So, Steve, yes, Chris. I'm uh once again very glad and happy to be here with you. You know, I feel the same about being here with you. That's a good start. That's a great start. So, yeah, looking forward for this podcast. Yeah. And uh just because we do this, we had breakfast before and we got into a strange conversation that we we actually didn't finish it. I know.
(00:26) But it was we were discussing Fahrenheit versus Celsius which is a kind of an interesting conversation. Oh yeah, I know. Uh and and I did not ask you and what I wanted to ask you is do you are you able to do Fahrenheit? Okay. And by the way, this is not the podcast. This is Well, it is the podcast. Yeah, it's not the main topic, but it's the topic for now.
(00:46) Now, so the question is the topic. The question is, do you do Fahrenheit in your daily life? Usually no. Okay. Except for one thing. Okay. The water temperature. Water temperature. That's it. That's no. I'm going to go swim. Thermostat. Oh, what what's the uh the temperature of the the water? Oh, it's so 80. Oh, that's good. Okay. So weird. 68.
(01:07) A bit too cold. Mine is Yeah, like California American my whole life. I do Fahrenheit for warm. True story. So it is like in the summer I will switch my apps to Fahrenheit. Okay. But I can't do Fahrenheit for cold cuz I don't know how to translate. That's so weird. So for me it's like I know what you know 7° C feels like but I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit.
(01:28) How about the uh the clock? That's another one. That's what started this conversation cuz I was trying to set up a Zoom call that I was trying to remember why we're talking people in uh Germany. Germany. So I was doing a Zoom for tomorrow and so I was doing the translation to the the 8 hour Europe jump but then jumping to 24hour time as well instead of 800 which I'm used to which I'm not.
(01:47) So for me like let's do it at 2100. So I'm like, "Okay, so it's 9:00 - 8 hours." You know, like 5 is 17. Like, come on. It's obvious. Everything's obvious. Don't you see the link? 5 17. Everything's obvious to you. You know, my entire day with you was like, "Why don't you just know this wine?" Like 3 15.
(02:06) Why don't you just Why don't you just know this cooking technique? And I'm like, "What? Come on, Steve. Some French word." I I told you before, you need to learn stuff. I need to learn a lot of stuff, dude. I need to get on that mixown thing. Should we do we should switch a pivot switch? Is anybody still listening? My mom maybe Sebastian who's asking the question.
(02:28) He doesn't know he's asking the question yet cuz we haven't gotten to it. Oh, he doesn't even know. He thought this episode about Fahrenheit. He's going to get to Hey, you didn't listen like always. Hi, Mom. Hi, Mom. Okay, this is I say Sebastian. It's the best thing in reality. Yeah, it's it does say from France. Yes. From Guadalupe. Guadaloop. Guadalupe. Yeah.
(02:54) Look, which is Yeah, it's it's part of France. Yeah, it's an island. Everything's an island around the Caribbeans. Everything's an island. I know. Same for me is the same. That sounds like a wine. It's actually near Guadloop. Everything's an island of wine. I have this image of what it's like over there. Oh my gosh.
(03:15) Is it as beautiful as I imagine it? Islands of probably I would have to go and look up in inside your head, but that's a bit scary. I don't know if I want to go there. It's terrifying. So, Sebastian from Guadalupe said, "There's a lot of talk about the good and the bad regarding analog versus digital." Yes, true. But most of the time, the discussion revolves around the technical part or the sound or whatever.
(03:38) True. But isn't pleasure something as important? Oh, that's such a French way to say that. I like that. Support of the pleasure. I get him. H uh especially exactly what he means. You would especially with lower grade hardware. And then he translates for me. What I mean is that the pleasure of using analog hardware is real.
(03:59) And could this be the reason why so many engineers still use analog hardware? So that's a great question. So let's take off our little IKEA table here. uh the idea of analog versus digital sound and can I take an analog box and make it sound as good as the plug-in equivalent all that that's the forum that's out of the way and nobody knows the answer because everybody has an opinion and everybody feels it's a personal thing so let's just make let's make this a shorter podcast sure uh because we have a question from Kyle our friend coming
(04:30) up so let's get to that so let's do the quick version quick version to me and you can translate as well my translation is Um, what about analog is is fun? What about analog? What fun do you derive from analog? The fun for me would be like moving knobs around. You know, this one part that is fun on working with analog gear for sure.
(04:53) There's lots of annoying parts, but you know, if we just want to focus on the fun the fun side, I think like playing around with physical knobs is part of it. Yeah. Like I I've Yeah. Like for years I've had the the SSL console. Yeah. I mean, no. I just started mixing last week. So, for the last week, I've had this for the last couple of days. Last couple of days.
(05:13) How come every podcast I just started? This has been a week. I just started couple of days. Yeah. My career is getting shorter every episode and next week's going to be, "Hey, did you get that mixing for Dummies book? Did you read it on your way?" Yeah, I read it on the way here.
(05:32) So, so I've had So, in real life, I've had this console for years and it is just fun. And and the debate rages on about the sound and the thing and the whatever. And people are switching into the box and out of the box all the time. Even our mentors are are getting new analog or selling all their analog. So it's a weird conversation there.
(05:52) Nobody, you know, nobody knows the answer or people think they know the answer, but I think nobody knows. It's fun. It's fun to drive a sports car when I could drive a very utilitarian vehicle. Right. Yes, ma. Mom, I need a sports car instead of this utilitarian vehicle I drive every day. But it's kind of fun. It's fun to do that if if you're blessed enough to be able to do it. Sure.
(06:18) And so, yeah, in in this there is psychology. There's psychology to it, right, to turning the knobs. There's if you turn the knob in real life or if you turn it on a controller with a mouse, there's a different even if it's accomplishing the same thing. something about seeing the line meter moving that needle going in real life and you hear it click sometimes in real life and there's something about that.
(06:45) So yeah, I think there is a bit of like yeah if if if you want to buy a big boat and you're blessed enough to be able to do it when a small boat would do why wouldn't you buy the big boat? And then for me there's phases in my life. So now I'm at a phase in my life where the console's in storage and I'm having the time of my life not having all those knobs for a different reason, right? So it's a weird So it's a weird thing.
(07:10) Even when you move between them, there's some joy in being blessed enough to have that and to it's great. It's like to to change something on a console is really fun and there's something and we've seen our mentors do it, right? their butts always in the air and they're always like doing something up there, some magic thing that makes their mixes sound better than ours.
(07:30) His word was pleasure. There's pleasure in that. I'm going to add something though, you know, I'm going to add that you don't need hardware or gear to have the same kind of pleasure. And that's where I'm at in my life right now. Yeah. I'm in this tiny little room with my favorite speakers and a mouse and a keyboard and a little eight fader thing.
(07:52) The eight fader thing. And I'm having the time of my life. Of course, I love the time of my life. I'm a fan of controllers. I don't have to roll anywhere. No, I am old and tired and I just don't want to roll anymore. And all, you know, in my studio, it's like it's the time of my life. I have a carpet all around, you know.
(08:10) So, it's pretty hard to to roll, you know, if you roll off the little mat thing. Oh, dude. You get stuck. You get one wheel stuck in the carpet and that's not fun. No, it's not fun cuz you got to you got to put your butt in the air. It removes all the fun of playing with awkward for all the rest of us when you get your little wheel stuck in the carpet.
(08:25) So So that's that's the rebuttal to it all. Totally. There's pleasure right now in not having analog. Honestly, right now, like I'm going to use analog for other reasons. Yes. Than only the fun part, you know, cuz the fun part I'm I'm going to get my faders in front of me out of my my console one. Yes.
(08:44) faders and you know um all the knobs also with with the channel strip the montogram CC all I love controllers I love to be able to control plugins to control my DAW you know to lift up faders and stuff while mixing that I love I'm not a big fan of the mouse right okay so and that is fun for me it's fun that's as much fun for me anyways it's so much fun to just turning up knobs on I've crossed into your world but If my mom, who's apparently giving away money in these episodes, Yeah.
(09:18) gave you a bunch of money and was like, "Dude, you could go to a big studio with a big console and record a rock band with all the stuff and all the lights and all the heat and all the noise and all the chaos and all the things and all the recall sheets and everything. We'd do it cuz it would be pleasurable per Sebastian. Sure.
(09:37) There's pleasure in it still. Yeah. uh when we talk about the the net benefit. Well, that's a different conversation. That's not what he's asking. No, but still, he's just talking about pleasure. Yeah. But how do I do I do good? Use my hands. It's okay. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. Pleasure. Yeah. See, that's a good That's like half of it is just the hands.
(09:55) You're getting there, man. You're getting there. Or if you have wine, you raise your wine. Yeah. It's better with wine. Yeah. Hold it by the stem, right? Yeah. You got to hold it by the stem. Look at that. Look at that. Even in your invitation, you're holding it by the stem. I'm always like, I got wine. You'll leave a bunch of fingerprints on your copy. No class.
(10:19) So yes, the net benefit is a whole another thing. Recalling a console. So that's a different thing. Does that take away from the pleasure? No, not it depends. You know, it could it could. Honestly, it could. There's a pleasure in moving the knobs and stuff like that. Sure. But stuff that can be a turnoff is maybe it's broken all the time.
(10:38) All that stuff, you know, all the rest. Like net pleasure is a whole another thing. Like for example, I have that uh it's an old old reverb unit. Oh yeah. The rolling. Yeah. Okay. The space echo. The space echo. Yeah. Um needs to be shot into space. Now when it works, it's awesome. on Tuesdays at 3:27 p.m.
(11:00) And now I I turned it on last week and the tape is not moving. Yeah. So it's not working. So that's not fun. No pleasure. No pleasure. If I had a trombone like right behind you, no pleasure. So yeah. Yeah. No pleasure. But is that this is to go back to to Sebastian's question. That's fair. Is that because he was asking is this kind of The reason why people still work with analog gear for the pleasure. Yes.
(11:32) You think that's the reason? That's a huge one. It could be a reason. Do you think it's the only reason? No. Exactly. That's what I think too. Correct. But if we jump into the other reasons, maybe we're going to jump into this rabbit hole. Yeah. Now we're down the rabbit. Now we're down the rabbit hole of sound this versus that.
(11:48) Personal choice and all that stuff. All that stuff. Cuz there's workflow. There's I think we if we're being honest, maybe the conclusion of this is if we're being honest, it's fun. We must admit that it's kind of fun. Yeah, it is. And if we all could do it, we all would do it for a certain part of our day. Mhm.
(12:06) Maybe the hybrid's the answer. Hybrid is fun, too. That's the answer. Maybe. Sometimes I'm here, sometimes I'm there. Okay, that's the answer. That's the answer. I think that's a good answer. Yes and no. Yeah. There you go. Should we Should we talk to Kyle? Maybe it's time to get Kyle on. So, uh, this is our first This is our first live question. Our first victim.
(12:28) This is awesome. We're trying out the technology. We're learning how this works. Yes. As we go. So, Kyle is actually a real life friend of ours, which we thought might be nice for our trial. He's in Calgary and you know, Calgary is a small community. We all know each other. Yeah. That that is actually a thing like at at N people are always like, "You're from Canada.
(12:49) " Do you know? Yeah. Do you know a guy called John? And like And like Yeah. And like he looks and he everybody looks the same. I'm sure. And he's just like he's he's tall and blonde. I'm like sure. So So Kyle is our is John today from Calgary. So what? And Kyle Kyle John from And Kyle Webb Kyle at a weird time. He's in his car.
(13:12) That's his car. We're like, can you unless that's your house and Kyle's fallen on hard times. You don't have to. living in my car. You did. This is But I have time for a podcast. Oh, there you go. This whole call got awkward. Kyle's crying. That's the spirits. Why is Kyle crying? Poor Kyle. Andrea left.
(13:32) Kyle's in the car. Just turned so sad. Anyway, so Kyle's Yeah, we're sorry about the random call time there, Kyle. Thanks for being at the store or whatever. You can go ahead with your question. Maybe now now's the time. Yes, Kyle had a It's a very important question. What does Chris look like without a beard? And what does Steve look like with Chris's beard? With Chris's beard.
(13:57) I think we I think you need to do a little Photoshop. Okay. Yeah, you you Photoshop. All right. So, we're Let's show the photo right about now. Now, we're going to all watch I'm gonna actually watch this episode now. You will see how I look with your beard. Yeah. And you know, and that picture from myself without a beard is actually from my first YouTube video that I uploaded years ago. This exists. Yeah.
(14:18) And from that point, I just stopped shaving from that first video. But I need a place to hide. Just like going into yourself. So, and you actually when you photoshop, can you put that beard on me? I will. Okay. That'll be amazing. Kyle, do you have an audiobased question? My second question is, what is aside from the headphones and the speakers and the computer, what's the next piece of essential gear in your guys's opinion? Oh, okay.
(14:49) Aides from the speakers and headphones and all that stuff. If if let's assume you have a decent uh interface with your computer, you're happy with the uh the interface you have. Yeah. One to get sound into the box. Microphone. We'll assume microphone is next. Yeah, it's the biggest impact. Totally. Yeah. If if he's talking fun though, which he might be uh EQ or compressor go.
(15:17) Oh, I would go with EQ. EQ. Huh. Again, I don't EQ a lot. I don't compressor. Yeah, maybe compressor. Yeah, like I I feel like I can p push an analog. Sorry. We'll edit that out. I don't think we edit that out. Let's leave that in. That just happened in real life like Kyle in a car.
(15:40) And that first video of you with no beard. That's all real life. Oh man, slim. This is part of life. Sneezing. Uh, compressors are fun. Compressors are fun, Kyle. The other thing that I would say is fun for me is uh master bus. Like those big violent broadstrokes devices are fun. So, you know, like a a big master bus process, like the Rupert Neve Designs, master bus processor, like some kind of box that just really changes what you're doing. Okay.
(16:10) Uh versus something that might happen just on a one channel plugin. Yeah. Like what's a big, you know, for you it's your master, you have your I have my my uh my SSL type of Yeah. And so there's there's those big broadstrokes things that are fun. Like for me, it's it's on my you know, the last channel of my DAW goes out to this thing and back in. Yeah.
(16:28) Same here. Yeah. And so, yeah, so it's affecting my my record track basically. And then you can add things to that, right? A good a good crush thing. And then you add a nice EQ and you can just start adding things to that, which is a great way to just affect your overall mix.
(16:44) And then from the first thing you add to your mix, that thing's lighting up and you're adding and you're pushing things into it and it's affecting your sound. So that's a that's a big cannon of of outboarding. Yeah. And and you were talking about compressors. Yeah. Earlier and I love Yeah. more and more to compress on the way in just a little bit. Yeah.
(17:02) You know, just to get a bit of tone, just to craft the sound right away. Yeah. Commit right away. Yeah. And getting used to the word commit. So, um, it's a scary word. It's a scary word, you know, but it's like when I committed to doing this with you. Here we are. That was a mistake. Maybe. Here we are. Yeah. It's all right. Our wives are they understand. They know.
(17:23) Second commitment now. I do. Look at him. You should have seen it without a beard, babe. As pretty as you think of what is fun and then get that. And the other one that's fun for me that that that's kind of been a fun world and I know you're not a big subscriber of it, but it I find a lot of people have a lot of fun with it is the 500 series. I know.
(17:48) I and and that just allows you for a nominal fee to just get a whole bunch of fun as long as you have, you know, but you have to still start with the box. Yeah, you get the box and then you just put fun in it and your fun can change and you buy and you sell fun and it's a bit of a baseball cards thing, right? Where you're you're shuffling things in and out and trying.
(18:04) I thought of it. I thought of it. It's a rabbit hole. I don't know. It's like guitar pedals, right? I'm afraid to jump into that rabbit. It's like Vance Powell with his guitar pedal thing. He's like, "Oh my god, if I started that, I would never stop." Yeah. Like for me what is fun and we talked about that earlier controllers.
(18:21) Does that answer that's the first part. Does that answer the first part? Yes. Okay. Next question kind of just off that. What is your favorite your current piece of favorite gear? And let's caveat this for fun with it's not our favorite tool. It's our favorite toy. Okay. Like for me Yeah.
(18:41) What's your favorite like toy in the rack? Like I mentioned, the table. No, the the IKEA table. Your IKEA table. Yeah, that rocks. You use flosser stick over there. Yeah. Any type of controllers that I have on my desk is Yeah. Could be the uh the console one on the soft tube one, right? The the faders. Uh could be the uh the monogram CC, you know.
(19:05) That's the console. Soft tube console. The console and the the console one, right? And also Yeah. It's like two units. Yeah. Yeah, the EQ is like the channel strip basically, right? Okay. And the other one is the faders. Okay. Yeah, I remember that from NAM. Yeah, that was like a big deal. Last last year now. I remember that.
(19:22) It was like the thing everybody was talking about was that totally was that future. I got I got into it at that time and I did and last year I got the UF8 the SSL. Oh, you got this channel which I love. Okay. It's beautiful. I love I Yeah, they are they are beautiful. Yeah. And the the uh the monogram CC on the on my left.
(19:39) That's perfect also. I control plugins with that. I control my computer also with the big knob and stuff. You got you got a whole thing like you hit a button and like doors open and your the sink turns off. That's the stream deck. Yeah. Yeah. And your wife yells, "Okay, I know you're recording." Everything changes.
(19:59) The dog goes let outside when we do the live streams. You know, it's amazing. You hit that button. All kind of things happen. Yeah. The stream deck is all So, yeah. So, faders. So, okay. So, let's go hardware like audio hardware. audio hardware, but I would say the my my bus compressor because I use it all the time. This honestly when mixing that's the hardware I'm going to use. I agree.
(20:20) Yeah, 100% agree. So, yeah. Yeah. Mine's the mine's the Rupert Neve master bus processor. Yeah. A lot of the other gear I use it's when recording. Yes. Uh, last question is, do you guys have a daily practice or kind of a routine that you do on some sort of regular basis to improve your mixing skills or as a brand new mixer? What would you suggest that I could do? Some stuff that we mixing.
(20:44) Yeah, download tracks. Mix. There's a bunch of There's even a website from is it Cambridge or something? You can download a bunch of uh Yeah. tracks. Yeah. To mix. It's like anything else. The more you want to develop your craft, you just need to do it. The the other thing that I think helps a lot for me uh is just uh uh abinging stuff like like drag loop back a mix into your thing and then and then I'll just sit and pick on something.
(21:15) I'll just I love the way the bass sounds in this and I will just try to make bass sound like that. Reverse engineer what you hear. So that's a hu like I will spend uh like just a snare like how did he do that? Yeah. And something I like to do also with I don't know if you heard of sound gym.
(21:32) Oh I is this the is this the frequency training? Yeah it's just like frequency dynamics delays whatever. It's very cool. Facebook really thinks I need that when I'm scrolling. Man, you better listen to Facebook. He knows like you want this. Zuckerberg knows. Yeah, he knows. You know the Zuck. But yeah, that but this is a fun app, but reverse engineering is really fun.
(21:55) Like it's like just pick a snare. Take a snare from something you love different like a '90s snare and then try to just recreate it with like your few plugins and it's really frustrating and really fun and then you think you get it and then I come back the next day and I'm like I didn't have it at all. So so far away. I didn't have it at all.
(22:12) But you eventually your brain is like tried to save you. It's like you're fine. Go have dinner or whatever. Go visit your family. aiming like for a fat CLA sound and you ended up with I don't know paper type sound. It's terrible. Yeah, it's amazing how far off I am when I think I've nailed it. It's my life pretty much in a sentence just that could be a shirt.
(22:31) Oh, Kyle. Oh, so Kyle, thanks a lot for your question. That was fun actually. It was. Yeah. From his from his new home. Yeah. Take care of your new home, you know. You got to go to the car wash. Keep your house clean. I'll be here all day. Mix it. See you soon, bro. Thank you. [Music]
