Re: Is Linux A Feasible Platofrm For Professional DAW work ?

Mike Rivers <mrivers@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Frank Stearns wrote:

Consider the very first time you saw a large-frame in-line console with all those
knobs, buttons, and possibilities (or worse yet, a large-frame with a separate
four-speaker monitor mix section). Oy. Talk about the dark side of the moon

But it's so nice - there's a place for everything, and everything in its
place. And it
stays there. You always know where to look and you can always see the whole

Agreed. That's why I didn't go with a control surface but rather extra monitors. I
have two 1920x1080 displays, one 37" and the other 22" (nearly five feet of main
display), and then another 17" 1200x1080. And I still have a port for a fourth
monitor.

I can't imagine doing DAW work on a single monitor, even the big one.


I've never worked in ProTools, but what I find about any DAW is that I
have a
difficult time finding things and remembering where to look for them. I
know the
stock answer to this. It starts with "After you've worked with it more .
. . " but

Me too, but this is what I've found good about PT. There's a certain consistency
(mostly) in how things are laid out, so you can usually find things again "from
scratch" if you've forgotten something (with the exception of some of their whacky
ways of naming certain preference items -- but that's another story).

I don't mind
being limited to a specific number of channels or sends or compressors
or bands
of EQ. If I can't work within the confines of a console, I'm probalby
not going to be
interested in the mixing job anyway.

Again, I agree.

But there are some useful compensations in terms of what you can do (if you can
think it, you can probably do it), what you can see, the amount of physical room
saved, complete automation possibilities of everything (and I mean everything), and
perhaps most important, "molecular"-level recall.

With most things I do it's nice to take a break, do something else, let it settle
for a few weeks, etc, but then come back to *EXACTLY* where I was last time.

I can quickly and easily put that one final bit of polish on a mix (after some
sanity recovery time has gone by). The clarity gained from the passage of time will
make it obvious what to tweak, and I can do so in minutes, even seconds, without
needing to reset a couple hundred controls (and guessing at the ones I failed to
document).

The wisdom is knowing when to stop, but this is aided by stopping sooner rather than
later, but then knowing you can come back with fresh ears, without the dread of
trying to exactly recreate a mix you did three weeks ago.

Now, the other thing I thought I'd never do is actually spend way more time on the
waveform display rather than the console display. Mixing, editing (and general
fixing) become a new, synergistic process that simply is not possible with a tape
machine/console.

This too can be overdone, but all those lessons learned with tape and consoles,
applied with a new tool set, can make for some fun and rewarding work, a lot of it
sounding pretty darn good.

In a way it's sad that many of the younger engineers will never have the training
experience of learning the kind of focus demanded by the tape and console
environment. Learning the ability to concentrate like that is a good thing!

I would not trade those tape and console years for anything, nor would my DAW
work be anywhere near as good had it not been for that experience.

But I only want to track with a console; that much has not changed!!

YMMV.

Frank
Mobile Audio

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