Why I'm quitting Logic Pro and switching to a €50k SSL Origin analog console

[@pedalscapes]

Great transmission of information (rather than a rant) thank you. Your explanation of sound vibrations etc was simple and elegant! Been mixing ITB for at least a couple of decades now and recently patched in an old focusrite penta to run a mix through as a bus comp and the difference was astonishing and for the better - Now, slowly transitioning from ITB to OOTB! Cheers 😎

[@doehetzelfproducer]

Thanks so much! It's great right, every device has it's own vibration. Although I've come to realize lately that software code on silicon is nature too and has it's own vibe as well. Interesting stuff. Good luck on the transition!

[@pedalscapes]

@@doehetzelfproducer Fascinating indeed!

[@DavidDavis-FA-photog]

Wow! This is the best explanation of analog vs digital that I've ever heard. Yes! it's a physical difference. Although analog simulated plugins have created a new playground in the DAW there has to be something said about using something physically to manipulate sound waves that we interpret physically.

[@doehetzelfproducer]

Exactly!!

[@makximumlive]

Ok... SSL desk, so cool! But what DAW are going to use? Pro Tools? Cubase? Or Studio One? All three give prinstine sound but, if you want to work fast, i can tell you from experience that Cubase and Studio One are the fastest when it comes to mixing.

[@doehetzelfproducer]

I like LUNA and Logic Pro at the moment.

[@OGSiX33]

I have trouble with the amount of confirmation bias and pseudo-science, with a little new age mumbo-jumbo sprinkled in for good measure. I've spent years and years mixing and recording on SSL's, Neve's and all kinds of other "proper" consoles, and you're off the mark a few times. There was a short period of time in which digital DAW's (and/or their interfaces) couldn't hang with analog, mainly because of some misunderstandings of AD and/or DA conversion, dithering, etc. (looking at you, Digidesign) That period has been over for a few years. A computer is, in this day and age, quite simply more capable of adding up 1's and 0's and processing them in any way you'd like. These days, especially after 32-bit float, there is no reason to not go ITB from the standpoint of audio quality. There is a reason big orchestral mixes are 100% in the box. There is a reason why a huge chunk of new pop, hip hop, jazz and EDM records are mixed ITB. Does analog gear impart awesome character? Sure! I love outboard gear, who doesn't? Do some people enjoy the workflow of a large format console? No doubt. But that character, weither it's extra harmonic content, saturation/distortion or other forms of coloration, is easily achieved in any good DAW with good plugins. I have yet to witness a blind, level matched test of summing, DAW and hi quality consoles that didn't end in a - "well they sound different, but I can't tell which is which, and all sound great". Are plugins 1:1 clones of analog gear? Of course not. Just like a U87 from the 60's won't sound like a modern one. Is the new one bad? Nope. Just different. I don't care if a LA-2A plugin sounds exactly like an analog unit. Those can differ in sound from unit to unit as well, after all. I care about if it does what I need it to do. If it doesn't, there are other tools. In my experience, I can do literally everything I could do on a SSL 9K in the box, but not the other way around - ITB I can add tube-like saturation on every channel if I wanted to make it sound less clean. SSL 4K? Love the vibe. But I hated putting more than 30 tracks through it, as it'll start to saturate the mixbus, weither you like it or not. Workflow wise, you couldn't pay me to work on one. Ultimation was amazing for the time, but there's nothing like a beast of a computer with the latest tools to shape sound in any way you'd ever need. As for the "different vibrations" and "different energy" of analog gear - that's 100% fact-free nonsense. It sounds like an argument from incredulity. You're right though, there is a different between sound and feeling. Sound can be measured. And reproduced. Which, as it stands, a DAW does better.

[@doehetzelfproducer]

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my video! Yes, a DAW is incredible but there’s a considerate difference between analog hardware and a digital DAW - if only for the fact that you can fysically touch buttons and forces you to make choices you wouldn’t have to make in a DAW.I understand if it’s not for you anymore. I have to correct you though: every particle/matter/energy (however you want to call it) has a measurable frequency/vibration. This is quantum physics. As much as I enjoy my ‘pseudo-science’ though ;-) Wishing you a great day again! Ben

[@raal007]

I too have spent years on analog consoles in proper studios, and i too recently ordered an Origin. Why? Long story short, we can afford it and when all is said and done, we'll be having a lot more fun - and the look of a nice analog console sitting in the middle of the room sure doesn't hurt. In the old days those things were necessities. Now they're relegated to being luxuries come mix time, though even now, for tracking nothing beats real Neve/API/Trident/Telefunken/Pultec etc. going through real compressors. You can possibly get close, but *nothing* beats it. And i also kind of like Ben's quantum argument. :) Can't prove it empirically but who's to say it's not true? End of rant, but i do agree with you in that ITB has come of age - no contest there. Cheers.

[@doehetzelfproducer]

@@raal007 loving your comment!