My experience through recording, mixing and online music mastering has brought me to the point of realizing that in this day in age of modern music production and semi-pro to professional recording, mixing and mastering, that I must live, and I enjoy living, in both worlds. To me the argument of digital vs analogue is really quite irrelevant, as both need to co-exist side by side in combination with each other. This cross-manipulation of audio recording and mixing through digital and analogue processing is what seems to bring out the very best in modern music production.

My audio recording, mixing and online music mastering sessions are always a combination of both analogue and digital processing. I record, mix and master through a chain of analogue circuitry of rich valves, transistors and transformers.

When tracking, every audio path includes some form of high-end, analogue mic pres, EQ’s and even compression at times, and all of this is before the signal gets “In The Box”. With projects I receive already ITB, I will often send audio tracks out to analogue gear for processing of a certain sound or quality that is wanted or needed. A quality that I know and understand will only come from processing through a very specific chain of analogue gear.

Once ITB I use a series of some of the best plug-in processing available for my mixing and online music mastering sessions to keep everything as close to analogue processing as possible. In this I mean keeping all of the nuances, attributes and characteristics of the original recording, or re-processed tracks, while reaping the benefits of today’s digital technology and all that it has to offer in modern audio mixing online, recording and online music mastering.

At the end of the day, we each must choose our tools wisely and more then often within a budget. A rule of thumb is to equip your studio setup with the best you can afford and go from there. There is never any sense in buying cheap gear, as it will usually disappoint you in the end. When investing in analogue equipment it is wiser to spend good money on one great piece of gear then to try and fill racks with second-rate cheap stuff.

Having great gear and tools is one thing, but all of the best gear in the world in the hands of an inexperience engineer is useless. It’s worth noting that a seasoned professional mix engineer can get a ITB mix that stands up to any analogue mix just because they know which tools to use and how to use those tools on any given application. 

Lastly, you must consider what works best for you. In the end, it’s all about making music and getting it to sound the best it can be on any given platform. It’s about being creative and working in a way that fuels your creativity and supports your style and workflow.

For me it’s analogue + digital all the way for all of my tracking, mixing and online music mastering.

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