While some believe that analog recording is the holy grail for making records, the truth is that the industry has largely shifted towards the digital domain.
However, mixing and mastering engineers still prefer to add some sonic flavor using emulations of their favorite equipment. This begs the question: is there a benefit to using analog gear compared to working all in-the-box? To answer this question, let’s examine three things to consider about digital and analog workflows.
Electricity and Data
When working in the analog realm, electric signals are processed and sent through various components such as circuits, cables, patchbays, passive and active components, and even tape. Each step adds or removes something from the signal until it reaches the speakers and our ears. During the recording process, some engineers try to reduce the path from the source to the recording media to capture the analog signal in its purest form.
On the other hand, when working with digital audio, only zeros and ones are moved. The data gets transferred between the DAW, plug-ins, computer, and audio interface. The only analog signal that moves in this scenario is the one coming from a microphone or an instrument into the audio interface and from the interface to our speakers or headphones. Once the signal arrives at the converters, the analog processing ends.
Processing Signals
When recording, mixing, or processing audio through analog equipment, the audio signal gets modified through filters, compression, EQ, and saturation. Every electronic component will change something in the signal. That is part of the charm of this workflow. However, each time a mix is done, a different experience will be obtained. If the same processing is repeated on a signal on a different day, the result may not be exactly the same, even if all the equipment settings are correct. Small changes in temperature, dust, or even the smallest errors when dialling each knob will change the sound of the mix.
On the other hand, no matter how many times an audio file gets played, copied, or sent through DAW buses, if no processing is applied, the data remains the same. And if the same processing is repeated at any given time, the result will be the same. There is no variability in the behavior of a plug-in unless its parameters are changed. They are lines of codes that under the same conditions will do exactly the same process.
Maintenance and Uniqueness
Every piece of equipment needs some love and attention from time to time to be fully operational whenever it is required. Big commercial studios have their own team of engineers to keep all the equipment in check. That’s why if you own or want to get your hands on an analog console, tape machine, compressor, EQ, or 500 modules, bear in mind that they would need to be looked after every now and then, especially if they are vintage or second-hand. Good practices and controlled studio environments help to keep analog equipment in good shape. But still, with time and use, valves will blow, capacitors will get old, and even solder joints will need to be refreshed.
Software, on the other hand, is just text, a set of instructions to be followed by the computer when an input is introduced. Unless there is an update to fix a bug in the code or an improvement to the GUI or processing, the maintenance of plug-ins is next to zero. You only need to worry about running a healthy computer.
Having said that, the fast-paced processing development increases the need to upgrade machines more often to run the latest software or technology. This can turn into a big expense to do every 5 years