I have a few questions about these issues.
Somewhere in the mixing chapter Alan says he does his previous recorded songs through some giant mixing desk to add an analog sound.
I don't understand. Recording without analog desk does involve analog sound due to the preamp used in the ad convertors no ?
Or am I totally off here ?
Koella
The choice of mic, positioning and preamp are all decisions at the tracking stage that will add some analog characteristics to the sound being recorded. In many cases this may be satisfactory for the mix to be completed in the digital realm. However some engineers like to bring each recorded track out through a D/A into an analogue mixing desk, through various pieces of outboard equipment (compressors, EQ etc) and re-capture the various buses back into the digital realm.
There are many pieces of analogue equipment and channel strips that impart certain flavours to certain types of instrument tracks and these are used during the mixing stage of a project.
The mastering stage often also has favoured pieces of analogue equipment that may be used where necessary.