Nobody wants to commit to a final mix anymore, it just goes on and on... and even after a several revisions, clients want to continue ****ing around with their mixes... I don't mind the meaningless revisions and endless indecision, but no-one wants to pay to keep the mix up on my old analog desk for days and days... and flat rate mixes were killing me. I had to change!!!!
And now I LOVE digital mixing!!!!! But it wasn't easy getting here... I fought it. Just as I fought using Pro Tools as a recorder in 1994 when I first started using it.
When you are lucky enough to have an original 1972 Neve 8038 console loaded with 34 1073 EQs, it's hard to imagine digital to be better for anything. I've mixed on the Neve using it's Martinsound Flying Faders system for the last 20 years and have loved the way the mixes turn out. They have a big, grainy sound, vintage middle-range color. Very seventies. I would work around the console's limitations by using a hybrid approach, sub-mixing tracks in Pro Tools on the way out to the desk, but using few plug-ins. There are very few effect sends on the Neve, and I would depend on outboard gear for other EQ colors, effects and compression. I honestly could not imagine mixing in the box... but that has all changed for me this year.
This past summer we bought ourselves a mix rig for a second room and got a UAD Octo card and loaded the system with tons of plug-ins: UAD, Waves, Izotope and Slate to start. Digital mixing is so freeing in many ways, and the sound of the plug-ins has vastly improved. I find my mixes to be far better now than they ever have been. I can be more creative, more wild. Digital offers the same tools that were in my analog toolbox, plug a zillion new tools that I am still discovering.. Plus the recall-ability means I can be actively mixing a dozen songs at the same time with few headaches. And no client EVER has to commit to a final mix again. Hah!
It is an amazing new world. But I still love my Neve for tracking. Yeah, front end is still analog for me...