Backbones and summing
I read about the Thermionic Culture Fat Bustard today again. I think it looks like a really cool thing to send out stems to. This post will not only be about the Fat Bustard, because as usual when I’m bored on Sundays it ended up being a search for all kinds of similar and not so similar products.
I say “similar and not so similar” because most of these are different from each other. What they have most in common is actually that I thought of one after looking at another, starting a chain of gear searching. I started looking at things to send stems to, and from there went to pure summing units. A little disclaimer before we decide to dig into all the products here: I haven’t used any of them, ever.
Thermionic Culture Fat Bustard
So let’s start with the piece that got all this going. I’ve kept an eye on Thermionic Culture’s Fat Bustard (website) since it was first announced as an 8 channel line mixer. It has now grown to a 12 channel + 2 aux with some very nice features including an attitude knob, EQ and a stereo width control. A little bustard has been said to come as well, which will expand the Fat Bustard with more channels.
Besides looking too fucking good aesthetically not to consider, it also looks like a good sollution for someone like me to send out stems to. You see, with larger sessions I like to bus everything to at least four stems for further processing. Sometimes I also like to use Analog Channel or VirSyn VTAPE Saturator, and just a wee bit of EQ on the mix bus for final processing. I’d love for an awesome sounding hardware piece more or less to take care of all of that. As always with Thermionic Culture, it looks great and expensive.
TL Audio Fat track
A much cheaper unit is TL Audios Fat Track (website). It’s a different animal with two channels of mic pre and EQ, but is also intended for summing with it’s four stereo inputs.
TL Audio has a somewhat weak reputation among high-end people, at least in the US. I think this is mostly because of Gearslutz which has set trends at many other occasions as well. I haven’t used it, but I definitely won’t rule TL Audio out just because they’ve gotten a bad rep in one place. The Fat Track is supposedly based (at least partly) on the bigger M-consoles which I have friends who really like. Not that it matters, it’s not really what I’m looking for anyway so I’m not likely to get it.
Cranesong Spider
The Cranesong Spider (website) is a highly regarded eight channel mixer (mic preamps on everyone of them) from the comapny with my favorite name (think about it, how brilliant isn’t “Cranesong”?). It features two types of digital outputs: stereo and eight channel. The A/D converter is supposedly very good. Spider actually has a tape emulation in the chain as well, which I suppose is based on the Phoenix plug-in.
I have a very picky high-end friend who swears by this thing. I think it’s a very interesting unit, but for me it’s not right. I don’t need eight more mic preamps unless I go back to playing in a band again.
Shadow Hills Equinox
The Equinox is a two-channel preamp, 32-channel summing buss with talkback mic, dim switch, mono/stereo switch, and outputs to three sets of monitors and your headphone amp. It can be set to different types of flavors, and not with digital emulation, but analog.
Is this an odd bastard or what? Two channel preamp and a summing unit… Speaking of which…
Pure summing
While some people swear by their summing units, I’m not convinced that they’re any better than ITB. Actually, I’m convinced that they’re not. What they are is a different flavor (which of course is good if that’s what you want!). In the two summing shootout I’ve participated in, the ITB mix has actually placed among the top, and believe me, it usually does for a lot of people, even the most hardened analog freaks.
Up until the last week there would probably only be two summing units I would look at. First Vintage Design SU1 (website); because it’s Swedish, it’s Vintage Design and it’s Nevish. Second something API, I suppose the 8200 (website), because I really like the punch API has in their products. So what changed this last week? SPL is a company that pops up from time to time and really surprise me. The first time was actually in the first summing test where I liked their MixDream (website) a lot, the last time was with the release of their first plug-ins. I’ve only used them in two sessions but I really like them so far. Review is coming soon after more extensive testing. Simply put, I like the SPL sound. I guess it surprises me every time because it’s not one of the Neve’s, API’s or SSL’s.
I probably won’t ever get any of those however. I simply don’t think summing is that important. I want a little more with it if I’m gonna spend all that money. I’ve been very tempted by the Dangerous Music D-Box (website) which has been described as a Dangerous Music greatest hits. It seems like it gives you a lot for the money. The reason I’ve been holding off is because, despite how much I like the company, the Dangerous Music summing hasn’t faired better than ITB in the two summing shooutouts I’ve participated in. I almost forgot about Chandler Limited Mini Rack Mixer (website). It’s not actually a summing unit, but as the name suggests a mixer. Some really swears by Chandler, other think the stuff is too colored. I for one could stand a Chandler piece in my rack, but I’m not so sure I’d want to use it for summing.
I’m undecided and the search continues…
Good post! I’m not sold on any of them either…
By J ~ October 12, 2008 kl 4:21 pm
Thanks man
I’m gonna give the Equinox a listen (I could use two new pre’s as well), and I’ll give the Fat bustard a listen as well. But for the kind of money we’re talking about they damn well better be a HUGE improvement.
By stiff ~ October 12, 2008 kl 4:39 pm
Summing requires a wholly different mixing style. You can’t just port an ITB mix to different channels and expect an improved result. You have to take advantage of all of the additional digital headroom this technique affords you. Then you will avail yourself of the substantive differences between ITB and OTB.
For me (I have a Dangerous system), the main advantage is easy, convenient integration with analog outboard in your mixing process. Among other things, it allows you to get into parallel processing without thinking about issues of latency/timing, etc.
It’s just a more relaxing and pleasant way to mix. Worth the dough. I went with Dangerous, but I’m sure all of the items you list above are fantastic as well.
It’s a good time to be alive.
- c
By Chad ~ October 12, 2008 kl 5:48 pm
Chad,
“You can’t just port an ITB mix to different channels and expect an improved result”
Absolutely. And while I understand that summing shootouts doesn’t give a true representation of what the summing unit is capable off (usually it’s just the mix printed through the unit, and not mixed through the unit), I think it’s the only real way to do a shootout if you don’t have all the units at hand and are able to mix through each and everyone for yourself.
“For me (I have a Dangerous system), the main advantage is easy, convenient integration with analog outboard in your mixing process.”
Yep. Good point. I think this is a little overlooked by people that don’t using any summing (or console for that matter).
By stiff ~ October 13, 2008 kl 1:47 am
I use a Tascam TSR 8 channel tape machine for stems. It’s cost effective and the results are fantastic.
By Darren ~ October 14, 2008 kl 3:01 pm