i want to integrate more hardware into my setup

[steevio]

total recall is where you can recall a mix you did 6 months ago. if you have to go back to something in analogue you have to do the whole mix again. some people don't mind that but if you started mixing in a DAW it will feel like a waste of time. nothing beats motorized faders on an analogue desk but we're talking serious money. it's a lot of money without motorized faders

but what exactly is there to do again ?

i can recall a midi file from 5 years ago, and when i fire it up with the same patches in the synths etc. it sounds exactly like it did 5 years ago, because my desk is permanently set-up with all the instruments in the same channels.

i always set the gains on my desk so that the faders are at 0, which is where you want them for more accurate adjustment. if you are synthesizing your sounds properly, they should require very little EQing, and usually for synth and drum sounds i can EQ an entire mix within about 30 seconds (no exageration)
if your kick always goes into the same channel, it will be EQed for kicks, if your hats go into the same channel, it will be EQ'd for hats, these things require just tiny adjustments from track to track, if you're doing it properly.
most of the knowledge you read about recording relates to recording physical and acoustic instruments, thats totally another story. synthesizers consistantly throw out exactly the same sound from the same patch, so your total recall is done in the synth or drum machine and your midi sequencer etc. itself.

using an analogue desk with in an electronic music context is totally different to recording bands etc.
motorised faders are total overkill in a techno studio, and i just dont experience this waste of time phenomena you're on about mate, its ridiculously easy.

[tone-def]

i can see what your saying steevio but i think his planned workflow seems a little different to yours. it sounds like he'll be multi-tracking synths into a DAW then mixing his digital recordings with the mixer.

[steevio]

i can see what your saying steevio but i think his planned workflow seems a little different to yours. it sounds like he'll be multi-tracking synths into a DAW then mixing his digital recordings with the mixer.

sorry maybe i misunderstood what he is trying to acheive.

but personally i dont see the point in doing it that way.
too many A/D D/A conversions, and too much indecision.

get it sounding right, then record it. use your computer as a HD recorder.

if you're not happy with the results do it again till its right. easy.

its the the one thing you can't explain to someone who is used to a DAW.
the whole point of the analogue desk is to use it to glue the sounds together, and you only need to do it once.

the one thing thats always frustrated me with the DAW method, is the procrastination, you end up never finishing anything, because you always think you can improve it, with the analogue method you get everything singing together and press record.

[coldfuture]

i can see what your saying steevio but i think his planned workflow seems a little different to yours. it sounds like he'll be multi-tracking synths into a DAW then mixing his digital recordings with the mixer.

While this is what I usually... I have to agree with Steevio in the sense that since I can record stems and a stereo mix at the same time right off the zed, I usually get hooked on the first mix I make.

I therefore try to get it right the first time and only consider the multitracked stems as a backup for a remix (in the classic, most basic sense) if there are blatant errors I don't hear in the tracking/first mix stage.

The more comfortable I get with my zed, the less often I go back and change anything at all. My last 3-4 tracks are just the raw jam recorded once in 1 take... just sounds fine. There might be an edit here or there, but lately I am trying to move more and more to tracks along the lines of Hood, Mills, Echospace, Basic Channel etc where the arrangement is organic, live, fluid and not needing a rigid form.

I find the choice of sounds and sequences up front lead the way to a more sustained energy type feel of classic techno that allows for more 1 take tracks. This is what I want: something organic not in the corny bongo-house, "it has bongos so its organic" sense, but more in the sense of me interacting in real time with my machines. Something different each time but built around the same pattern of thinking and emotive basis.

[someonelikeyou]

the one thing thats always frustrated me with the DAW method, is the procrastination, you end up never finishing anything, because you always think you can improve it.




Too True!!!!
Someonelikeyou.

[oblioblioblio]

+1

total recall and DAW timeline composition is bullshit. you get stuck in there and it stops you from hearing. music is about being in the moment. you will never make an exciting transition if you already know when it will be, and what will come next.

(although I think it depends on the person. some people do good stuff with timeline based work. but not me)

[steevio]

you will never make an exciting transition if you already know when it will be, and what will come next.

exactly.

when i press record and start a mixdown, i dont want to know exactly whats going to happen, i want to be a live musician, and i believe you can tell the difference between stuff which has been laboured over with too much attention to detail and raw, emotive, in the moment music.

give me raw any day.

[coldfuture]

you will never make an exciting transition if you already know when it will be, and what will come next.

exactly.

when i press record and start a mixdown, i dont want to know exactly whats going to happen, i want to be a live musician, and i believe you can tell the difference between stuff which has been laboured over with too much attention to detail and raw, emotive, in the moment music.

give me raw any day.

+1 billion