Premier Rock Forum

For me, the choices for which plugins to use for shaping get overwhelming and takes away from the creative process. Control strips have the basics covered and can get me setup quickly. I started using a control strip on a single track, but found choosing which strip to use still didn't clear up the problem of options hell or looking up documentation, though greatly reduced it. I have been setting up all my tracks with the same control strip to create a console. Not a novel idea, of course, but a wonderfully simple one.

I was reading a post recently on this subject by a mixing engineer and he said something that really struck a chord: he liked to stick with a single console as a concept and chooses which console based on the project he is working on. As someone who has been in the business for decades and worked on a the actual consoles that have been recreated as plugins, what he said, for me at the very least, was validation to this approach.

The last mix I did on a console set up ended up sounding the best of my recent mixes. I wouldn't say it was the control strips I used, but that I felt comfortable and focused, rather than trying to find the right plugin.

What are your thoughts on mixing this way? Anyone else doing this, other than what's been discussed in the Airwindows thread? Do you like to combine control strips for a frankenstein console or stick with a single one? What are your favorites?

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 11:12 am For me, the choices for which plugins to use for shaping get overwhelming and takes away from the creative process. Control strips have the basics covered and can get me setup quickly. I started using a control strip on a single track, but found choosing which strip to use still didn't clear up the problem of options hell or looking up documentation, though greatly reduced it. I have been setting up all my tracks with the same control strip to create a console. Not a novel idea, of course, but a wonderfully simple one.

I was reading a post recently on this subject by a mixing engineer and he said something that really struck a chord: he liked to stick with a single console as a concept and chooses which console based on the project he is working on. As someone who has been in the business for decades and worked on a the actual consoles that have been recreated as plugins, what he said, for me at the very least, was validation to this approach.

The last mix I did on a console set up ended up sounding the best of my recent mixes. I wouldn't say it was the control strips I used, but that I felt comfortable and focused, rather than trying to find the right plugin.

What are your thoughts on mixing this way? Anyone else doing this, other than what's been discussed in the Airwindows thread? Do you like to combine control strips for a frankenstein console or stick with a single one? What are your favorites?

Strip plugins aren't usually my go to, but I try to avoid using the same EQ or Comp and for that matter Strip plugin on every channel, I have a few I cycle through based on the source. Analog Obsessions has some that are good/free. I like the Arturia Trident and V76. I will often use Slate rack to build a strip, mostly using the Neve eq or API Eq and 1176 feeding the channel buss, where I can pick a "flavor" usually the Neve or Trident style. Problem with just using a strip plugin for me is I usually end up inserting a more useful comp and Fab Filter Pro Eq for tweaking on there anyway so for what its worth, I could skip the Strip for the most part other than some saturation, which... again, I have options outside a strip. If I was going to pick a strip and always use it, I might go with a Softube Console one or the SSL comparable thing because if I was going to try to simulate a real console I might as well have a tangible controller that is mapped correctly to tie it all together.

Kniferide wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 2:22 pm ...I try to avoid using the same EQ or Comp and for that matter Strip plugin on every channel...

What's your reasoning for purposefully using different EQ and Comp per track? Do you create track templates for different go-to strips?

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 2:38 pm

Kniferide wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 2:22 pm ...I try to avoid using the same EQ or Comp and for that matter Strip plugin on every channel...

What's your reasoning for purposefully using different EQ and Comp per track? Do you create track templates for different go-to strips?

My theory (mostly unfounded) is that if a plugin has an artifact or sound that is across all tracks that over a lot of tracks can build up and cause weird frequency buildups and stuff. It is a thing I absolutely noticed back in the days I was using the URS 1970's comp and their Channel Strip, but that was before plugins were as good as they are to day with over sampling and such. If you stacked about 10 channels of URS Strip you would start to fighting a 400-600 hz thing that was very annoying. Now its kinda just a thing where I know I like this EQ and Comp on a bass, This combo on a kick... etc and when I just put the same strip on every channel, I feel more boxed in trying to accomplish what I know to expect from mixed plugins. I don't really build templates much. I never even save settings to be pulled up on other projects. I just insert the plugin and tweak the controls from a zero'd starting point. Like I would a piece of hardware. I totally get the strip approach and wish I could live in those confines but my brain doesn't work like that and I end up fighting the strip. This IS a reason I like Slate Rack. You can build up a little console strip with a pre stage, eq, comp and feed the Channel buss slot, but if something isn't quite right, you can just drag in a different slot (500 slot style) and make alterations, including the style the channel buss strip saturates. I do have a template for "Drum Channels" I've made in Slate that I sometimes will put on every drum channel. It is Neve Eq, 1176, Reviver, and the Channel Bus. set to Neve or Trident. Super simple but predictable. If I'm not using that chain on drums, I'm probably not using Slate. My Drum master has Fab Filter ProEq and a Fairchild 90% of the time and sometimes a tape simulator. Almost all my other channels get either Fab Filter Pro EQ, the standard Reaper EQ or maybe TDR Slick EQ. Guitars often get Analog Obsessions Trident EQ and Kazrog True Dynamics. Bass often gets TDR Slick Eq, some sort of DBX 160 plugin or an 1176, and Kazrog True Iron. If I have every time strips, that would probably be them. Subject to change.

Kniferide wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:06 pm My theory (mostly unfounded) is that if a plugin has an artifact or sound that is across all tracks that over a lot of tracks can build up and cause weird frequency buildups and stuff.

In regards to that, there are console plugins that are essentially channel strips that work in unison, like a console. I'm sure you're aware of them, but I'd like to bring it up. I demoed an SSL and an AMEK board from Brainworx, who use their own technology to add variation to each strip, as well as provide global THD and V-Gain, to mimic what would be happening in an actual console. It's an interesting concept that I think addresses these concerns, and from what Dirk Ulrich stated, adds that extra level of dimension that he believes can leave mixes feeling "digital" when using console strips this way. I can't say that I heard the variations, but the mixes I've done with those consoles sounded great regardless.

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:26 pm

Kniferide wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:06 pm My theory (mostly unfounded) is that if a plugin has an artifact or sound that is across all tracks that over a lot of tracks can build up and cause weird frequency buildups and stuff.

In regards to that, there are console plugins that are essentially channel strips that work in unison, like a console. I'm sure you're aware of them, but I'd like to bring it up. I demoed an SSL and an AMEK board from Brainworx, who use their own technology to add variation to each strip, as well as provide global THD and V-Gain, to mimic what would be happening in an actual console. It's an interesting concept that I think addresses these concerns, and from what Dirk Ulrich stated, adds that extra level of dimension that he believes can leave mixes feeling "digital" when using console strips this way. I can't say that I heard the variations, but the mixes I've done with those consoles sounded great regardless.

Mmm Hmm. I really haven't noticed any plugins in the last few years causing any buildup issues, but my brain still twitches at the idea. URS was traumatic. Slate Rack, when you insert the Channel bus can link multiple groups into the master buss slot like a consoles buss matrix. Izotope Neutron is really in essence a channel strip version of Ozone that talks between channels and can even let you see masking between groups. Now that modeling is actually good, the idea of interconnected channels working within a single flavor is a lot more promising and as I understand it is the appeal of Air Windows. Seems also to be what attracts people to Harrison Mix Bus. I'd like to try a project where I only have a strip and Nothing else on the channels now that the options are better, but my habits die hard. The best designed ones seem to be SSL style and i've never really liked them much. Another weird thing I'm interested in is the McDSP analog console/strip/Mixer/DSP box thing where you have 16 channels of all analog signal path and summing that is insertable like a plugin and computer controlled. It's wild. When it comes down to it if the strip thing makes decision making faster, it's definitely something I should entertain because tweak blindness is a problem when the plugin options are infinite.

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:26 pm

Kniferide wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:06 pm My theory (mostly unfounded) is that if a plugin has an artifact or sound that is across all tracks that over a lot of tracks can build up and cause weird frequency buildups and stuff.

In regards to that, there are console plugins that are essentially channel strips that work in unison, like a console. I'm sure you're aware of them, but I'd like to bring it up. I demoed an SSL and an AMEK board from Brainworx, who use their own technology to add variation to each strip, as well as provide global THD and V-Gain, to mimic what would be happening in an actual console. It's an interesting concept that I think addresses these concerns, and from what Dirk Ulrich stated, adds that extra level of dimension that he believes can leave mixes feeling "digital" when using console strips this way. I can't say that I heard the variations, but the mixes I've done with those consoles sounded great regardless.

Have you ever run across the "Slide Ruler..." set tearing those down on the YouTube?

numberthirty wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:54 pm

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:26 pm

Kniferide wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:06 pm My theory (mostly unfounded) is that if a plugin has an artifact or sound that is across all tracks that over a lot of tracks can build up and cause weird frequency buildups and stuff.

In regards to that, there are console plugins that are essentially channel strips that work in unison, like a console. I'm sure you're aware of them, but I'd like to bring it up. I demoed an SSL and an AMEK board from Brainworx, who use their own technology to add variation to each strip, as well as provide global THD and V-Gain, to mimic what would be happening in an actual console. It's an interesting concept that I think addresses these concerns, and from what Dirk Ulrich stated, adds that extra level of dimension that he believes can leave mixes feeling "digital" when using console strips this way. I can't say that I heard the variations, but the mixes I've done with those consoles sounded great regardless.

Have you ever run across the "Slide Ruler..." set tearing those down on the YouTube?

No, what is that all about?

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 8:35 pm

numberthirty wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:54 pm

cakes wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:26 pm

In regards to that, there are console plugins that are essentially channel strips that work in unison, like a console. I'm sure you're aware of them, but I'd like to bring it up. I demoed an SSL and an AMEK board from Brainworx, who use their own technology to add variation to each strip, as well as provide global THD and V-Gain, to mimic what would be happening in an actual console. It's an interesting concept that I think addresses these concerns, and from what Dirk Ulrich stated, adds that extra level of dimension that he believes can leave mixes feeling "digital" when using console strips this way. I can't say that I heard the variations, but the mixes I've done with those consoles sounded great regardless.

Have you ever run across the "Slide Ruler..." set tearing those down on the YouTube?

No, what is that all about?

He may be referring to the dudes that take plugin doctor and compare all these strip modules to standard eq and comp algorithms and they almost always end up being exactly the same as just using off the shelf stand ins. It's true. Where the people that do it well are doing something different is usually just little bits of filtered saturation between each stage and good over sampling. Those things matter and do give a sound. A lot is to be said for just laying out a tool and making it fun and easy to use too. Brainworks makes a shadow hills compressor that has the most useless layout of controls on the market. I don't care how it sounds it's a nightmare. On the opposite end of the spectrum I'd rather use a comp that had less of a character but better interface than that junky thing. The design of the tool is as important as it's subtleties when it comes to plugin design.

This is totally how I mix in the box. I build my own little console emulation system : )

Each channel is usually something like this:

True Iron>airwindows coils2>airwindows baxandal>airwindows console7 channel.

The mix buss is usually something like this:

Airwindows console7 buss>airwindows toVinyl>airwindows toTape6>airwindows Tube!>airwindows Dark (or another dither of choice).