Oh man, the engineers are going to have a field day with his explanation of analog/digital

> "Analog is smooth" … "nothing is ever going to be as smooth as the original" That's a bad explanation. Those stair-step-shaped graphs are just a common visual metaphor for representing digital signals; they do not faithfully illustrate what you'll really hear. When you compare the output of an analog synth/mixer/filter to the output of the digital equivalent on an oscilloscope (analog or ditial; doesn't matter), the waveforms look *exactly the same*. When you push different implementations of the same concept *beyond* the limits where they can manage to be equivalent, you're going to hear some differences. For a example, digital clipping sounds very different from analog clipping. Depending on what you're trying to do, one effect may be way more desirable than the other. Intuitively, you can distinguish between 'natural' vs. 'artificial', 'warm' vs. 'harsh', etc., and creatively exploit these effects in musical ways. But don't get fooled into making conclusions about what's physically possible with one type of signal vs. the other. In practice, it's more about what's economically feasible. For example, neither type of signal can reproduce the platonic ideal of a square wave, with perfect right angles, because they both have a limited band-width. Obviously, no real speaker or headphone membrane will ever follow such a tracectory accurately, magically teleporting from one amplitude to the other in zero time. Because, again, the bandwidth is limited. And that's no problem at all, because the bandwidth of human hearing is also limited. The idea of thinking of a digital signal as a series of "snapshots" is spot-on; really good metaphor. But such a signal still carries exactly the same information as the analog equivalent. By the time you actually hear it (through an adequate DAC), it makes no difference. Construing analog signals to be 'smoother' is a complete misconception; totally beside the point. Sure, when you work with real-world gear you can actually afford, you notice some trends: Analog tends to cause less latency. Digital tends to introduce less noise. If you don't find it entirely necessary to study signal-processing maths until you understand exactly why that is the case, you're pretty much right. Just understand this: If you believe that analog performs somehow better by some vague 'smoothness' metric, you're dangerously close to being convinced that master volume knobs ought to be made of organic wood and that mixing consoles sound best when powered by gluten-free electricity.

Mixing with your ears and not with your eyes really hit me. Very well said.

It's really tough to watch a video about audio when the audio quality in the video is really bad. Love reverb, but what happened here?

"If you're on a budget..." "$550" I'll just keep living with my couple cheap pedals and Tascam US-1x2 I guess. Helpful explanations though in regards to how analog is captured and converted to digital.

Aside from the slightly distracting background music, this video is ace. You just can't replicate everything analog gear does, purely inside the box. Start from the mic and work your way along the stream. I always recommend this approach and it's nice to see that train of thought reinforced here. Really, the only thing that never stops sucking about analog gear, is the price. Even cheap stuff isn't really cheap but hey, you want that magic, I guess you gota save up for it. Makes you respect the struggle and gear a lot more, that's for sure.

People ask how I get my vocals so clear. It’s no question because I use a small mixer with a built in compressor. Get the gain just right eq out the boom on the bottom and all the extra useless highs then compress it and as long as u have a decent filter even in a home studio setup in a big room it’ll sound close to booth quality

All credit to Xiph, but to regurgitate his point: In a band-limited signal like digital audio, the "stairsteps" aren't part of the final result. These get filtered out by an anti-aliasing filter and the resulting wave, once converted back to analog, is a hundred percent identical (save frequencies above Nyquist, which are inaudible, anyway). The stairstep is a helpful visual aide, but does not tell the whole story. To say digital will never have the same fidelity is purely false.

The Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem undermines the premise of this video

the irony of this video

I m a audio engineer who goes around looking for beginner videos. Just so that I can complain because Im not really an audio engineer. KZfaq in a nutshell

I think you hit the nail right on the head about listening with your ears and not your eyes. I’ve been thinking about this idea a lot recently. Getting into recording and mixing can be extremely confusing with today’s new technology, but (for me at least) everything began making sense when I started to learn about analog gear.

Very informative. Thank you

Great River and Distressor are among my faves for sure

I just recently got UAD solo and the pultec EQ emulation is so unbelievable... I still want that warm audio gear pultec eq now tho ahhhh

My mans with the Antelope Orion 32! 👌

So many don't even mention the LL2A compressor limiter from Little Labs. That piece of kit is like 3 different compressors in one, and it also has mastering capabilities. I love mine. State of the art, and it gets the job done in a very transparent manner. Check it out if you ever have time. One love.

This guy right here, gets a golden star.

It is a common misconception that digital sound is like little steps. When is it converted to analog, the sound wave is smooth and the number of sample/sec. is enough to reproduce it correctly. In a decent setup, you would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test... It is sad when people cut corners like that when it comes to explain the differences between analog and digital.

Digital audio recording software still depends on getting the highest quality sound on the deck, and that means you really want to be using good compressors in your signal chain *before* your interface. Software cannot make up for it after the fact. The problem with this, of course, is that high quality hardware compressors are expensive and stereo units are less common, but absolutely necessary in some applications. Even with low-end units, a small project studio with 16 input channels is expensive to fit with 16 channels of hardware compression, but it's absolutely vital, especially in today's restricted dynamic range marketplace.

For me it's feeling the music under my fingers instead of seeing it. I'm using a hybrid mixer (soundcraft 12mtk) I group all instruments in the daw and than send it through the eq and faders for final tweaking. Which is close to what's in the daw but it's always a bit different. Experimenting with guitars through a DI but up till now I prefer my cab with blackbacks and a ribbon plus at2035 mic. Maybe it's also between the ears. But let's be honest that's where art comes from. So if it makes your end result better... Why not. Doesn't matter what the reason is.

Thank you!

Really awesome video!!! So concise and informative!!!

Really good video! I run a tube mic into a tube mic pre into a tube compressor into a tube Pultec. I run this into REAPER.

My vocal chain consist of a WA12 MK2 black mic preamp from Warm Audio; I chain an LL2A compressor limiter from Little Labs behind that (In FET mode); then I run a channel of the Art Pro VLA 2 behind that (optical compressor), but I only incorporate the last compressor into the signal if I feel I need more warmth/depth in the signal. Nothing like tracking through hardware.

I bought my first serious piece of hardware gear, an UA1176 compressor. Totally blew away any plugin compression I've ever heard. In fact, I realized how 2D all plugins are. The hardware is 3D and now I'm all about it. The future is hardware for me.

Great video i agree with almost all of this except the explanation of what digital is ans does. If you send something thats been contertednto and from digital to a oscilloscope you will see 90 percent of the time it will look almost exactly the same. The blocks are just a way for us to understand and visually see what digital does. But between each point is where it overshoots and records the information between the blocks.

Great vid…..how do you feel about the combined pre-amp compressors?

That was a brilliant video that answered 90% thanks man. You do such great to the point vids.

While I support the message of this video, the explanation of the technical difference between analog and digital is mathematically incorrect. There is no inherent reason why analog should always sound better (or smoother as you say it) and digital will never get there. The actual differences are very technical and rather complicated, however they are most often neglectable if they are dealt with in the right way. Just try out stuff and don't be too preconceived in your opinion whether it's analog or digital. There is great and horribel things on both sides. Saying that as a computer scientist and signal processing guy.

He's living the dream

I am going to build a mastering chain this year. Thinking about getting 2 Burl Audio B1D Mic Pre amps and an API 2500 Bus-compressor. Cant decide which EQ though, maybe the Tegeler Audio Manufaktur EQP-1. Man I'm gonna be broke, but its true, nothing comes close to analog harmonic distortion. Tried a lot of plugins, no chance.

So much good info in the video

1:23 then digitized into your computer 2:16 but as you increase the resolution your digitization gets so close that you... yes you... will not be able to tell

Thanks for your video, I agree totally. Plugins are 2D and "flat" feeling, Analog gears are 3D, warmer and more "in your face". The main reason is that the plugins are all BAD under 200 Hz, despite if there are excellent in the frequencies above. And people must think about Aliasing VS low frequencies, that's a real point. Analog gears is mandatory to sound Professionnal. Also, people neglect the mastering step: It is so important to reach a real Pro sound. Merge Analog and Plugins is possible of course!!!! No parish as long as it pleases the ears.

Hi, great video! I own the stereo version MP-2NV Great River. Since it doesnt have Line Inputs. How would you transfer tracks from your Daw (Basses, bus groups, synths, drum samples etc.) to the preamp using the line outs of my RME interface? Because the signal would be so hot to feed a preamp and the Impedance would also be a problem, right? What would be the best way to do it? I would like to give my software instruments a bit of depth and spice making them go through real circuits transformers. Thanks.

Analogue gear is expensive. And you can for sure get good sound in the box, you don’t have to have great analogue gear. Having said that, an outboard compressor during tracking of drums, vocals, bass or any other transient rich signals is amazing, it’s so much easier to immediately tackle those sounds and peaks before hitting the computer. It’s somehow more coherent sounding, almost like the compressor helped sum the signal in a nice way. But if you are happy in the box, spend your hard earned money on open back headphones for mixing, and a good microphone, probably $500-1000. That’s all you need to sound amazing. Those two things will make a huge difference.

This guy might make great sounding records, but he doesn't know how digital audio works (and has explained it incorrectly). The points themselves are valid! Certainly not one for the budget conscious though...

You make it sound like analog (magnetic tape)signals have infinite resolution, which is certainly not the case.

Many op-amp based, capacitor and linear powered based analogue effect pedals such as distortions or tube screamers add a 45 degree phase shift due to their circuit design. Stack a couple of those and you have more latency than a good digital domain running at a modern fast clock rate. What about the latency in a big studio live room - a 40ft room adds a delay of 35.7 milliseconds. PA's always have time delay correction. Analogue is never instant - what about the distance between record and playback heads on a tape machine?

For live performances, using a DAW makes you be a perfectionist, like you will try to make every edit perfect, which can suck away creativity. It makes you a programmer rather than a performer. I could be wrong.

If we're talking about tracking, that's one thing. But with the advent of elite mixers like Tchad Blake, Andrew Scheps, and Michael Brauer mixing completely ITB, the analog vs. digital debate is just downright antiquated.

Wow, that's some expensive stuff. They need to do one of these with things that the average Joe or Jane can afford. I'll start by voting for the dbx 160A for my "high-end" compressor.

the audio from this video couldve used a de-esser. kinda hard to listen to.

Can you not take the FFT of a tube amp and the FFT of the input signal then multiply the two together then use the IFFT to recover the sound you are looking for

i honestly thought analog was a waste of money, and that people who say analog is the best sound, but i didnt know shit, about mixing, i never tried analog mixing, but i started using some emulated analog plugins, and i found that the sound is different, i know its not the same, but it does change the sound from digital processing, and i found myself not making hard cuts and hard boosts on eq, or compressing heavily, and makng the vocals sound unnatural, mixing with ssl channel a pultec eq and analog compressors force me to listen to what im doing instead of looking at the plugin like an eq and boost more cause it doesnt LOOK RIGHT

Addressing point number 4 - it's true that it's better to mix with your ears than your eyes, but you should have mentioned what radical a difference it can make HOW the listener will hear the track - their phone speaker, in the car... Their bass boosted BT boombox? This is why having big, precisely tuned (expensive) monitors in a acoustically flat room (expensive) is the only realistic alternative to getting to know a much more accessible graphical EQ. Really I guess it comes down to knowing your monitors/headphones and their inherent imperfections, and how to compensate for that in the mix.

great stuff, thx

With the way this video explains the difference between digital and analog waveforms I am left very confused. Maybe I am missing something, but from what I'm gathering it wouldn't make any difference in sound if all the analog gear is eventually ran into an interface and becomes a digital file.

What are those monitors he has?

How do you route this kind of stuff? I've tried to use outboard gear by sending signal from an out on my interface, to the unit (compressor, eq, etc.), and then from an out on the unit back into a line in on the interface. My results haven't been exactly good and I believe I might be routing this poorly.

hey. so while we're giving tips here... guys, you should consider recording better quality audio on a video discussing how to get the best quality audio. I can't take u seriously when I've heard Twitch streamers with better audio quality lmfaoo

Nothing like tracking through hardware.

Hi Jay I am starting up a home studio, and want quality but not too expensive stuff . I have an ISA One for example so around that price range. I do alot of vocal and guitar work, so which Compressor, Eq and Reverb units would you recommend? Thanks Jay

Steve Albini and Electrical Audio.... enough said LOL

In terms of instrumental production, I dont play an instrument, so all my sounds are coming out of my DAW..will Mixing pre recorded audio with Hardware EQ,Compressors etc make much difference instead of doing all the mixing in the box..? Thanks in advance!

audio sounds like shit cause he recorded digital instead of analog

Great detail. Hi there how would you sum in Ableton using an SSL six through a second Gen 18i20 from focusrite? Any help is welcomed. I'm currently sending my main out from 18i20 to 1 and 2 on the SSL and the main out of the SSL goes to the inputs 3abd 4 on the 18i20. I'm thinking there must be a better way but I can't work it out. I just got the SSL six yesterday. Cheers

Lots and lots of great records are recorded on tape, right now.

I do not believe that we will never be able to perfectly recreate analog signals. Sure we can’t do it now (albeit we are so close that only the most hardcore and trained people could tell the difference without tools) but eventually they will be able to. It’s just like when people say we won’t be able to do other things. Air planes, PCs, etc.

I dunno..., concrete is very small rocks and seems pretty smooth.

If I had only one piece of analog gear to record with, it would be a mic pre(probably the neve 500 series one.). The next piece would be an analog synth/drum machine. The stepping of digital signals are extremely fine. Finer than perceptible by humans. I have seen demonstrations of analog signals being converted to digital then getting sent to an analog oscilloscope and there is no stepping seen. Also the last few generations of audio interface(MOTU or focusrite gen 2 or 3) has such a low latency as to make it a non-factor when in every day use. The "theory" in this video is very ignorant, biased, and/or an over simplification.

No analog gating? Or is that built into your compressor?

Have you tried the pulsar vari-mu?

What song is playing in the background at the beginning?!

Does anyone else feel really sceptical listening to videos about audio that have terrible audio

Great video

ironic considering the shockingly terrible audio quality in this video

Meh... the “it will never be as smooth” is very misleading. First, it makes it seem like analog is-and will always be-better. Not true. Digital is way cleaner; that’s the half the problem; it’s often too clean. Second, no matter what you do, your music will end up digital anyway. And we’ll all be okay. 😉

I've had a Great RIver for many years now.. It was recomended by my mastering engineer.. BUY ONE. Its awesome. Jay - whats your choice for a great Condensor vocal mic ??(men/women).. thanks.

Nice video! People just don't want to settle on the analog vs digital thing, however. An emulation of one piece of 1073 is an emulation of that particular 1073. Some other piece in better, or worse shape, might sound different. Personally I use a 73 style pre and 2a style compressor by Warm Audio and comparing them with digital emulations by Waves Audio, I can say they sound quite similar at similar settings. It's not a point of better analog, or worse digital and sure, all of them cost me a serious amount of money. But as the guy in the video explains, with analog you can go to extreme settings! And is more fun turning knobs, than clicking on the mouse, period! And your eyes will thank you, for less exposure to the computer screen... Horses for courses! Be prepared to invest on equipment, money you can actually afford, get it working and just make some f... music! That's all that matters... Just, move 'em people!

i have a warm audio wa73 eq and wa76 compressor. im running the preamp out into the compressor but i see that the wa73 preamp eq has an insert? am I doing this wrong? i guess im confused with my gainstaging for my signal. i usually dial the input in (back off 1 click from noticeable grit), then hit the eq if need be, then hit the yellow of the output trim on preamp and into my compressor, after comopressing 3-10db, i go line in to my focusrite. is this correct?

2:00 I wonder if digital signal will ever be as smooth as analog curve? I want to be told three times.

That’s a sensitive capsule

I thought he was holding a vaporiser in his hand at first

You don't prefer analog gear because you are losing the integrity or truth of the audio recording signal...you prefer analog gear because you are actively altering the integrity or truth of the original audio signal--it just happens to be in a pleasing way. It's literally the opposite that's explained in the video. Digital "waves" in practical reality never look like blocks...it's a misunderstanding of how digital sampling actually applies in the real world due to textbook illustrations, which were meant for theoretical understanding of concepts--or as a means to demonstrate differences between analog and digital in a graphical sense. I appreciate the video, however I think it's a bit misguided. From a recording engineer perspective, certainly you have more experience and that's why Reverb contracted you to make the video; from an audio engineer perspective (yes, crossover) there is certainly some statements made here that are misleading and false in the practical sense. In fact, if what you are saying is absolutely true, and the reasons you've highlighted are in fact the reasons that analog is preferable, then you'd nullify every point of your argument by re-sampling it back through your ADC/DAC interface into the DAW. In other words, you're saying that you use outboard gear for particular effects and recording usage because it's smoother...it sounds better because it's smoother; you don't like to do everything digital because of the theory you discussed in the beginning, that it will be less smooth despite the high sample rate. If this is the case--that is, if the digital sampling results in a loss of quality--wouldn't you just be losing all the analog goodness as soon as it get's resampled back from the outboard routing into your interface for analog-to-digital conversion; again, it will still only be able to re-created the signal in your DAW by "mario blocks" as you say. The only way your explanation would make sense is if you do EVERYTHING analog...including the print medium (to tape), and never even released the music on CD or through streaming services...but, only offered it as vinyl and perhaps reel-to-reel if even possible for the consumer. Otherwise, you will inevitably deal with this digital sampling conversion issue that you explain as the culprit. Thus, given the above contradiction, the reason analog is utilized has absolutely nothing to do with the fidelity of the signal being sampled (and, as explained a loss of smoothness or integrity) is actually and practically due to the seemingly pleasing audio artifacts, harmonic characteristics, and in reality imperfections of analog that result in it's supposed "richness", "warmth", "character", "soul", and any other intangible adjective used to describe analog superiority. In fact, the digital world processes the audio signal FAR, FAR more true to the real thing. In other words, when audio signals are processed within the digital environment, there is significantly less noise, and less colouring of the original sound. The same can't be said for analog processing; the signal is unavoidably adulterated far more than digital when processed through analog gear.

" I'm not going to buy a tape machine....It's just not realistic any more" I have to LMFAO at that because I just bought an old school dual tape deck and guess what... The brand is REALISTIC Isn't it ironic.... don't ya think..... So yes.... it IS still realistic to buy a tape deck... lots of pun intended.

Please?! Does anyone know the song in the background?!

If i buy all this stuff ,i'm a dead man 💣💣💣( dixit my dear wife )

The statement "No matter how small you make those blocks, it will never be as smooth" is complete bullshit. Harry Nyquist might fight you on that statement.

Yes that the truth ..analog is the best

Hard to trust a video about audio gear when the audio on the video is terrible.

I have to stop it watching because of the background sound. Don’t tell us about sound quality with a stupid repeating loop.

Why video sound is so bad ?!

Shaking ribbon mics like that is a BIG NO NO! Guys, don't do that at home. EVER!

Tape4Ever.

A transducer is a converter 😎👊

People still use tape

Why the background music? I thought a man talking like to be heard?!

This guy doesn't know how digital sound works, it seems. No, you don't get stairsteps. And yes, the EXACT original analog signal is what you're gonna get when converted back to analog again

The things id do if i had money

😎 I totally agree 👏👏👏🎼🎵🎤

Gsus, you guys shouldn't be PRO-TIPING anyone! with the crappy sound of this video. the backround music is too loud. the naration sounds like its MP3 @32kbps CBR. TSSTSS

A "pre"? Say preamp, please.

Reverb is really going downhill, terrible.

go to mollucass island

8:49 is he using auto tune? lol

That’s a lot a dough for us non trustfund cuties out there lol booyeah but ok I’m sure Spotify listeners will really love that I went to those measures, will really hear the diff ha no jk; I’m just being a butthole

go to borneo

Great video on how to use outboard gear! I recently uploaded a mixing tutorial, where I demonstrate how to connect an outboard unit, with the right cables. Check it out: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r86AY7eL29fJgY0.html