Sonic Bleeding

Back in the day, consoles were the only way to combine signals together. We recorded the music into separate tracks of tape, which were then mixed together to create the stereo master of the song using consoles.

As we described in a previous article, playing from the same tape and combining the electrical signals passing through the channels of the console created an effect that we call crosstalk. The sounds coming from the left and right channels would bleed across each other differently, enhancing the stereo effect or making it more mono.

This doesn’t happen in the digital world. The left and right information from a stereo file don’t interact with each other. By adding any of Sonimus’ console emulations, you are adding this characteristic from the analogue domain into your sessions, making your track more alive.

Saturation

The design and components of a console provided a specific sound to the signals that passed through it. Each channel added harmonics to the music, enriching its sound and stamping it with particular hallmarks. It was these sounds that the recording and mixing engineer searched for to work with. And as the design and technology of these consoles evolved, their sound did as well. From tubes to transistors to solid state, they all provide different profiles to the music.

With the Sonimus console emulation family, you can get all those different sounds and saturations right in your DAW and take advantage of the digital workflow. You can control the saturation of the plugin with the Push button or FAT mode, just like you would overdrive the line level of a console channel. But you could also use the plugin as a saturator with the gain compensation mode and dial it back to taste thanks to the Mix knob in the extended panel from the A, N and T console. All the benefits, none of the hassles.

Bringing the mix together

Nowadays, it’s super easy to record anywhere and everywhere. You can collaborate with people worldwide on the same music project, easily share your recordings, and combine them in a single DAW session. The problem is that every setup, room and audio interface is different, which can cause the instruments to feel disconnected from each other. Something that didn’t happen when everybody needed to record in the same studio through the same console. And this is where console emulations make the trick. Combining the outstanding characteristics that we described above is when the magic happens.

As we described in our article Mixing in Times of COVID, and our producer friend Leandro Sabino pointed out in a recent interview, Sonimus’ console emulations can create the cohesion and space needed to go from a sterile digital mix to a rich and three-dimensional one. By adding these plugins to your tracks, you put every element in the same “team”, bringing them closer together and placing them in a “real space”. That is the real magic behind our console emulation series.

Have you tried any of our consoles? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments, and subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about our console emulations.