Message 16/18
Date: 05-May-05 @ 01:58 AM Edit: 05-May-05 | 04:33 AM -
RE: final, final hi end solution
ditto on the computer. After the conversion stage, it's all just numbers stored somewhere, either on your hard drive, on the masterlink hard drive, or eventually burned to CD. Since ya got the computer already.... go for that innit?
I forget what DAW you use, but I recommend mixing down to a stereo track right in your multitrack session. This allows easy mix history review and A/B, and a reference in case something gets messed up.
Now, if you want to mixdown at a higher resolution than the multitrack session (not many DAWs can do this that I know of), then you will need some sort of external recorder. Some studios (my studio included) prefer this when mixing, say, a 44.1k project on an analog desk and want the master to be 96k. If you need this capability, the masterlink is a good choice and has become the standard, but it's not the only box that will serve that purpose.
If you don't need this capability, then just mixdown to your DAW. Personally, I think hi rez recording is more important for the pre-mixed multitrack audio because I do hear the difference in processing quality (plugins...especially EQ). But for mixdown, I think 44.1 is fine, since that's where it's ending up anyway innit.