6 replies to this topic

[Atardecer]

Hi all,

Thought I'd bring up that old debate about analog Vs digital summing. Usually such arguments to or for tend to go nowhere without any audio comparisons to hand so I'm including a link to a snippet of a track. One of the mixes was summed in Ableton Live as most of us do, the other was summed in a Neve 8816 Summing Mixer, utilising all 16 channels. All settings on the Neve were initialised so it is not adding or taking away anything other than the supposed "Neve sound". The width control was kept to a regular stereo image.

I have my own opinions about which mix I prefer and why and theres a few things to be said about either summing process. So which mix do you prefer? And why? And which mix do you think is "analog" and which "digital"? Im inerested to get peoples thoughts as to what they think. Btw, dont let your subjective interest or lack thereof of the musical style cloud your judgement!

Best that you download each track and do an A/B comparison in your DAW. Ive provided WAVS as Mp3s kind of defeat the purpose. I will make clear which mix is which when a few votes are posted.

Here's the link.


Thanks,
James

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[Spectrum]

Hi James, awesome opportunity here, and keen in on hearing/seeing the results.

It's currently 12:26am and I'm only now about to start packing for a 8am business trip flight in the morning, so gonna have to come back to this later in the week.

Cheers for putting it together.

[rhythmboy]

Hi James,

nice thread I gave it a go....

I immediately noticed mix B was brighter and bit thinner in the mid-range, which given what I've heard in Neves, makes me think Mix A is the Neve. The snare and bass sound warmer, the top end isn't brittle, and the stereo image seems a bit more glued together.

Whichever, I preferred mix A, and the track aint bad either . Would be great to hear an example with vocals, that'd be quite revealing...

RB

[ehsan]

Fantastic project dude! Thanks for busting these out for us.

There's a marked thinness in the mids in mix B and A has a more developed sound stage. My guess is A is the Neve and B is ITB. Either way, I'm with A as being the more pleasing to the ear.

[Atardecer]

Thanks all

Some interesting thoughts. Yes, analog summing is always something that has interested (be the product of the computer musician age that I am). There are certainly differences, whether thye are better or worse I suppose is subjective. I also have occasional access to a Dangerous Music D-Bus 8 channel and I'd be curious to see what difference that makes to the sound if I get the chance. For now, lets get a few more opinions and I'll post what is what.

James

[em]

Crap, the files are too big for my cheapo connection. So I'll have to rate this a Willis, what else can i do? What about LAME mp3's for a part B? (depending how far u wanna take this!)

[_jimmy_]

analog does sound nicer but digital is not without its perks depending on what application youre using it for. But going to digital simulations of analog things such as say the boss re-20 pedal that replicates the roland re-201 tape echo does a pretty damn good job. The damn thing doesnt need to be maintained as much as the actual thing!