Analog Recording on Any Budget

Fat analog warmth — it’s the Holy Grail that most of us have been chasing since tape-based recording started fading away in the late 1990s. It’s the mythical sound epitomized by legendary albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Dark Side of the Moon, and Led Zeppelin IV. The pleasant edge of an overloaded tube, the vintage coloration of a transformer, the exquisite compression of saturated analog tape — these are the intangible qualities that many long for in our modern, digital world.
So how do you capture this fabled sound? Is analog tape the answer? Maybe — but even if you snatch up a working Studer A800 2-inch 24-track tape machine, there are a myriad of factors to consider, in addition to the fiscal ramifications of such a decision. For instance, these machines contain dozens of moving parts — many that are notoriously temperamental — so you’ll need to find a maintenance engineer. Do you know how to align a multitrack tape machine? Do you have the tools to set the correct azimuth on the heads? If not, you’ll need to pay somebody to do that. Beyond that, pro-quality analog tape formulations are scarce and expensive.
Okay — tracking to tape requires a lot of money and know-how. So are you out of luck? Are you doomed to a life of sterile digital recordings? The answer is “no.” By adding carefully selected outboard gear and well-placed analog emulations to your workflow, you can get frighteningly close to the analog sound you imagine in your head.
Build a Great-sounding Analog Front End

Aside from analog tape, the mojo of many of your favorite classic albums comes from the microphones, consoles, and analog outboard gear that were used to record them. But you don’t need to buy a $100,000 console to get that sound. What you need is a high-quality analog front end.
The first component to crafting a great-sounding analog front end is the microphone. After all, it is what captures the sounds that you’re recording. A large-diaphragm condenser is the centerpiece of nearly every studio. Prices vary widely, from inexpensive yet impressive offerings like the sE Electronics sE2300 and RODE NT1-A to the mid-priced Mojave Audio MA-200 and Telefunken CU-29 Copperhead to high-end mics like a Neumann M 149 and Bock Audio 251.
Once you’ve found a mic you like, what’s next? You need a channel strip, which is basically one channel of a console. Why pay outrageous sums of money for an entire console if you’re only recording a few tracks at a time? The 1073-inspired offerings, like the Warm Audio WA73-EQ, Chameleon Labs 7603, and Vintech X73, are an excellent way to inject your projects with that classic British-console sound. You can also get the Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, if you’re looking for the real Neve deal. Or maybe you’re an SSL aficionado? The Solid State Logic XLogic Alpha Channel covers that. API? Get The Channel Strip. Whatever console sound you’re searching for, there’s likely a channel strip that nails it. And buying a handful of channel strips is much less expensive than shelling out for an entire console.

Want a great cost-effective way to build your own custom channel strip? Then get a 500 Series rack. Overall, 500 Series racks enable you to craft a channel strip with the preamp, EQ, and compressor of your choice from leading pro audio companies such as API, BAE, Rupert Neve Designs, Chandler Limited, dbx, Focusrite, and many more. Check out Sweetwater’s 500 Series Gear Buying Guide to learn more.

Emulating an Analog Front End with Modeling

Just a few years ago, if you had asked if digital emulations could replace a high-quality analog front end, the answer would have been a resounding “no.” These days, however, that’s no longer the case. Cutting-edge technology, such as the Unison preamps on Universal Audio’s Apollo X interfaces, goes way beyond traditional software modeling and emulations. UA’s impressive tech actually adjusts the preamp circuit, impedance, and analog gain structure to replicate the sound of a whole slew of analog consoles. You can also add spot-on emulations of an endless selection of EQs and compressors to your virtual front end.
Would you like a locker full of coveted, high-end microphones? Digital modeling can do that, too, and for a lot less money than buying a bunch of “real-world” mics. The Slate Digital VMS Virtual Microphone System combines an extremely transparent microphone with modeling software that supplies you with a realistic emulation of a world-class mic locker and preamp collection. The Townsend Labs Sphere L22 is a modeling system that not only emulates a variety of microphones, but it also enables you to change your mic selections and polar patterns after you’ve finish recording. So how do they sound? Check out Sweetwater’s Virtual Mic Shootout, and listen for yourself.

Add Analog Outboard to Your Mixing Sessions

There’s something magical about what analog parts like transistors, photocells, capacitors, and transformers do to audio — they are fundamental ingredients in most classic recordings. That’s why even if you work in the box, adding a few pieces of key analog outboard can add loads of personality to your mixes.
Compression is one of a mix engineer’s most-used tools. There are a lot of models to choose from, but a few classics are studio staples. The Universal Audio LA-2A electro-optical compressor, and its value-priced descendants such as the Warm Audio WA-2A and Klark Teknik KT-2A, are an engineer’s secret weapon for vocals, bass, drums, guitars — basically everything. Want to slam something into oblivion? That’s when the pros reach for the Universal Audio 1176LN limiter/compressor or its counterpart, the Purple Audio MC77 — the affordable Warm Audio WA76 and Klark Teknik 1176-KT are also available. Another tried-and-true studio essential is the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor — it can subtly color a track with harmonic distortion, gently massage a vocal with opto-esque dynamic processing, or nuke a drum room with brutal brickwall limiting.

Another bona fide studio standard is the Pultec EQP-1A tube equalizer. If any piece of gear can be considered magic, it’s the Pultec. You can run a signal through it with all the controls set to zero, and you’ll still experience sonic bliss. And when you do adjust its controls, you’ll find that its EQ curves are unlike anything else you’ve ever experienced. This legendary equalizer has inspired many clones — some legendary in their own right — such as the Tube-Tech PE 1C, Manley Enhanced Pultec EQ, WesAudio LC-EQP, and Retro Instruments 2A3. And for the budget-minded, there are the Warm Audio EQP-WA and Klark Teknik EQP-KT. Want to hear them in action? Check out Sweetwater’s Pultec EQ Shootout.

One of the best places to put outboard gear is on your mix bus. Even if you rely exclusively on plug-ins, passing your entire mix through high-quality analog gear can really give it a classic studio sheen. You can really enhance and polish your mixes by running through a compressor such as the Solid State Logic Fusion. Doing so really glues the mix together — and will make your mixes “sound like a record.” The TK Audio BC1-S is a great, less-expensive way to achieve the “glue.” The Rupert Neve Designs Portico II MBP and the lower-cost Heritage Audio Successor provide a classic, British-sounding bus compression. The Manley Variable Mu is a mainstay in ultra-high-end studios — combining it with a Manley Massive Passive EQ is pure mix bus ecstasy.

Emulating Analog Outboard with Modeled Plug-ins

One of the downsides of analog gear is that it’s expensive — even lower-cost hardware adds up if you buy a lot of units. And some folks, either by choice or by necessity, mix exclusively in the box. If this describes you, you’re a prime candidate for analog-modeled plug-ins. These plug-ins will get you squarely in the same sonic ballpark as their hardware equivalents for a lot less money — and you can use as many instances as your computer can handle!
So which one should you buy? The Waves Studio Classics Collection, Waves CLA Classic Compressors, and Waves JJP Analog Legends Collection are a great place to start. These three bundles put the sound of SSL, API, and Neve right at your fingertips, along with the favorite outboard gear of acclaimed engineers Chris Lord-Alge and Jack Joseph Puig. The Slate Digital VMR 2.0 Bundle gives you access to nearly every classic piece of hardware you can think of in an easy-to-use channel strip format. The Empirical Labs Arousor is my favorite drum bus plug-in at the moment — it’s basically a Distressor on steroids.
The king of analog-modeled plug-ins, however, is Universal Audio. Their UAD-2 platform provides DSP-accelerated analog modeling that’s astonishingly close to the actual hardware. For under $5,000, you can have around 100 of the best hardware emulations on the market at your disposal. Buying that much real analog hardware would be insane!
If you’re wondering which is better, plug-ins or analog hardware, check out this article: Plug-ins vs. Hardware — Which Should You Choose?

Adding a Scaled-down Analog Console to Your Studio

Even though they mostly work inside a DAW, many pro studios still use an analog console while mixing, thereby placing the console’s sonic stamp onto their mixes. But unless it’s a top-tier studio, they typically don’t use vintage $100,000 consoles. Rather, they use a scaled-down board like the API The Box, Trident 78, Audient ASP4816, or Solid State Logic Matrix2. These consoles are all under $25,000, which is expensive — but much more affordable than their larger brethren. These analog boards not only deliver the elusive mixed-on-a-console sound, but they contain features that are geared toward modern digital workflows, such as DAW integration and monitor control, while eschewing the redundant or unnecessary features of larger consoles.

Analog Summing Injects Your Mix with Authentic Analog Flavor

If you want to make your projects sound like they were mixed on a world-class analog console, but you don’t want or need a full console, an analog summing mixer like the Dangerous Music D-BOX+, Dangerous Music 2-BUS+, Phoenix Audio Nicerizer 16 Mk2, Burl Audio B32 Vancouver, Rupert Neve Designs 5059 Satellite, or Solid State Logic Sigma will help you achieve the sound you’re reaching for. These devices take the individual tracks of your mix, sum them into a stereo track in the analog domain, then feed the final stereo mix back into your computer. The sound is analogous (pun intended) to summing the tracks on an analog console. The result will often have more headroom, punch, and dimensionality — all the adjectives we’d use to describe the sound of a world-class console. Best of all, analog summing mixers are a fraction of the cost of a console of comparable quality.

Getting a Console Sound in the Box

Analog summing mixers are expensive. If they’re out of your price range, there are other options. Plug-ins like the Slate Digital VCC Virtual Console Collection and Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer will give you a similar experience in the box. And for Pro Tools | Ultimate users, Avid HEAT is a great way to add tube- and tape-like analog magic to your sound. My article How to Get a Console Sound in the Box covers how to use these types of plug-ins, along with tape emulations, to achieve a larger-than-life, analog-flavored sound.

Adopt an Analog Workflow and Mentality
While gear is undoubtedly important to achieving an analog sound, the way you work can have an equally important impact. When they were recording classic albums in the pre-DAW era, artists were forced to make decisions early in the recording process. Engineers had to plan for track limits — they didn’t have unlimited tracks at their disposal. And there was no “undo” function — it was like working in destructive editing mode at all times. Decisiveness and compromise were an ongoing reality.
So what can you learn from this? Set limits for yourself. Make decisions early in the recording process and commit to them. Never tell yourself, “I’ll fix it later.” Mark Hornsby, Sweetwater Studios Vice President of Operations/Senior Producer/Engineer, wrote an eye-opening article, Less Is More: The Art of Unproducing, that discusses this concept in more detail.

In Conclusion
You don’t need an analog tape machine, $100,000 console, and endless racks of gear to churn out analog-sounding recordings. A proper analog front end, a few pieces of hardware, and some well-positioned analog-modeled plug-ins can achieve the fat warmth you’ve been dreaming of. And thanks to the wide range of gear that’s available, you can do it on any budget.

If you’re frustrated by the results you’re getting from your current studio, give your Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700. They’ll help you find the combination of analog hardware and modeling software that you need to get the sound you’re aiming for.
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