Back in the olden days when I had a 24 track Studer and a big Quad 8 desk the size of a football field, I called in on a DP producer friend who had been mixerless for years. It took me all of three seconds to realize how cool his setup was. This guy is musical director, and arranges, programs and produces the music for big theater productions that play around the world - London's West End etc, all from a small (but very well set up) home studio here in Sydney. For each new production he leases 2 new Macs - one for the main machine and the other as a backup machine, and they are totally lean, mean, and devoid of any software that doesn't relate to DP. No word processing, no internet, no nothing.
He was telling me that in all the years he has adhered to this system, he's never once had a crash, or the need to switch to the backup machine during a performance. I went to one of these theater productions recently, and the orchestra sounded amazing - big, brassy, beautiful strings etc., and bigger than Ben Hur. When I went town to take a look in the pit and say hi, there was the usual small rhythm section with a percussionist, 4 horn players, live guitarist and bass player, a pianist, and the Mac handling everything else. The total audio experience was quite stunning, and to my ears, absolutely convincing. I only mention all this to highlight the fact that while a glitzy mixing desk might invoke the feeling of the good old days, and make us go all warm and fuzzy, with the production tools DP has to offer, a mixing console is no longer a necessity in the real world of professional audio production. IMHO.
BTW, since I switched to a mixerless regime I've never looked back. Love it. And what's more, I've been able to make good use of the real estate previously occupied by the Studer and the Quad 8 raising a fine herd of wildebeest.
Cheers,
Geoff
