The Gear

Let’s describe the gear we are using and generally how it will be used in the mix.

Nuendo IO Hardware

For this example, we will have 16 channels of Apogee AD and DA converters at our disposal. Eight analog outputs will be dedicated to feeding the analog summing box, and the other eight will be available to patch analog hardware into channels within Nuendo.

Summing Device

For this example, we will use an eight-channel analog summing device. Eight discrete channels of audio arranged in three stereo pairs and two mono channels will be output to this summing device. From there, we can record the resulting signal back into Nuendo as the final mix. The summing device has an insert point on the mix bus that will be used for a bus compressor to get a punchier sound.

The channels will be assigned like this:

Each stereo pair in the summer has its channels panned hard left and right. Channels 7 and 8 are straight mono. Since this song is guitar driven, the guitars get their own group, so we can address issues of the guitars together.

Outboard Gear

This is the fun part. Since this is a fantasy setup, we can have just about any kind of outboard gear imaginable. Okay, so let’s get some gear in the studio:

The Fairchild will be inserted into the mix path of the summing box. It will be the final bus compressor for the entire mix.

The 1176es will be patched between the output of the DA converter and the summing box on Stereo 2. This will be for the guitars, compressing them as a group.

The first Pultec will be inserted between the DA converter and the mono bass summing input. Pultecs sound amazing on bass. The second Pultec will be for the lead vocal, inserted between the DA converter and the last mono input of the summer.

The 33609 will be inserted between the DA converter and the first stereo input of the summer to compress the drums as a group.

The LA-2A and Neve 1081s will be used as inserts within the Nuendo mixer described later.