Mixing on an analog console trains ear-based instinct that digital screens cannot replicate

May contrasts analog and digital mixing consoles: with an analog board, ‘you’re actually working with your ears and you’re working with your instincts’ — there is no visual diagram telling you where a fader is, only the sound. He recommends connecting an analog board to a digital source to get ‘the best of both worlds’. His analogy: the difference between an analog master and a digital master is ‘like the difference between us sitting here and being real people, and these being holograms’. Tape saturation, the slight ambiance/noise of analog signal paths — he calls this ‘character’ rather than a flaw. The practical upshot: working analog builds listening skills that digital-only practice does not.

Examples

Stacey Pullen bought an SSL console for $7,000 (originally a million-dollar desk). Mixing down to two-track tape vs. digital has ‘a difference in depth of quality, db, various things’.

Assessment

Describe in your own words what May says you gain from working on an analog mixing console that you do not gain from a digital-only setup. What is his recommendation for combining both?