Is Analog Gear REALLY worth it? My honest thoughts...

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[frankensteindrumco.]

I’m more fascinated by your shirt changing colors in real time.

[MarnixMohrmannPiano]

6:08 makes me think of a friend who bought a big console and never used it, nor even plugged it in. The console being there got him a lot of clients.

[AudioAtmos]

Lots of great advice. “Listen with your ears and not your eyes” is huge. Staring at numbers on a screen can be a real problem. Thanks Dom!

[Byron_]

It's very interesting how quickly you can change your shirts, Dom! 😄

[lloydbrownmusic]

@7:10 Mic Drop. You said it all in that sentence Dom! Bless up Sir

[alexanderaseffa]

I record on a portable interface when on the road and I run back some of the key tracks like vocals and main instruments through analog gear. It gives me the freedom to run it in cycle and tweak the gears to my liking and print back to computer. I try to recreate that sound in plug-in only as a challenge and sometimes it’s not easy. Sometimes you have to stack multiple plugins to get close but by the time you get there it feels like a lot of work. I believe some of the best engineers who claim they only mix in the box have already tracked or run most of their tracks through analog first. And that is very effective as those subtle analog flavors on a number of tracks will make a significant difference on the overall mix. Also makes your mixing session go fast. Great video as always.

[WheelieMix]

As somebody working a in studio with an SSL 4048G+ and also having my own spot with plenty of analog gear, I think :

- Analog makes a different during the recording stage : You can track through plugins now. A lot of them offer latency free options (not only UAD). But it's true that tracking through gear (or plugins for that matter) makes mixing easier along the way. And it's true that the wider sweet spot of analog makes it "safer" to track through.
- The "wow factor" making artists/clients comfortable : I agree fully.
- Analog makes a difference when mixing, you can get to the sound quicker : I think it is true but if I am being really honest : The recall/print or the patching will take as much time as piling up plugins to get to the sound desired. So analog will only be effectively quicker if it is used as "set and forget", like preset.
Although hardware do not sound more "3D". They are still stereo or mono imho ^^.
- Bigger sweet spot with hardware : Yeah I could agree to that. When pushed they sound great. It is kinda true but a lot of modern hardware sounds absolutely crap when pushed now.
- Hardware is inspiring : It's idiosyncratic but I agree too, for me at least.
- Music is a human thing : Well depending on how things will go, this statement will either age very well or awfully badly ^^.

What you forgot to mention it's that, as soon as audio engineering remain a thing (which I don't think it will much in the near future), hardware is an investment. When buying something second-hand, you can resell it for me and it can help facing tough financial situation. I recently made 1k profit on a sale of a second hand gear. And no I am not 50 y old, I just was lucky to find a great deal, restore the unit (very basic stuff) and sell it back.

[AndiPicker]

I sometimes feel that the irony is that analogue gear is often easier to use - it's more benign, it does less and it's harder to mess up when you have one real compressor vs a dozen plugins; so it's probably better for beginners to learn on. Experienced mixers, folks like Andrew Scheps, can move ITB because they know exactly what they are aiming for and are more able to tame their plugin collections. A lot of the big name guys from the 80s and 90s era, like CLA and Joe Barresi, always appear in front of their SSLs, but then that's now sort of their brand, it makes them stand out in a crowded market place. I find that plugins like the Brainworx Black Box MS with its density control and the adjustable headroom on the Shadow HIlls Mastering Comp are a big help as an easy way to dial in more of what a plugin does and then reduce the impact to get a more natural result. Great vid Dom, food for thought.

[bontempo]

Dom what are your techniques for bringing plugins closer to that hardware sound ?
Perhaps that would be a good video ;)

[Zaccyonline]

Absolutely love your thoughts on using the hardware, and your ears instead of eyes on a plug-in, as this is the exact experience I have with hardware synths; becoming part of the machine and working with it - often with two hands. As soon as I get out of the box I feel so liberated and connected with the music.

[TeknaTronik]

This is the best description I’ve heard for analog/ digital. Do what feels good 😊

[olivermaier-landshut]

I think the biggest flaw in comparing analog gear to plugins is: If you hear a difference, any difference, most people will automatically assume that the hardware is

I have plugins that are the reason I sold the hardware, because for my taste, or in my opinion, the plugin does a better job.

But I know, if you want to buy a 5000$ compressor…any sound difference goes in favour of the gear…

[banogadjo]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience ! Awesome

[rolandmarckwort]

If you can afford decent analog gear, go for it 100%!

[YMIR]

Analog is cool cause it gave me a reference in terms of the difference between analog and digital. Now knowing the sound of analog, it feels like I can get my digital plugins to get closer to that sound. I think that is a pretty useful bit. But if you are starting out, I don't think you should invest in it right away. It can get mad expensive. There is so much to learn first about music that can be done without analog. But once you feel you can take the leap monetarily and mentally, it is a pretty powerful plunge.

[SoundPeaks]

There are really good points I've never though about before while working in a home studio.

[BlazonStone]

Before watching: if somebody can't make a good mix with stock plugins they aint gonna know how to use equivilent hardware stuff either.

And I'm not trying to say I'm any genious on mixing either. I'm pretty avarage. But I know I would't automatically make something better by buying any fancy stuff.

[BritoWorx]

Analog gear forced me to use my ears more. To be more critical with my decisions. Plus turning knobs and pushing buttons makes me feel more connected to my craft. But definitely not required to make good music. Great video Dom.

[RITESHGANDHISTRINGS]

Hi Dom, was just seeing your video where you explained how to create customized scripts for midi controllers and was super informative. Can you please help me in understanding how to assign one rotary knob from my midi controller so that I can scroll between tracks in my project window as well as the mixer window, . Right now, I can see two different options to go to previous track and next track and would have to assign 2 rotary knobs, thanks a lot in advance☺

[Miicrowahvei]

Your shirt is changing color! I was like "Whaaaat" 😲. Very interesting opinions about the psychological impact of analog equipment.