NCH Software's Switch is a great tool that lets you to batch-process a bunch of audio files from one format to another. Sure you can use Audacity, iTunes etc but when you have more than two files to convert it becomes a serious hassle.

Some of Switch's features include:
  • Universal audio converter supporting all popular formats
  • Convert or compress sound files within minutes of downloading
  • Includes batch audio converter to convert thousands of files
  • Extract audio from any media file including video
And the best part: it's free!
 
Here's a comparison of drum tracks mixed in Ardour vs Mixbus. The first clip was mixed using Ardour; the second clip was using Mixbus; and the third clip is Mixbus with tape saturation turned on. The drum tracks a exactly as per recorded - no EQs or plugins used, just volume balancing.

Judge for yourself:
 
With the Foo Fighters' recent win at the Grammys, considerable spotlight has been cast towards the analog domain, and tape-based recording in particular.

If you think about it, there's probably a large chunk of people in our industry who were "born" in the digital era - engineers and producers who started out with, and were weaned on, ProTools/Cubase/GarageBand/whatever. These are people who got their feet wet in their home studios and perhaps never had the chance (or budget!) to work with tape.

So when I read that more and more people are seriously considering re-using tape - and even vinyl as a release platform - I can't help but wonder whether this is just a bandwagon that people are jumping on. Is analog (at this moment in time) nothing more than a fad? 

Or is there a serious and deliberate movement to move back into the analog domain?
 
Post-production work has started for The Wknd Sessions season 6. There's a total of 30 songs to mix and master - THREE albums' worth!

As mentioned before, here at the Wknd Sessions we use Ardour for our recording DAW of choice. When it comes to mixdown, this season we're trying out a new DAW that's got a lot of old-school analog feel: Harrison Consoles' Mixbus.

Why a different DAW? Well, Mixbus is not really new - it's actually built on top of Ardour. Harrison Consoles - makers of fantastic, high-end mixing desks mostly used in film post-production - have taken their design approach and sensibilities, and retooled Ardour to make it more like working on a traditional hardware mixer. There's a lot of intuitive controls and knobs, much like what you'd get on a normal mixing desk.

There's also a lot of other nice features - a new summing architecture, built-in tape saturation controls and many nice touches that put the gloss on top of the already fantastic Ardour software.

Two mixes already done to date - and they're sounding a lot better compared to what we did in Season 5! Have a listen: