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Warming up the Cold -- Analog
Tools in the Digital Arena
Every day more and more composers, DJs, recording artists, producers
and even musically minded hobbyists are being introduced to the
new world of recording that digital technology has to offer. In
the past, the high cost of recording equipment made owning your
own tools to make at least demo quality material impossible. If
you wished to record a song, you were forced to lay down sizable
chunks of dough in order to book hours at a local studio and work
under financial and time related pressure, which most often adversely
affected the outcome of the project. With advances in digital/computer
related technology, all that has changed. In today's arena the
recording gear has been reduced, in many cases, to little more
than a home computer, some software and the artist's imagination.
The level of quality that may be obtained is much higher and,
with the ability to record at home, many of the old constraints
have been lifted. Of course, these advances haven't come without
a cost, leading some professionals in the industry to consider
aspects of this new world to be more akin to a 'brave new world'
where tracks are churned out with little or no attention to detail.
Going digital often leads to signals which many complain are thin,
too bright and cold. Recording levels are much lower due to the
physical constraints that digital technology puts on the signal
chain, and much of the warm resonant character which analog based
recording adds is sacrificed for ease of use, affordability and
nonlinear, nondestructive editability (is that a word?).
Anyone in his or her right mind can't deny the power of the digital
recording world. The ability to do multiple takes, process sounds
and sequence multiple events is incredible, not to mention the
power and new dimension that a graphic interface adds to the recording
artist's palette. But the old school people have a point too.
All good things come at a price. The question is, can we use the
new tools in a manner which brings out the best aspects of the
old style, as well? Here at 15Pearl, part
of our philosophy has been to mix analog and digital in an effort
to blend the best of both. At first, this was more of a necessity
than an option, as our old Mac Quadra simply didn't have the juice
to do major levels of digital audio recording. As well, unlike
most of my fellow collaborators, my background is analog. So we
have tried to mix the two, and it has been an interesting road,
at times hard and at other times easy. But some of the lessons
learned have been priceless and the results awesome in terms of
sound quality. Now that we have stepped up to a G4 we no longer
need to use the analog option, but, if anything, the ability to
record nearly endless digital tracks has made us more certain
than ever that the best road to take is one that blends the two
together, rather than opting for one route at the expense of the
other. So, what follows are some tips which may help the user
tap in to the character and warmth of analog, while taking advantage
of the newest trends in digital.
1. Analog Mic/Line Preamps:
 These
offer warmth and a hot signal at the beginning of the chain. The
user can either buy a dedicated preamp or use a channel on an
analog mixing board and go direct out to the sound card on the
computer or input on the sampler or DAW, whatever the digital
medium may be. Tubed preamps are awesome in terms of the warmth
and character they offer. Examples are the classic DBX 786 "Blue
Series" or the Drawmer 1962 preamp. But, much of the nicer pre's
are expensive. The DBX, for example, lists at $2500. There are
less expensive preamps, as well. The ART Pro-MPA two channel goes
for about $500 and offers tight quality. Preamps offer warmth
and each unit has it's own individual character, whether it's
tubed or solid state. We've taken the preamps off of old cassette
4-tracks and used them for line signals as they are hot and dirty
-- sometimes a good thing. As well, guitar amps often have preamp
outs which allow you to patch into the preamp for a line signal.
The Marshall 800 series head has a pre-out and it's awesome for
a whole lot more than guitars. Today, there are plenty of preamp
plugin emulators for the computer. I have yet to hear one that
sounds as good as the real thing. The Marshall head attests to
that everytime we use it...
2. Analog EQ:
 EQ
the signal with an analog unit before going digital. Again, this
may be at the board or inserted or both. We use various eq's for
different applications. We always EQ the signal before it goes
to "tape" with the EQ on the mixer channel strip. For bass, we
use that in tandem with an HHB Radius 20 tubed parametric EQ.
Awesome piece of gear which adds warmth and texture and isn't
too expensive. We also have various solid state EQ units which
we patch when needed -- some are noisier than others but this
can be used to an advantage. By working in tandem we often use
the noisier EQ inserted for character and the channel strip EQ
to remove as much of the noise from the insert as possible without
canceling out the effect we are hoping to achieve.
3. Outboard Effects:
Here's another great source of character before dedicating the
signal to tape. Again, these may be inserted into the path after
the preamp and then eq'ed for noise reduction and the like. Believe
it or not, but we occasionally use guitar stomp boxes on signals
as they offer great distortion, flange or overdrive effects that
you can't always get on the computer. Boss and DOD pedals are
great. They're noisy, though, so eq'ing out the noise is essential.
We also have an old Electra analog delay that's great for that
dubby distorted feedback that you can't get on digital units.
We've used some of those old Echoplexes with excellent results,
as well. Even some of the newer reverb units that are digital
are great, especially if you patch them as an auxiliary and return
them into a separate channel and send both the signal and the
effect return to a group out to digital. This way you can EQ the
reverb return in order to bring out as much warmth as possible
and, again, get rid of the noise. Admittedly, there are some increasingly
impressive plug-ins on the market that emulate effects in the
digital realm, are quiet, and offer great automation capability.
They shouldn't be overlooked. But, as said before, outboard analog
gear has a distinct character, as well, that must be taken into
consideration. When it comes to this stuff, your local pawn shop
(especially the ones in small shitville towns) will fast become
your good friend.
4. Analog Synths and Midi Instruments:
Virtual synth software packages are great -- check out the Tokyo
group from Koblo, for example. But there's no comparison to older
analog synths or even the virtual analog synths that they try
to emulate. These instruments are extremely deep in terms of their
character and warmth. The old Roland Juno series is a classic
and for good reason. As well, some midi modules are much hotter
than sound samples that are taken from them. Now, I'm not dissing
samplers. They're crucial. But given the choice between a pad
coming directly from, say, a fender Rhodes or even Juno-106 and
a sampled version, I'll take the original instrument. The samples
tend to be more midrange heavy and two dimensional whereas the
synths are much wider and deeper. And hotter. The downside is
that some of the older keys aren't outfitted for midi which means
you're going to have to record the take the old fashioned way
-- that is, you'll need to play the track well. I know that sounds
funny but these days bad musicianship can be fixed on the computer.
This, I think, is another element of the warm sound we look for.
Good musicianship that feels human. Sequencers and digital audio
allow us to fix mistakes, many of which shouldn't be fixed in
the first place. Like, instead of playing the pad pass once and
copy/pasting it out, try doing multiple takes and keeping them
even if they aren't perfect. The human element adds so much life
to the track that is lost when the "perfect take" is sought after
and achieved...
5. Analog mixdown:
I'm a strong proponent of doing the mixdown, or at least part
of it, in the analog realm. Nothing substitutes for a nice analog
desk. Sending signals through the preamps, EQs, etc., on the mixing
board does much to warm up the sound, especially at the master
fader stage. The downside here is automation, as automating an
analog board can be super pricey. But, this can be overcome by
taking advantage of automation faders available in the sequencer
or digital audio packages that will drive the mix so that, at
the least, volume, pan and some effects can be automated, freeing
up your hands for other stuff that will be done "in the mix."
If you wish to keep your mix virtual, I highly recommend using
the insert jack available on many of the newer sound cards to
insert a nice analog compressor over the final mix or to add outboard
effects. It makes a major difference and can make up for some
of the warmth that may be lost by the signal being relatively
lower in the digital realm.
6. Mixing to an Analog Master:
This is another option, albeit one we don't take advantage of
too often. By this I mean mixing down to an analog two track deck.
We have a 1/2" eight track that we can send the final mix to.
This way we get the advantages of natural compression that reel-to-reels
have. Then we can bounce that signal over to DAT with minimal
loss of sound quality. Speaking of DATs, it's crucial to use a
high quality DAT deck for recording the master, preferable one
with balanced XLR ins/outs. The difference in sound is incredible
and you can obtain much hotter levels than with those little datman
or minidiscman machines.
7. Burning to CD:
 We've
noticed that, once digital, when we burn to CD we often lose a
few dbs of volume which can make the track sound much thinner
and colder. What we do to alleviate this is run the file through
a good mastering Limiter plug-in. We use the Waves L1 Ultramaximizer
which boosts the overall level and gives the track an overall
sheen. Granted, this isn't an analog tool we're talking about,
but it does make the mix sound louder, fuller and smoother on
CD than an unprocessed one. The extra hour that it takes to do
this is well worth the time, considering that what's on the CD,
even if it's only for your friends, is what everyone will be judging
your abilities by...
So, that's it. I'm sure there's plenty of other ideas and tips
that I forgot to mention but these are a few that we use on a
fairly regular basis. Our mixes are louder, warmer, richer and
posess more character as a result. Try them out if you wish. As
well, if you have comments or ideas of your own let us know. We'd
love to learn more and pass the knowledge on. In any event, good
luck and, as usual, regards to all of you readers and, of course,
everybody at the UF Consortium...
Andrew Freid
15Pearl Music
March 2000
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