Going Mixerless!

[Sober]

I was just at tweakheadz reading up on thier mixer guide and it seems that in their going mixerless section, that might be best for me.

"Going Mixerless

Is a mixer even necessary for your rig? Maybe not--given that you are doing everything in the digital domain of your computer with a professional sequencer like Logic 5.0 or Sonar, Cubase or Digital Performer. If you have a multi input audio interface, it is easy to simply connect your sources to the interface and your outputs to a monitoring system. Even some professionals are mixerless now. With new control surfaces like Logic Control, Mackie Control or Houston, you can have a hardware mixer like surface to control all the leveling and effecting you do in the software's mixer. Just get good preamps for your mics and connect them to your audio interface. Everything happens in the software and audio interface.

Can you go Mixerless with a stereo soundcard? Sure can. Again you need a mic preamp and you just lay down one track at a time. If you have a 2 channel preamp you can actually jam with a buddy. Why doesn't everyone do this? Well you lose out when you start adding hardware synths. You have to record everything as audio, and that takes up lots of storage and the CPU gets burdened pretty quick. But you can go this route if you are just using 1-2 mics and plan to only use soft synths and samplers, or programs like Fruity Loops, Acid, Reason, etc. Limit yourself there and you will never need a mixer. "



If I just wanted to use my pc for recording vocals and nothing more why would i need a mixer ? from what it seems i can just load my beat from a cd into the harddrive and with pro tools or some other software record the vocals from a mic pluged into a preamp. If i bought a good mic, preamp, and soundcard the vocals should record fine. Then with the software i can further add the effects needed.

Here is an idea of how this process will benefit me. I make all my music on my triton. After a beat is done i can save onto a cd. Then put that beat into my harddrive. Then record vocals, do i really need a mixer for that?

Anyone have an opinion on this?

 

[P_1]

i dont think you need a mixer. thats what im planning to do with my setup. only, i do all my beats on my laptop. im gonna run my mic through a tascam us 122 via USB and record my vocals on Cool Edit pro 2.0 (for now). i dont see why i would need a mixer. anyone else??

 

[Fade]

Nope, you don't need a mixer. Sure it's convenient, but overall it's not really necessary for some people. You could make a beat on your Triton, then dump it to CD and all that, but you could also just hook up your Triton directly to your PC and control it with software, no?

 

[dacalion]

No you dont need a mixer but the convience outweighs the lack of need to me. I just find it harder and more time comsuming to go without one. I don't use an all software setup either so my need for mixers is even greater. What I don't understand is why some cats think they need this huge mixing board with more than 16 tracks in hip-hop music. I think its more for the appearance than the function. Just my opinion.

--dac

 

[Cold Truth]

yeah, it really does look like its for appearance. when i see pictures of these guys in front of a huge mixer, i 'm like how many of those tracks are you using? especially dr dre....... you here a drum track, a bassline, the main riff which is usually made up of a short series of basic notes, and some synth lead or bell will come in at the chorus, and thats it. then you have vocals, ubt that still looks like 16 tracks or so, 20 tops.

i know i will need about 24 myself, because of the applications i will be doing in a few months... but then i will likely just get a delta Q10 with its 10 inputs. i still wont need a traditional mixer!

 

[HaZwaiOh]

interesting thread. i´m about to sell my old mixer as well since i sold my outboard equipment a while ago.
apart from that: the less devices a signal has to go through, the less noise and static it gets

 

[Sober]

Im not that familiar with mixers, so please help me on this. With a mixer you can seperate kicks, snares , hi hats , basslines , mics, etc etc based on the amount of inputs or channels right? Ok what i want to know is how would this work in regards to hooking up an mpc, triton, or any other sequencer or synth. For instance on an mpc or a triton you have tracks with their individual data meaning track 1 kicks , track 2 snares, track 3 hi hats, and so on and so on.

So my question is for a mixer to catch these tracks and for the user to be able to assign the tracks to the different channels how would you connect this? Is this all done through midi ? from what i can remember a midi channel or line can have 16 channels. And with these 16 channels I can assign channel 1 to track one and channel 2 to track 2 and channel 3 to track 3 out going to the mixer inrespect to the channels on the mixing board. Does this make any sense? or am i totally off on this?

Thanks:wave:

 

[dacalion]

No Sober, youre doing pretty well with your discriptions...If I understand your question about hooking up the mpc, triton and so on correctly, what I did on my setup is hooked just about every peripheral piece of equipment that makes music to my mixing board. That way I can control the level of each of them seperately for my final mix. My samplers, keyboard and other pieces are midi controlled with each other so that after I program them to play whatever sounds I want, they all play together but are seperated at the mixer and then put back together at my DAW. Hope that makes sense to you. There are several different ways to do it but this is what works the best for me.

--dac

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

This is how you would set everything up if you had only hardware synths, a computer and a mixer.

In this scenario, we have the main stereo outs of the Triton being sent into channels 1 and 2 of the mixer, 4 individual outputs of the MPC being sent into channels 3,4,5 and 6 of the mixer, and a microphone being sent into channel 7 of the mixer.

The audio from the Triton, MPC and mic get mixed together and sent to the speakers as a complete signal.

In the past you may have used the sequencer on the Triton or MPC; in this scenario we have a computer telling the Triton and MPC what notes they should play using a software sequencer (like Cubase or Sonar) across MIDI.

To tell the MPC which sounds go to which outputs (which get sent into channels 3,4,5 and 6 on the mixer), you have to assign them from within the MPC.

You would, for example, assign a kick on the MPC to output 1; this gets sent to channel 3 on the mixer. A snare on the MPC would be assigned to output 2; this gets sent to channel 4 on the mixer, and so forth.

In the case of the Triton, you have its entire mix assigned to the main stereo outs; these get sent to channels 1 and 2 on the mixer.


Take care,

Nick

 

[Sober]

Thanks for the nice example, but my setup would be a little different in that i won't be using a pc as a sequencer and only to record vocals. Thanks anyways , did you make that diagram yourself? It helps me better understand my own setup.

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

Yeah, I make all the drawings and graphics I post. Illustrator is such a bad-ass program, and unfortunately overshadowed by Photoshop. Overall it takes everyone less time to figure stuff out if there is a visual.

Even if you don't use the computer for sequencing, the concept of taking audio from your Triton/MPC is still the same.

Take care,

Nick

 

[Sober]

Thanks man i appreciate your help and the help of others.

 

[themucka]

you guys need 2 get out of that everything cpu midset..... lol....
keep thinking you don't need a mixer.... of course you do....
now if you have cheesy ass mixer maybe not.... but you might wanna run someoutboard compression.. or some rvb on that snr or smpl... rather than the cpus...

plus i'm talking from experience... i have a mackie 32/8... half the channels dont work... i tried hook up my mpc... triton rlnd... etc... i didn't like.. plus im using 888 converters..you have play with it more...
ima a fan of getting the right sound 1st then recording.. it... not the other way...

and DRE USES THOSE BOARDS... CUZ THOSE BOARD FATTEN UP YOURS SOUND...
DONT FORGET THE HARDWARE... SOFTWARE... MAKES YOU LAZY

 

[Cold Truth]

you know, not everyone has the money for all the external stuff that "fattens up your sound". do you really think most of the people in here have the money for a full studio? for me personally, a mixer costs more money then a have to spend on any more equipment, and until i am bringing in the dollars to have these other pieces that "make my sound so much better", am i am perfectly happy using cubase sx and waves gold bundle..... and i am certain that most people in here dont have the money. software is A. less expensive and so fits better into a budget, and B. gives us more versitility for less money then we would have with a couple pieces of the "better" hardware that you always bring up.

i can do everything i NEED to do RIGHT NOW with what i have.

thanks for the help in letting us know from your education and experience. i am not trying to knock you at all, i am just letting you know that if we all had the money, i am sure most of us wouldnt hesitate to use the best available equipment, hardware or software.

software doesnt make me lazy. in fact, it has done the opposite; i have to work a lot harder to get a track done because i have far more tools at my disposal to work with, i have everything i need to record, mix, master, and burn to a final cd right in front of me. that takes a lil more time then it dd to build and record a track with my old hardware setup, mpc and motif rack, both of which i would still have in conjunction with my software if i had the money- but thats just the point. i dont, just like most of us here.

 

[themucka]

i feel you.. i'm not knocking software... i luv it 2.... but you need hardware....
some thing jus can't be replecated....

and that my provlem with software.... you got so many options... people lose focus... not all.... but some....

i jus feel every bought wants 2 go the cheap route.. and that why we here alot a half ass shit...