billroper | Waving at Strangers

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billroper

I finished (mostly) the insert for

catalana's CD today, subject to her approval. I still need to add the running times to the back cover and correct some of the thank yous, but other than that, it looks to be in pretty good shape.

Next up, returning to mixing Falling Toward Orion.

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From:

tollermom

Speaking of mixing... I'm still dithering over which software to get, and Barry's still contemplating getting our local engineer to dupe the ADATs so we've got a safety backup, but you and I need to compare calendars and figure out when I can come up and see your mixing gizmo and get a computer-friendly copy of the files.

From:

billroper

Well, software that can dither is good... :)

In the meantime, I'm going to be going nuts finishing stuff up across the next two weeks. Then I fly out for our company's user conference on the weekend of Apr. 20th. The following weekend is good, but then I'm busy the first weekend of May, freeing up after that.

From:

tollermom

Well, if _all_ I need is dithering, I'll just mix in Photoshop. :-p

My calendar is insane from now through the first weekend in May (that's when the trip to KC is) and then eases up a little between then and Marcon. (Of course, things are really less than sane 'til after Conterpoint, 'cause all my spare time needs to be going into getting ready for that!)

I finally had a chance to look more closely at the mixing gizmo that you pointed me to. Ouch. It's a pricy little sucker, and the lightpipe capability isn't something that I'd need often since I don't have an ADAT. I'm wondering about something like this little Firewire mixer as a way to get physical faders for mixing on the laptop. It's certainly a more comfortable price point, at least 'til I see whether mixing is something that I'm going to do often or only sporadically! Any thoughts?

From:

billroper

The Alesis box is a completely different sort of beast. Here's a review of its 16 channel big brother. Instead of mixing using Cubase's (or Logic's) summing engine, you'd be mixing using the Alesis mixer's summing engine, unless you wanted to mix with a mouse in the box. (Which is always an option, but not very tactile.) Alesis mixers are kind of blah overall.

tarkrai mixed Gather Day on his older Alesis mixer, while I mixed Drive By Barding on the d8b -- that's not the only difference in the recordings, but it is one of the significant ones.

See, this beastie isn't a controller, which is what you need in order to get physical faders for desktop mixing. Also, the review suggests that the mic pres aren't that great (not a surprise) and the built-in effects and EQ aren't so hot.

If you're looking to save money on a controller, this might be a good way to go. You only get one fader at a time, but it's a pretty nice fader and channel strip. :) And these guys make good gear.