Understanding AD/DA conversion

[HerbieSwizzle]

Hey guys... just got my apogee duet 2!

I have two mixing stations, since the apogee has better da conversion than my mbox mini, will the sound out of my monitors be degraded with the mbox mini compared to the apogee? Or would the DA matter for stuff like reamping...

When does DA conversion come into place? Thanks in advance

 

[Skinny Viking]

will the sound out of my monitors be degraded with the mbox mini compared to the apogee? Or would the DA matter for stuff like reamping...

yes and yes

 

[HerbieSwizzle]

Damnit and damnit!

Okay I see...

Now how much does this matter when mixing in your opinion?

I'll work with what I have

 

[Skinny Viking]

good basic answer ... if you import a song into your DAW that you are familiar with how it should sound, and it doesn't sound much different or worse, chances are in a mixing situation it will not make a big impact. You'll notice MUCH more of an improvement because of what has passed through the better AD, especially as you begin stacking tracks

For improving the listening aspect, invest in some room treatment 1st, properly set it up and then look to monitors next if you don't have good ones .... your DA conversion is gonna be at the tail end of improvements you can make

EXCEPT for the reamping bit ... then it will play a more noticeable part

 

[bryan_kilco]

I've never quite understood some aspects of this as well.

AD/DA = Audio to digital, digital to audio? I also don't quite understand how/what you guys mean when you talk about bypassing preamps or bypassing converters.

 

[Skinny Viking]

AD = Analog to Digital

DA = Digital to Analog

 

[bryan_kilco]

AD = Analog to Digital

DA = Digital to Analog

Ah, ok. Thanks man, and sorry for the total noob question. I even googled it and couldn't find the answer.

So would a good example of that be like.... AD - bouncing a mix from tape through a preamp into a DAW, and DA being the opposite?

 

[Skinny Viking]

your AD converters are what is making actual SOUND into the 1 + 0 your DAW is reading

older mbox units are notorious for shitty converters and passable pres ... people (myself included) who were using those things as a dongle to be able to run PT will often times bypass the pres & converters but running a superior unit via spdif

 

[Skinny Viking]

Ah, ok. Thanks man, and sorry for the total noob question. I even googled it and couldn't find the answer.

no you didn't
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog-to-digital_converter

 

[Skinny Viking]

So would a good example of that be like.... AD - bouncing a mix from tape through a preamp into a DAW, and DA being the opposite?

anything that was not previously digital going into a digital domain of any kind is gonna need to be converted and vice versa