In-the-box vs Hybrid Mixing

In-the-box mixing: the plugin revolution

Ever since software began to dominate the music production market at the start of the 21st century, the advantages of a DAW and plugins running on a Mac or PC over a shedload of studio hardware and a tape deck have been readily apparent. Back in the noughties, there was still a case to be made for, say, a good hardware compressor sounding evidently ‘better’ than any plugin alternative, that quality gap didn’t take long to close and is far less of a differential today than it was even a decade ago. Indeed, it’s highly unlikely that you can tell the difference between an 1176 emulation and the real thing in the mix, and an absolute certainty that your listeners won’t be able to.
 
Then there are the money and convenience factors. A plugin equivalent to any modern or vintage outboard processor will not only be much cheaper, but will allow you to run as many of them in a project as your computer can handle, while hardware takes up space, requires maintenance and can’t all be carried around with you in a laptop bag. And finally, as anyone who’s ever tried to reinstate an old project on a hardware mixer and outboard rack, guided only by crumpled drawings and scribbled notes of knob and fader positions, will attest, the instant recall of every element of the mix when you load up a DAW project is nothing short of a modern miracle.

The case for hardware: keeping it real

With all of the above in mind, it’s understandable why anyone who’s only ever mixed in the box might be sceptical about the potential upsides of hardware. But while its limitations are obvious and certainly significant – the relative price, the fact that you only get one ‘instance’ for your money, the lack of recall, etc – the positives are and always will be more than compelling enough to keep real-world studio equipment very much in the game.
 
First of all, no matter what the die-hard digital futurists claim, there’s something about the naturally warm, present, ‘three-dimensional’ sound of a good piece of analogue gear that may never be perfectly replicated in software. Sure, these days the differences between electronic circuits and their algorithmically modelled alternatives can be all but imperceptible in context, but if ‘that analogue sound’ is on your list of aural priorities, clearly real analogue hardware is the best way to get it.
 
Then there’s the tactile aspect of using a tangible mixer or outboard unit. The direct connection between bodily movement and sonic response that you get from manipulating physical controls in real space is unarguably more satisfying and immediate than dragging their on-screen equivalents around with a mouse. You can, of course, hook up a MIDI controller and assign plugin parameters to its knobs and faders for a similar feel, but there’s no getting around that unresolvable disconnect between your hands and the plugin interface itself. It’s a purely bodily detail, for sure, but it can have more of an impact on your relationship with the mix than you might think.

Hybrid mixing: the best of both

Ultimately, then, while there’s nothing intrinsically ‘wrong’ with taking a fully in-the-box approach to mixing, introducing outboard processing to your rig will always pay creative and qualitative dividends, enabling you to enjoy and exploit the authentic analogue texture and tactility of hardware alongside the digital convenience and multiplicity of software. Whether you want to incorporate a few choice outboard effects to facilitate analogue processing of individual tracks, groups or auxiliaries, or get a mixing desk in on the action for analogue bussing, summing and equalisation, injecting some genuine electronic mojo into your otherwise-virtual signal paths can make a huge difference to the sound of your mixes and the experience of creating them.

Bring it all together with the iD48

Beyond your selected outboard and/or mixer, the only other component needed to realise the hybrid mixing dream is a high-quality audio interface for shuttling signals between your DAW and external hardware. When choosing an interface for this particular purpose, minimising friction in the attachment and routing of outboard devices should be a top priority – and with its unique switchable inserts and expansive I/O, the Audient iD48 offers all the signal routing versatility required to build a supremely effective hybrid mixing platform.
 
If you’re looking to route tracks and/or groups out from your DAW to a hardware mixer (with or without outboard effects in tow) for analogue submixing and summing, all you have to do is connect the iD48’s eight line outputs (or 16 with an ADAT expander attached) directly to the mixer’s inputs. However, our flagship interface truly comes into its own as the heart of a hybrid mixing setup when you put its eight Insert Send and Return jacks to work, making integrating outboard hardware into your DAW projects without a mixer in sight almost as effortless as loading plugins. Just connect your hardware to the Inserts, set the internal routing to ‘ADC Direct’ mode in the iD Software Mixer, and load your DAW’s ‘external effect’ plugin onto the channel or bus in question to route its output to the effect, then back into the channel/bus (bypassing the iD48’s mic preamps) for monitoring and recording. This integration of hardware into the software environment is so seamless that it makes moving between plugins and outboard feel like one continuous workflow, rather than two discrete modes of operation.
 
So, if you’ve yet to try taking your music production outside the box, get yourself a hardware effect or two (tip: guitar pedals make for a fun and cost-effective introduction), and an audio interface of suitable specification, and give hybrid mixing a go. Your music will thank you for it.