Outboard hardware such as compressors, EQs and reverb units has become less widespread in its day to day use over the last few years thanks to the convenience and quality of the processing which can now be done within a DAW. In audio post production, sessions can run to hundreds or even thousands of tracks, so is there still a use case for outboard gear at all? Let’s consider a few things…

Recalling Settings

Using hardware in a mix means that if you need to go back to the project another day, you’ll have to manually set all of the hardware back as you had it. If you’re jumping between projects this is simply not practical. The ease and convenience of being able to open plug-ins with a session, exactly as you left it all, makes life a lot easier.

Automation

It’s inevitable that settings for various types of processing will need to change across the course of your mix. This can’t be done in a practical way with hardware, and the ability to automate any control in any plug-in has now become a critical part of the post production workflow. In a large film mix there could be thousands of different automated settings changing across the course of a mix. Good luck doing that with hardware!

Session Exchangeability

If you need to move sessions around and work on them in different rooms and facilities, outboard gear and different patching setups are a problem. It’s likely that you’ll occasionally encounter issues with certain plug-ins not being available at other studios but it’s a lot easier to install a few plug-ins than to cart a load of hardware around with you. A mix with plug-ins could even be tweaked on a laptop when you’re out and about.

Multiple Instances Of Plug-Ins

When using outboard gear in a mix, you can only process as many channels as the hardware provides. To use the processing on more channels, you’ll need to either buy more hardware or print the output back into your session in real time to free up the equipment for use elsewhere in the mix. With plug-ins, you can run multiple instances, only limited by the processing power available from your CPU or DSP architecture.

Client Expectations

Because of the fact that most of us have been working primarily in the box in post production for several years now, expectations have changed with regards to speed and workflow. Clients expect changes to be done quickly, and want updated mixes to be sent over to them promptly. They’re not interested in whether you use hardware or plug-ins, but they are interested in things happening in a timely manner. This again means that the only viable and practical solution is to process everything using plug-ins within your DAW session.

What Are The Use Cases For Outboard Hardware In Post Production Then?

Whilst there might be little use for external processing at the mixing stage, there’s definitely still a requirement for some hardware in a post production facility when making recordings. If you need to record anything, whether it’s voice over, ADR or foley, you will need a good quality mic preamp with low noise.

For foley you’ll need something which can provide sufficient gain for when you need to record low level signals such as cloth movement. Personally, I use a Focusrite ISA One for foley recording as I generally want an uncoloured sound for this type of work.

When recording voice over you might choose to use a preamp which imposes some more character to the sound. I like the sound of the Neve 1073 for this and it usually gives a full bodied sound which doesn’t require much EQ. Of course, this is my opinion and everyone has their own preferences for which microphone preamp is best in which situation so make your own choices!

For any type of dialogue recording, be it ADR or voice over, some people like to apply compression on the way in. I’ve done this with external compressors on occasions and sometimes it’s useful just to smooth the dynamics out a bit to control the most unruly peaks on the way in. I’m more inclined do do it if I’m recording a voice over which I’m then going to send to someone who I know won’t be putting it through any kind of proper mix process; video production companies working entirely in Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, for example.

As far as equalisation goes, I personally don’t use any external EQ at the recording stage. The only type of frequency control I might apply is a high pass filter on the mic preamps. However, if an outboard EQ gives you the sound you want from your microphone when recording, then go ahead. I know a couple of engineers who do this and it allows you to tailor the tonal quality of the recording at the time of capture. The potential downside is that by incorporating the EQ into the recording, it may be difficult to counteract the effects of it afterwards if you get it wrong.

Summary

Given everything mentioned above, and the complexity of many modern post production mixes, outboard hardware at the mixing stage now seems like a distant memory. The processing which can be achieved in the box along with the capability to automate and recall any number of settings in an instant now means that external processing just isn’t a viable option. The increasingly demanding workflows have shaped the development of technology which has in turn enabled even greater complexity in what can now be achieved.

The expectations of everyone involved in the post production process have changed and grown as the technology has evolved. For recording, we of course need good quality preamps and maybe a bit of compression or even EQ but once the sound is captured, it’s pretty much all in the box processing now. Whilst some of us might look back nostalgically to some of our favourite gear of the past, let’s not forget the many inconveniences which came with it. The software available for sound design, dialogue alignment, noise reduction plus advanced EQ and dynamics processing has now gone well beyond what was possible with hardware.

It’s hard to say whether these tools always make our lives easier, or sometimes create more work by making more things possible but it’s nevertheless exciting to see the ongoing developments in what can be achieved with plug-in processing.

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