gowans wrote:this might be asking a bit much but if someone who owns an analog board and mixes otb to maybes do an a/b comparison of a drum loop, one thats mixed itb and the other otb? would be very cool to hear the differences!
From what i imagine... you aren't gonna hear much. Its going to sound different but thats probably about it. Could be the difference between playing your music on one set of monitors or another.
From what I understand there are a couple key differences between OTB and ITB mixing.
1. Process, The mix process is different, everything is physical, you are right there riding the levels when you need to, you aren't looking at a computer screen to make adjustments.
2. Analog Circuitry overdriving. Just sounds good OTB(On certain gear). Don't think this one can really be explained.
3. Noise and nuance, you'll get some good noise from the mixer and will have nuances of being physical. This doesn't happen in the computer where everything is accurate and stale.
An important thing to point out, I think its been mentioned before in other threads... is that you just won't get much out of getting an inexpensive mixer like one of these basic Zeds or mackies of the same pricerange. (I'm not talking about the R16, its a bit different). If you want something better than ITB mixing, you'll want something a bit more highend. at least in the $3000+ range. On this board there has been talk of SoundCraft and TOFT. Both look like pretty awesome mixers from what I've read.
Again, if your on a budget, you can make due with anything. And if your itching to go out of the box i'm sure you can come up with good sound with whatever you choose to use. Its just easier on some setups.
