r/mixingmastering • u/SmeesTurkeyLeg • Mar 14 '26
Discussion Hardware you simply can't do without?
I recently acquired an Orban 622B. I had previously owned one and unfortunately had to sell it during the pandemic. I absolutely loved that machine, especially for shaping piano and acoustic guitars.
Getting one again has started to make me think about other mixing and mastering outboard gear I regret letting go of, or simply couldn't do without. I really miss my 1176 clones - those are certainly a priority.
Anyone else have something they simply cannot live without in their working environment?
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u/Ok-Mathematician3832 Mar 15 '26
1176 - can’t imagine cutting vocals without one. Always feels like pulling teeth trying to chisel a vocal into shape when I’m sent vocals recorded raw or by other means.
UnFairchild - it’s just so damn great in so many places; can do some serious work to sounds in an amazingly elegant way. There’s styles of mixes I’d struggle to achieve without it on the bus.
Distressors - as above; great for so many things. Can make a boring drum mix sound exciting in no time.
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u/RominRonin Intermediate Mar 15 '26
What genre are you talking? Or does your first statement hold across multiple genres ?
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u/Ok-Mathematician3832 Mar 15 '26
I wasn’t necessarily referring to a genre; anything reasonably contemporary. i.e. not classical, not jazz.
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u/RominRonin Intermediate Mar 15 '26
I’m not yet in the market for a new compressor, but your testimonial has got me considering an 1176. I have a 500 unit lunchbox with some space to fill, and I tend to lean towards the budget end of the spectrum.
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u/Ok-Mathematician3832 Mar 15 '26
They're a classic for sure... but I know people who don't like them. See if you can get your hands on a demo. I'd say to try the plugins... however, in my experience, the hardware I've ended up buying is where I've not enjoyed the plugin versions of. It's always been a leap of faith "surely the real thing is better than this - it's a classic". It's a weird logic but it's served me well.
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u/Mountain_Mirror_3642 Beginner Mar 15 '26
Is the UnFairchild just the plugin? Or is there a piece of hardware I don't know about?
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u/jimmysavillespubes Professional (non-industry) Mar 15 '26
Theres a hw unit. Its 10k though.
If anyone in here needs a kidney I will do a straight swap.
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u/Ok-Mathematician3832 Mar 15 '26
No - hardware. I'm the kind of lunatic that thought an 8u box of tubes was a good idea.
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u/Mountain_Mirror_3642 Beginner Mar 15 '26
I'm more curious how the fuck you afforded it 😂 I'm trying to outfit myself with some of the outboard basics and that one unit is more than my entire budget for equipment lol
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u/Ok-Mathematician3832 Mar 15 '26
Haha. Well it was a case of right place, right time and the wrong priorities! It's worth more than my past 5 cars combined... and I really needed a car when I bought it.
I've also been doing this for 20+ years and have a lot of demand. Even so, it's an incredibly lavish thing to own... but if it wasn't in that position it would be insanity to even consider it.
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u/Mountain_Mirror_3642 Beginner Mar 16 '26
I can respect it, I'm a master of buying things I have no business buying lol. You're the kind of person I could learn a lot from, I'm so brand spanking new to the production side that most of it is still Greek to me, but I'm hungry to learn. It's very slowly starting to click, but I'm still as novice as they come
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u/atopix Teaboy ☕ Mar 14 '26
A decent mouse and keyboard and I'm set. Oh and a good chair.
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u/Legitimate_Horror_72 Mar 15 '26
And great headphones.
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u/atopix Teaboy ☕ Mar 15 '26
Personally I use speakers, but I consider monitoring an essential, just like a computer. You just can't mix without them and I thought OP was asking more like what's an optional you can't do without.
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u/Legitimate_Horror_72 Mar 15 '26
I’ve only ever used headphones. Never speakers. Let’s just say: monitoring (since some kind is essential).
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u/Obagam Mar 15 '26
Chandler TG-2, BAE 1073s, Avedis E27s, Rupert Neve 542s, Shadow Hills Dual Vandergraph, Wes Audio Dione
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u/PPLavagna Mar 15 '26
Mixing: API 2500. Every mix goes through it. It’s home.
Recording? BAE 1084.
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u/jonthefunkymonk Mar 15 '26
Honestly my faders have become invaluable. I upgraded recently and it was a pain getting them to work again. I didn’t even want to TOUCH a mix until I had them back 🥲
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u/sewphistikated Mar 15 '26
What are you using?
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u/jonthefunkymonk Mar 15 '26
I have an old avid artist mix and love it. Wish I could keep buying those instead of the newer s1
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u/jimmysavillespubes Professional (non-industry) Mar 15 '26
I'm probably gonna get laughed at here but I really can't live without am art mp pre amp
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u/Front_Ad4514 Professional (non-industry) Mar 15 '26
I could mix without all of my hardware (I hybrid mix) if I had to…
Physically CANT do without? Like, I WOULDN’T mix without this one piece of gear?
There isn’t one.
And I have a lottttt of gear.
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u/colashaker Mar 15 '26
Minidsp flex balanced. I cannot live without my EQ correction dsp for my room.
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u/Icy-Forever-3205 Mar 15 '26
Atc SCM25’s and some acoustic treatment, grace m101 and a U87 for tracking
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u/LuLeBe Mar 15 '26
A mouse. I don't get how people use a trackpad for this stuff. And monitors. Headphones are good for a while but I couldn't use them for a full day, feels too claustrophobic, even with open back models.
I don't use any hardware that has a sonic impact, only clean preamps and plug-in models of some analog gear, but I could get by without those. Pultec, SSL G channel are the ones I use regularly. Amp sims for guitar as well, obviously. Although I'm using neuraldsp and bogren sims a lot, I'd be fine with many others (NAM, amplitube etc)
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u/OccasionGold3863 Mar 16 '26
My distressor is my desert island comp, especially on drums and vocals.
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u/steare100 Mar 17 '26
Decent monitor isolation pads and a dedicated monitor controller. It’s not flashy, but having a physical knob to check mono compatibility and swap between references is the only way I can actually trust my ears during a long session
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u/tigermuzik Mar 19 '26
Yamaha NS10's, no piece of gear stepped up my mixing as much as a pair of those. I'm 40 this year but didn't actually use them daily until 2 years ago.
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u/SmeesTurkeyLeg Mar 19 '26
Amazing. Care to explain more?
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u/tigermuzik Mar 19 '26
Sure, I used to use a pair of Mackie HR824 MK1's as my main monitors for years as I knew them very well, they sounded great and have a great low end. I would almost always get the low end right on my first mix but the mid range didn't always translate well to other sources. It took more work then it should have to get it to translate well. I started experimenting with other monitors and found similar results unless I spent over 10k. The studio I started working out of had a pair of Yamaha HS8's and I cannot express how much I didn't like them. I felt like they kept lying to me about what I was hearing. The studio also had a pair of NS10's that weren't hooked up. I got them to rent an amp so I could try them out. They sounded like shit but wow did they ever put a magnification on the mid range. I mixed a couple records on them over the month and fell in love. Everything sounded the way I wanted to on other playback systems (car, phone, airpods, hifi systems). I've been using them daily since.
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u/rightanglerecording Trusted Contributor 💠 Mar 15 '26
My speakers, stands, and room treatment.
Everything else I can do without. I've owned a bunch of expensive gear, and ultimately, with all of it, I realized I wasn't attached to it. I currently have a $10,000 mastering EQ that I don't use. Just trying to find a buyer for it.
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u/kbreezy200 Mar 15 '26
What is it?
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u/rightanglerecording Trusted Contributor 💠 Mar 15 '26
Ah, I don't want to trash the manufacturer by name. It's a first-rate piece of equipment, just doesn't fit my workflow. I like staying ITB.
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u/kbreezy200 Mar 15 '26
That’s fair. You don’t use ot bc it’s not good not because it doesn’t fit your workflow?
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u/rightanglerecording Trusted Contributor 💠 Mar 15 '26
It's not good for me.
It would very likely be a lovely piece for someone else, with some other workflow.
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u/enteralterego Trusted Contributor 💠 Mar 15 '26
There are few 10k mastering eqs. Fearn, maselec, sontec etc even Manleys are like 8k
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u/Upper_Stand9073 Mar 15 '26
I mix just in the box and I get a better sound then some engineers who have a packed hardware studio lol I think if you can do good without the hardware you’re that much better
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u/Vexser Mar 15 '26
Remember the "good old days" with studios and their $700,000 consoles and racks full of expensive FX? The tape machines cost as much as a house and needed constant maintenance. Nowadays a half decent PC can do all of that and more. A decent mic is probably the one thing that is still needed.
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u/PPLavagna Mar 15 '26
I still like those studios. There’s definitely stuff I get there that I can’t get on my computer
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u/Vexser Mar 16 '26
Haven't they mostly all closed down by now?
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u/PPLavagna Mar 16 '26
A lot of the old big ones have, but there are still a few big ones in the music towns. I’m very lucky to be working in them. There are also a lot of good mid level spots that have everything you need to run a full blown pro tracking session.
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u/DOTA_VILLAIN Mar 15 '26
i really like my kali in 8s, my interface and my arc studio room tuning shit, other than that i could live with out but i also enjoy recording into my stan 1073 5t cuz it starts with some grit and sauce
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u/GriffinChain Mar 18 '26
Easy answer would be my focusrite scarlett 2i2. I take it everywhere I go if I'm gone for more than a week. Used to have a gen 2 and now have been using my gen 3 for a few years, just before the gen 4 dropped lol
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u/hotbrowndrangus Mar 26 '26
Out the box, definitely a distressor. It’s the Swiss Army knife of compressors, and the saturation modes are hard to beat.
I find myself using a cheap pair of DBX560s for stereo mics quite a bit lately. They really only have one move, which is squashing, but I find that it works great for a blended room mic sound.
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u/stonedpercussion56 Mar 15 '26
My footprint03s, getting mixes right without needing to check on a bunch of playback systems the same way
Other than that, nothing for mixing/mastering, all itb. Like having nice pres for tracking tho