Inserts vs Effects Sends – Which to use for what

Many young engineers, and home recording enthusiasts, have never worked with an analog console before, and they only mixer they have ever used is that built into their DAW software of choice. They may have had no formal training, and thus may be unfamiliar with the way channel inserts and effects sends, or aux sends, are traditionally used, especially in the big studios with big analog consoles. While there is no right or wrong way to do anything, and modern DAW software and computers have enough power to do almost anything you want, there are reasons why the more traditional methods of using inserts and sends were established.

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Better Mixes through Subtraction

One of the problems with recording technology today is that you can have pretty much unlimited audio and MIDI tracks. Today’s computers and hard drives are more than fast enough to easily handle 100 audio tracks or more, and virtually unlimited MIDI tracks, all at the same time. The problem

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3D Mixing and the Art of Equalization

Here is a reply of mine to a person who asked about sound sculpting during a mix. Regarding sound sculpting, let me tell you about a very common mistake that beginners make during mixing (and sometimes tracking): An all too common practice during mixing is to solo up each sound

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