Pro Tools Vs Studio One

 If you are trying to get into the mixing game or if you are even just a creator/arranger, Why the heck should you consider Pro Tools, yet Pro Tools 2018? Well we can go with the saying of, Pro Tools is industry standard! If you are not using it you are not apart of the club. Does it even matter any more? I really don't think so. Let's talk about Pro Tools and other DAWs that we at OutBox Sound are playing around with now a days. You tell us what you think about this matter

We are utilizing three Daws, Pro Tools 12 and higher, Studio One and Reason 9. Let's start with Pro Tools. Being the one who has use this daw for several years, I must say I can't live with out it. Why... I have put a lot of practice in it, I am purely in love with the editing features. Editing on pro tools is like being a dog wagging it's tail. It just comes natural, you get the results you think about and you become happy. Yes strange analogy but just open your mind... Now pro tools did lack on usability when it comes down to mixing. It always took time to set up a session, you always had to either have a template session or build one from scratch, then place plugins on every track. It was kinda annoying. Untill now! Pro Tools 2018 added the capability to recall track plugins and sends. This is great because after editing audio tracks, to get ready for a mix you just recall your plugins on that track. So if You have a list of plugins for lead vocals for example, save it as a preset, then You can recall it on any track. So thank you pro tools for trying to make something else other than editing quick. They added other things for midi capabilities, but I'm not going to talk about that today. However here is a bad thing pro tools need to work on. That is to give us unlimited outputs regardless of interface. Why can’t we have that in 2018 ? Why limit your LE users. I don't need pro tools hd so help a LE person out. Studio one gives you everything with out limit, why can't you.

I will give it to pro tools, they are much more stable than any of the other daws I use, but somewhat less flexible. However it's a good daw, I don't mind sticking with it. If you are interested, pro tools 2018 go for it. The recall feature make your PT experience even better. I don't mean to sound like a fan boy when I say this. You can mix and master in anything now a days. If you noticed I mentioned pro tools as being a tool. I use pro tools for editing and mixing. I use reason 9 to produce music. Then I use Studio one to master. Everything is a tool for something. Don't let anyone tell you just to use pro tools.

Studio One is my mastering platform, they made it so easy to master multiple tracks. S1 makes life easy at the end of project. This, just order your tracks how you need it to be and put your mastering plugins on your main bus. If you need to process individual tracks, go ahead and do it. You can add plugins to individual tracks very easily. Of course at the very end once you are satisfied with you sound just do a digital bounce of whatever format you want. Then send it to your client.

So once again all of these daws are tools. Use them for what they are good for. Pro tools 2018 good for editing and mixing, studio one is good for mastering and reason is very good for producing.

Hit us up if you want to talk about specifics!

Sum That Ish!

Summing boxes

Analog summing boxes are simple. They take many inputs and sum them into a mono or stereo output. The thing that’s cool about them is that this is summing on the voltage level. That’s what make it analog of course. The audio inputs are different voltages being combined to a summing bus. This summing bus will then be connected to the outputs. It is not more complicated than anything else in audio. Summing boxes can change the perception of your sound. Within summing boxes you could have different circuits that your audio signals goes through first before it hits the outputs. Hear me my fellow audio people! Let’s talk about this.

What is in a Passive Summing box

-Resistors (to Increase voltage drops, impedance matching)

-Capacitors ( stop Direct current(DC) from messing with your signal, coupling to ground)

-Transformers (Step up signals or step down signals)

-Diodes (rejects signals from harming your circuit)

Why does all of this matter, who really cares about this?

Ultimately there is a different between digital summing and analog summing. The concept is the same however, it’s just the processing is different. As mentioned before analog has voltages being manipulated. In fact the more components your signal runs through the more characteristics its has on the output side. You have voltages being manipulated and ultimately phasing being changed, especially if you have transformers or reactive circuits in you summing.

Now digital summing does not hold the same effects. Within your daw whether it be Pro Tools, Cubase, Studio One or any other you have to realize that it’s a computer program that calculates. When you put music in your daw it is a series of 1s and 0s that are governed by sample rates and clock timers. This Daw that we all use in the digital age is absolutely perfect. It makes it very easy to mix and record sessions right at home. With out the need of having too much outboard gear. However I do not see these daws emulating the true nature of summing and what it does to your mix.

What do you actually hear Sir Justin, what do you mean by changing my perception?

Welp. When you listen to our celebrities and the music they release. You love the sound, you can hear each instrument each vocal well balanced. We call it a 3D audio image here at OutBox Sound. This image is not just attained by using a Daw but these high end engineers mix through out board gear to help get that 3D imagery. The stereo width is also much wider and give you the sense of immersion. When you just mix in the Box (only in your Daw), it’s is a struggle to get perfect isolation. For example mixing lead vocals. You really want to keep that vocal at a good level over the instrumental. I have found that it is 10 time more difficult to do this in the box, cause you need more processing like ducking and compression. Mixing in the box has a very narrow sound, it also feels like the music is being strangled. It does not give the sense of depth or freedom.

Once again through some analog gear in the mix like a summing box and you can perceive that isolation and depth a lot better.

How can I use this summing idea ?

Ok I’m not telling you to go buy equipment that is thousands of dollars. In the link below is a DIY summing box that is only resistor based. Try that out. If you want more fun check out the other tools we at outbox sound use.

Cheap and fun DIY Summing Box $50

https://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/products/sb2-16x2-passive-summing-mixer

D-Box by Dangerous

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DBox

If you have the interface to handle summing I suggest trying it out for a couple of songs and just see what can happen. Your ear is the thing that you must trust not my words.

Also you can listen to our mixing examples on our audio page.

Thanks for reading

Justin Hunter of Outbox Sound

Fabfilter MB Vs. Waves C6

Waves C6 vs Fabfilter Multiband Compressor Who Wins ?

If you are like me you are always looking to slap a multiband compressor (MB) on everything. Why? Because I can. Also to alter the sound to get exactly what I want. Let’s talk about some findings between Waves C6 MB plugin and Fabfilter MB from Fabfilter. These two plugins can make or break you, but you have to live on the edge of mixing to see what’s right for your style.

Waves C6 Multi-band features

• Internal/external sidechain per band
• Individual band Listen mode
• Four crossover bands plus two floating bands
• Dynamic EQ, compression and expansion
• Double precision bit resolution processing

Fabfilter Multi-band  features

• Fully customizable per band: threshold, range, attack, release, output gain, ratio, variable knee, lookahead (up to 20 ms), variable stereo linking, mid- or side-only processing, external side chain input, triggering on a separate frequency range
• Handles any form of dynamics processing, from highly transparent compression, limiting and expansion to pumping upward compression and punchy gating
• Up to six processing bands, freely placed anywhere in the spectrum
• Bands can be easily snapped together to form a traditional crossover system

User interface

Now... Waves has been around for a while, however when it comes on to user experience I have to give it to Fabfilter, their methods of control knobs makes the experience feel real and the real-time frequency analyzer helps when you are unsure about things. The wonderful thing is that it is quick and easy to conceptualize. Waves on the other hand, you have to really use this tool for a while for it to be quick. I find the plugin to be very cluttered and confusing at times.

Specific features:

Fabfilters dynamic EQ shapes can really get you the sound you want or something totally different. This is something that you could spend a lot of time on or just stick with the traditional crossover patterns. The thing that really helps Fabfilter MB is the side-chaining capabilities. Not only can you do external side chains but you can also do internal frequency side chain, where it allows you to pick a range of frequencies that triggers one of the 6 bands of compression or expansion. Mind you all six bands can have there own frequency side chain. Waves also has side chaining however it is just external, the flexibility of Fabfilter is just too good.

Price:

Fabfilter MB is $199 and Waves C6 is $299. So the choice is up to you.

Sum up:

Who wins in this battle ? Fabfilter MB wins for me.  However you really need to look at these plugins as tools. I use waves C6 on my lead vocals for an excited sound (waves plugins has a color to them so beware), and I use Fabfilter MB on instruments tracks to get a well rounded, realistic/transparent and finished sound. When it comes on to burden on your computer, you can have quite a few instances of Fabfilter MB and Waves C6 is much more burdensome on system usage. Now as engineers you really really should not just take my word for it. Check out the links below and download a demo for both.

Waves:

https://www.waves.com/plugins/c6-multiband-compressor#reviews

Fabfilter:

https://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-mb-multiband-compressor-plug-in

Brought to you by Justin Hunter from OutboxSound

Outbox Sound Let’s Think Together !

PS: this blog was written for individuals mixing in the box. Not individuals using Waves Rack or other live performance plugin systems for live mixing.