Mixing back through analog board vs computer

[new engineer]

I'm learning to mix through my mackie board and the mixes are shaping up nice. I think it's the best of both worlds to be able to mix both ways but my question is- Is there a degradation going from digital to analog back go digital? I know the ear is the best judge but I'm curious from a technical point if there is loss of info and sound quality. Would a new a/d - d/a converter help?

[electrok]

no a new ad/da converter will not help. there is nothing you can buy that will replace experience. the best thing you can do is practice.
electrok

[tom_mac]

any time you convert A/D D/A
you are at the mercy of crappy devices.

But I'm also a fan of doing things the way YOU want ......if it REALLY sounds good than it IS good ....the rub ...what REALLY sounds good ?????

he he he .........have fun

also .....try mixing in PT ......it's fun.

[tom_mac]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by electrok:
no a new ad/da converter will not help. there is nothing you can buy that will replace experience. the best thing you can do is practice.
electrok<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

any help here ???

[ckerian]

I prefer faders myself and actually use an adat as an 8 channel i/0 device so I have 16 channels of i/o to and from my mackie 24-8. This way you still can use the faders for 16 of the tracks, submixes, or whatever. sends for monitoring while tracking, 0 latency when monitoring sources when tracking, and you can use the sends for effects. I prefer this method with one exception the first 2 outs on a digi001 are +4 and outs 3-8 are -10. so... i have a problem because I can only set the input level on my board in groups of eight. ergghhhhh. I have the first 2 channels of my digi001 on channels 7 and 8 on my mackie set to +4 and channels 3-8 sent to channels 9-14 on the mackie and set to -10.

[[email protected]]

My opinion is that there is very little difference between pure summing of tracks in Protools versus outputing tracks through high-end D to A converters and into a high-end analog board (Neve, SSL, etc.). Basic assumptions is that you stay on one DSP for mixing and you aren't using plugins, eq, comps, etc. The difference multiple after that....

Digi ran a few experiements that had this outcome... Lynn Fuston ran an experiement, and that was my conclussion...

I think the difference would also grow significantly if you use less then high end conversion and analog mixing....