#summing box

[bestsummingmixer]

Best custom mini passive summing mixer for home and pro studio producers

If you are looking for high quality desktop mini studio summing mixer you are at the right place. Mix in analog your DAW Synth Drum Machine summing box

[hasafraker]

Stereo to Mono box.

I have a single channel amp at my desk at work. I used to have a single channel SET amp and it's entirely possible it failed because I killed it but I will never know. I recently noticed the output I was hearing from my speaker at work was sounding funny. It never entered my mind that I couldn't use a Stereo to Mono cable to sum the signals from my stereo output from my pc to a single channel. Well I was wrong, which might explain why it was sounding funny. After doing some research online I found the Why Not Wye article which does a much better job of explaining why this is not a good idea than I ever could.

I also found a premade box at one of the vendors who I have purchased transformers from in the past. However, the cost of the device was reasonable, but shipping was retarded and for the cost of 1 + shipping... I could build a half dozen of these myself. So... a trip over to Mouser and $10 later including shipping... 2 project boxes and parts enough to make a dozen of these, I just happened to be out of these resistors so I got a handful of each.

Parts were very inexpensive, the RCA's are cheap, the project boxes were $3.00 each and the resistors were .11 for the 2 Dale 470ohm and .16 Dale 20kohm. So all told we're talking less than $6.00 to make this little gem.

So, if you run a single mono channel anywhere, and this includes most sub woofers, and don't have this type of device, toss one together it was a snap. The single RCA connector was my inner Audiophile crying out for help lmao. I love the new Black Neutrik REAN connectors. The small 6" connector is also shielded, cool right? :)

I did a how-to a while back on making your own RCA interconnects. Many Thanks to Rane Audio for the info and schematics for this project.

[gryner]

Summing Boxes - The Myth of Σ

    For the longest time I've been hearing, reading and fantasizing about summing boxes. All those incredibly expensive pieces of gear designed to perform a crucial though utterly simple job - sum audio signals. The hype around these units is truly phenomenal, but I always wondered if they really live up to their fame. In other words, is there really something magical happening at the summing stage or is this just another case of the industry cheekily tempting our gearlust?

    I'm more inclined towards the latter and I'll tell you why.

    Last month I mixed an E.P. on a AWS 924, in both stereo and surround,  which provided the perfect opportunity to test the "myth of sigma" (my fancy way of saying "the summing hype"). The AWS is a fantastic desk with an amazing sound, incredible EQs and the le-gen-da-ry SSL Bus Compressor. The songs themselves only had 16 tracks on each session, so I managed to route every track on the DAW to a dedicated channel on the desk - which meant I could take full advantage of all that healthy analog goodness!

    The SSL mix (the stereo output from the desk) was infinitely superior compared to the previous in-the-box mix I had. The desk added a depth to the sound that simply wasn't there before and the EQs literally brought the songs to life. At this point the SSL won by a landslide.

    The next stage of the process was recording the direct-output of each channel on the desk for the 5.1 mix. By doing so I had everything the SSL could give except for the final summing and the stereo bus compressor. At that point I wasn't intentionally looking to the test the SSL summing, but realised I was indadvertedly in the perfect position to do it. 

    The test itself was simply mixing the exported SSL channels on a new Pro Tools session, with a Waves SSL Bus Compressor on the master bus and to my total surprise the Pro Tools sum sounded better! The stereo image was wider, the mix sounded less noisy, less saturated and in general much more suitable to the kind of music I was working on. 

    Before I get stoned by the summing box enthusiasts let me just clarify a couple of things, firstly, most pop genres would have benefited from that more saturated feel, and secondly, the stereo image problem could be an issue with that particular desk. However, after this experience I'm convinced not invest the production budget in tweaking a mix to perfection on an analogue desk. From now on I'm aiming for a just good enough mix on a good desk and then I'm finishing the job at a cheaper or even a home studio!

It's a brave new digital world out there...