending on age of gear or components, heat, and power fluctuations. Even if I had the exact same hardware Analog Compressor on the exact same settings its probably going to look different but if We had the same exact software it's going to be exactly the same.
this is why most people don’t bother to buy the bulky analog gear compared to easy software that goes everywhere with you. but analogue can have a certain type of character that’s hard to replicate with software.
If Plugins were that good, you wouldn't have a studio full of hardware. Harsh yet true....I have hardware, and am at least honest as to why I have it....
you need to high pass your mic...got my reference headphones on and ready to go only to wonder what the hell that low rumble was when you were talking....
Too much talking. Just A/B the music. I have tons of plug ins and some selective hardware pieces. The reality is, some plug ins sound just as good as the hw but when it comes time to sell, top end HW will bring a profit. Plugs are wasted $$.
The answer is (NO) you can't hear the difference because of (PRICE). Analog equipment is expensive; having 5 fav analog units from world-class compressors to world-class eq & top-notch converters can set you back at a minimum $15K. professionals will not confess this; having the plugins can get you in the door of getting paid overnight if you study and dudilengence in learning how these plugins work; plugins are excellent now from UAD/Waves etc. are really good, for example, having (Auto Tune Plugin) will give you the same results or better than having auto-tuned outboard gear (some audio heads will argue this) SO What, if you can afford outboard gear get it as it is necessary in a lot of audio cases, but plugins are outboard gear as +or-!
