Outboard Gear - Where to Start?

As someone who started in the box as a teenager, and has slowly but surely integrated A LOT of outboard gear & instruments and am now 30, my suggestion is start simple. I have some seriously high end pieces of gear that I’ve owned for 3 years and I still find myself being surprised at what they can do and building deeper relationships with their nuances. And I 100% was not using them intelligently at first, they were making certain things better but also introducing nee problems.

The other thing to bear in mind is hardware is not some magical silver bullet that will make your mixes suddenly sound professional and perfect. It has it’s own quirks and drawbacks and a totally different workflow. Hardware really starts to shine when the subtle artifacts add up across a production/mix. So if you get something that you can use a lot, it will have a bigger impact than just, for instance, a mixbuss compressor.

Channel strip is probs the move, saw that in another comment. If you have the budget, getting a stereo pair could be even more fun.

My personal philosophy when it comes to hardware though is don’t buy hardware for hardware’s sake. Save money and buy something of genuine quality. Plug-ins are sooooo good these days, you should buy something that is unique and can’t be well emulated. Something like the Overstayer NT0-2A would be a great thing to start with - badass analog distortion unit that can go subtle saturation to nuclear destructive distortion. Alternatively, don’t over-do it and think if you’re not buying SSL, Neve, or API that it’s a waste of money. Midrange priced clones are still a HUGE step up (ex: Heritage Audio 1073 clone). Once you cross a certain price point, the differences start to become marginal, but there is a big difference between a $300 preamp and a $800 preamp, for example. Less of a difference between an $800 and a $2000 pre.

Also ask why you want to get hardware. If you don’t have any exposure to it, try to find a show room and test some stuff out (not always possible of course). I think hardware makes the biggest noticeable difference on drums and vocals, which are usually the 2 most important things in most genres.

Also ask yourself if you want Tube gear or solid state gear. There is a remarkable difference between how they amplify audio. Tube is gonna give you a way more mellow sound - not always desirable! Solid state will sound closer to what you’re used to hearing digitally in terms of transient definition.

Anyway, doubt anyone read all this but if you did, hope it helps!

What comp would you recommend that i can get used for less than $200 used? Im looking at the 266xs, there alot of strokg mixed opionioms on it, do you have any advide?

I have an Isa one, klark Teknik eq, RNC 1173 can someone help me route it plz 🙌🙌🙌

So... Outboard is essentially converting audio interface that also gets to have what mixers have built it? {H-M-L freq, Equalizer, compressor, Fx}.

I thought the main selling point of audio interface was to not have those so that we can put those later via software. Like one can add reverb or echo on a certain part of the song.

Now i wonder is the software & mixer ones are like cheap/fake ones..? Cause these outboards looks big on their own.

i wanna connect an outboard 31 band eq, maschine beat pad, compressor, and mic pre into an inteface. i dont know which interface to get at a reasonable offer..however, i want to run it all through plugins inside the daw..would that take away if run outboard gear 1st into the daw? or should i run all things in the daw to the outboard gear and then back in as a finisher?

Thank you kind sir

just to clarify, many interfaces have line in and outs, therefore you don't need the preamp as it is obviously line level- just an fyi , I was referring to synths. I am obsessed with them , burn your guitars ha

Hi Jeff I just stumbled upon your channel this morning. Nice❤.
Quick question. I’ve got a tla 5050 I’d like to patch in and a lexicon reverb unit , plus I use my ferrofish b4000 and yamaha moxf6 .
but I’ve got focusrite 18i20 for multiple ins and my Apollo twin x is my out so I’m connected via adat. I’m using Ableton and I’d like to process my kicks or even vocals I get from clients with some real analog sauce . Could you help with this type of set up?😊 cheers

How could I get in touch with You? Got couple of questions

u couldn't have explained this better thank you!!

This was perfect! THANK YOU!

Ok I have a Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB High-Resolution USB Interface with Realtime UAD DUO Processing don’t know if your familiar with that interface can I build a chain or do I have to upgrade my interface ?

If you don't know this already don't spend money on outboard gear.

Excellent

Great info. Thank you

Was a nice tutorial, but did you have a deadline to finish it so quickly? You talked too fast and since this is a tutorial, it should adhere to certain standards like maintaining voice tone and speed when you demonstrate something so everyone can benefit from it.

Thanks for this! I have a question: would it also be possible to use an audio interface with 2 inputs and 4 outputs for let’s say, a compressor, 2 equals and a mastering processor?
Like if you route everything together so the audio interface goes into the compressor, the compressor into the eq, the eq into the processor and the processor into the interface.

Or is this not a thing?

Looking forward to hearing from you!!

Thank you so much for your video. I use a Motu 828 ES interface. I am considering a warm audio WA-2A compressor. How do I connect this to be able to record with compression? How do I connect if I want to create a send after the recording has been done for further compression on any track? How do I connect if I desire to use the compressor during the mastering process? Thank you!

Hi! Great video, it covers all the basics!

So if I understood well, if I were to get a Focusrite 18i20 that has built in preamps I wouldn't be requiring to buy a separate preamp or it can be nice to have more control in the sound? Like the Neve 8801 you've shown.

dam this the best tutorial ive seen.

incredible video

Apollo X6 Rack is my Go to.

What about dj mixers with audio interface like the Xone PX5. How would you set that up? Sorry I'm new and trying to understand . Thank you much.

bro how do i contact u direcly

Hi, I own an Apollo Twin MkII interface with 2 inputs (mic/line 1-2) and 4 outputs (monitor L-R, line out 3-4). I don't understand if I could use it for mixing with analog gear on Pro Tools. Hope you can help me, thanks in advance!

the moment i saw the yamaha monitors on their sides, I knew I wasnt going to listen to anything this dude says... see ya

Great video. Finally I learned why some people in general have an external mic pre. I have an Audient Id44 and it has the capability to extend its ins and outs through adat connections, i wanna know what device I can use to utilize that and preferably best one in the market if you know any?

This basically answered all my questions on that topic in less than 5 minutes... Perfect !
Thank you for sharing your knowledge !
Stay safe

Don't know if any of y'all don't know this but you can also achieve this with a mixer....Have your mic plugged into a mixer the line out of the the outboard gear plugged into your insert channel on your mixer and the mixer out into the input of the audio interface

Would be awesome if you could draw a couple of schematics of how it all wired up

A bit of dust on that interface?😂🌬💨

Great explanation thanks! 🙂👍

Just to clarify how I insert analog gear between my interface mic pres.

Audio Interface Mic Pre then running
DB25/XLR out of interface to analog compressor then XLR/DB25 back into audio interface. Will that do the trick?

dude draw some pictures my brain was lost in your words LOL

Just found this video - thanks. Really clear!

maybe a dumb question, but is a patch bay a viable option instead of upgrading to an interface with multiple in and out ports?
My understanding of the stuff is a bit lacking, but would you be able to feed everything in and out of the patch bay and then have the patchbay go to your 2 port interface?

So Jeff will Focusrite Clarett OctPre audio interface be able to send return a Neve Portico2 MBP?

My brain hurts

informative. concise. accurate. simple. subbed. thanks.

Thank you for being so concise with so much information! Very appreciated. I feel like a lot of the music community thinks everyone should learn the hard way, all trial and error and figuring everything out yourself. That's ridiculous, and videos like this spit in the face of that idea. Thanks again :)

What would a correct lvl of db in order to work with analogue compressors? (Warm audio 1176)

I subscribed because of this video

I’m 40 seconds in. Already this guy is explaining things perfectly and I have full faith this video will teach me a lot, which it already has done in 40 seconds. You have a way with words my friend, no doubt you have a way with music too! Peace

Cool and informative video. Thanks for uploading. New subscriber. :o)

From my experience i would suggest the first analog piece for anyone would be to get a good channel strip. Its easy to connect and would get you a good recording going in to where you would need minimal work inside the box to finish a record. Once you master that every other analog equipment you buy will easily click on how to use it and a little easier to figure out how to route everything in a hybrid fashion.

Clear and to the point. Exactly the info I was looking for.
I was considering trying to do it with a patch bay and a mixer with a 4X4 USB.

I feel like sending tracks from within my daw to outboard gear would be the less destructive way to experiment with using outboard gear in my mixes...wouldn't it be?

Thank you for the video! I have a motu 828x Ai, is there a need to buy da or ad converters?

I prefer to build a custom channel strip rather than get one that comes all together.

So helpful!

Starting to build my first little studio and you are answering all the questions I have! Thank you man! Love your channel!