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My understanding is that consoles like this are really unique animals, each one having its own sound. Dave Grohl did a documentary called "Sound City" about his

My understanding is that consoles like this are really unique animals, each one having its own sound. Dave Grohl did a documentary called "Sound City" about his efforts to maintain a legendary console from another studio: https://www.fastcocreate.com/1682339/dave-grohl-explains-how-a-70s-era-recording-console-rocks-his-world-in-sound-city https://www.fastcocreate.com/1682339/dave-grohl-explains-how...

MrJagil 10y ago
That documentary is hogwash, a marketing stunt, feeding off nostalgia and romanticism. There's a reason they never use actual data and measurements to prove their points. If you really want to try those famous consoles, i'd recommend Sound Toys' "decapitator" plugin.
- efnx 10y ago
  It is true though, recording an album on tape is nothing like using a laptop and it shows in the final product. Not only is the path the sound takes different, but the recording, editing, mixing and mastering techniques required are different. You can do all the production on your laptop and then attempt to recreate an analog sound with effects but your end result is still very different.
- riprowan 10y ago
  > There's a reason they never use actual data and measurements to prove their points Artists use the most advanced measurement devices in the world: a binaural listening device connected to the world's most advanced neural net. The neural net is the best part. Sorry. There is much more to sound than frequency response, dynamic range, phase shift, and total harmonic distortion -- and moreover, the "optimum" amount of each of these is not fixed, but depends entirely on the material and the taste of the engineer & producer. You can get great sound "in the box," don't get me wrong, but ultimately there is, as yet, no substitute for the real thing. A saturation plugin is nowhere close. To accurately simulate this device, you would have to practically simulate at the molecular level.

MrJagil 10y ago

That documentary is hogwash, a marketing stunt, feeding off nostalgia and romanticism. There's a reason they never use actual data and measurements to prove their points. If you really want to try those famous consoles, i'd recommend Sound Toys' "decapitator" plugin.

efnx 10y ago
It is true though, recording an album on tape is nothing like using a laptop and it shows in the final product. Not only is the path the sound takes different, but the recording, editing, mixing and mastering techniques required are different. You can do all the production on your laptop and then attempt to recreate an analog sound with effects but your end result is still very different.
riprowan 10y ago
> There's a reason they never use actual data and measurements to prove their points Artists use the most advanced measurement devices in the world: a binaural listening device connected to the world's most advanced neural net. The neural net is the best part. Sorry. There is much more to sound than frequency response, dynamic range, phase shift, and total harmonic distortion -- and moreover, the "optimum" amount of each of these is not fixed, but depends entirely on the material and the taste of the engineer & producer. You can get great sound "in the box," don't get me wrong, but ultimately there is, as yet, no substitute for the real thing. A saturation plugin is nowhere close. To accurately simulate this device, you would have to practically simulate at the molecular level.