Liquid Mix

When I saw an ad for Focusrite's Liquid Channel pre-amp, I was really eager to try it out. That is, until I saw the $3000+ price tag. The unit promised to emulate scores of vintage, tube, and solid state pre-amps, compressors, and equalizers...all in one box. The reviews were very positive. The price was a bit high for me.

A few months ago, Focusrite issued a "mix" version of the unit called the Liquid Mix. This unit works as a VST plug-in in Pro Tools and offers many of the same vintage compressors and equalizers that the Liquid Channel has. The unit comes with an external DSP device that processes all of the digital data so it won't tax your computer. This unit was showered with equally positive and negative reviews. Because this device doesn't have the expensive pre-amp emulator, the price is cut by about 75%...something the average project studio can easily budget for.

I've been using the Liquid Mix for the past 48 hours. I can see why some people love it. I can see why some people hate it. I've also noticed a great dearth of information, data, feedback, and tech support about the unit on-line. Here, I hope to document some of my trials, tribulations, and successes with the Liquid Mix.

The first thing you should know about the Liquid Mix is that using it will tax your computer. Forget what the ads say, you need a powerful computer to run it. The device comes with on-board DSP, but my computer crashed many times in one session...just because I was running too many instances of the plug-in on my Pro Tools system. You'll need at least a dual 1.25 GHz processor and a minimum of 1 GB of RAM. I can't imagine why you would even try to run a firewire device on a PC, but there is a PC version of this unit. I use a Mac, so I don't know if PC's would have this problem. I had 512 GB of RAM on my computer. When I contacted tech support at Sweetwater, they recommended an immediate upgrade of memory if I was remotely interested in continuing to use the product. I'm going to leave it unplugged until I receive my memory upgrade...just for the sake of sanity.

The next thing you should know about the Liquid Mix is this: if you are into hyper-efficiency and effective "work flow," you'll find working with this unit very difficult...especially if you are using Pro Tools 7 LE, like me. In LE, the Liquid Mix causes a 2056 sample delay on the tracks that it affects. Being so, when you insert it as a plug-in, that track seems to be a little behind the band. Pro Tools 7 LE has a delay compensation plug-in that, but you have to add it to all of the track that DON'T have the Liquid Mix plug in on them. So, if you have a 32 track song and you want to simulate an LA-2A just on the bass guitar, you have to insert 31 time delay plug-ins on the other tracks. What a friggin' drag...

The easiest way, for me, to incorporate this unit into my work flow is to do the following.

1. Make an audio file that is exactly 2056 samples long.
2. Label it AAA Liquid Offset, so that it appears at the top of your audio files bin (you should have your files listed in alphabetical order...or at least know how your files are organized)
3. Duplicate the track you want to affect and label it "Liquid" whatever the instrument is.
4. Drag it to before the desired liquid mix track begins from the audio file bin.
5. Engage "shuffle" mode.
6. Select AAA Liquid Offset audio file.
7. Delete the file in the track.
8. Note how the desired track has now moved 2056 samples to the left.
9. Disengage "shuffle" mode.
10. Insert Liquid Mix on track.
11. When you press play, your track should be offset properly.

This is kind of a pain, but it became second nature after a few tries. The idea behind "work flow" is to do the least amount of tedious work possible so that you can spend more of your session time "producing." Two other ways to circumvent this delay flaw is to insert Liquid Mix on every track; or, to simply mix track by track (which you probably should) and determine on a track by track basis which tracks get the delay compensation plug-in and which do not.

So, other than the obvious computer crashing and work flow discombobulation, the device is great.

No, really, there is a reason to put up with this...the vintage compressors and eq's sound phenomenal. Wow.

The biggest problem I have with the device isn't the technical glitches (which are surmountable), it's the fact that I don't know what half of the compressors and eq's are supposed to sound like to begin with. I've made 8 studio albums and I couldn't tell you how a Joe Meek SC2 is different from a Pye 84. I don't know the difference between a Neve 1073 and an API 55a. But the thing is, now I can get an idea of what these things do sound like. So, one plus to this device is that it can be an education of sorts.

One reviewer mentioned that there are so many options that it's almost daunting. He recommended finding one or two compressors and EQ's that you do like and just use those. It's common knowledge that a five or six LA-2A's and a few 1176's (if properly used) can help a mix. Those devices are included in a few different forms in the compressor selection. Also, in my first few days with the device, I'm finding that I like those the best.

The fun section, for me, of the tool is the EQ emulator. What I like most is that when an EQ is emulated, it not only sounds like its vintage counterpart, but it also only has the same number of options. By that I mean, the Neve 1073 only has 4 knobs (HP filter, LF shelf, Bell, and HF shelf) as well as a limited Q (unlike digital EQ's which have an almost surgical quality to them). With the emulation, you get the designer's philosophy of how EQ should and shouldn't be used. I'm willing to bet that Rupert Neve thought wide Q's were better than narrow ones. Some of these can get a bit weird though...the Chandler Limit EMI EQ only permits the boosting of frequencies, which is something I try to never do. And, there is a "free" mode for the EQ so that you can add an extra band of EQ...a hybrid EQ of sorts.

I've only used a few of the settings on this tool, but all of the one's I've tried have a unique character. Most of the settings on the Renaissance compressors and EQ's seem like they're coming from the same place. I like how those sound, for sure. And now, I have many more options from which to choose.

The bottom line with the Liquid Mix is this: it's a great tool, but be prepared to change the way you do things if you want to use it.