8 Reasons Why Analog Is Different
Analog audio processing holds a unique and irreplaceable place in music production, offering a sonic depth and richness that digital tools struggle to emulate. This blog explores the remarkable properties of analog gear, delving into how currents, components, and physical forces combine to create unparalleled warmth, character, and dimensionality.
Join us as we unravel the science and artistry behind analog sound and why it remains the gold standard for professional audio engineers.
Currents
Analog gear operates on significantly higher electrical currents than digital tools, transforming sound with a firehose-like intensity that enriches every signal.
One significant difference between analog processing and in-the-box processing is current. Imagine an eye dropper full of water; this represents the amount of electrical current entering your DAW. Now, picture a wide-open fire hose. Without exaggeration, this illustrates the amount of current present in high-voltage analog processors. The difference in current is dramatic, on the order of magnitude between an eye dropper in your DAW and a fire hose in an analog device. An input signal in your DAW might reach a volt, but is more likely measured in millivolts, while the signal in some analog processing equipment can reach into the hundreds or even thousands of volts.
Components
The tubes, capacitors, and transformers in analog devices act as reservoirs, imbuing audio with a dynamic warmth and readiness that enhances every note.
Components like tubes, capacitors, and transformers are like big swimming pools. They need to be filled up before they can be used. You’ve maybe turned on a tube amp and found that it requires a minute or more for the pools to fill with water in your amp (for the current to warm up the tubes, capacitors and transformers) before the sound stabilizes. Access Analog gear is very similar. But because our gear is on all of the time, it reaches a stable state and is always ready. So why does this matter? Because, you can’t fill lots of pools with a firehose without splashing a little and getting a little wet.
Electromotive Force
Electromotive force in analog equipment not only shapes musical resonances but constantly evolves the harmonic character of the sound in real-time, creating a living, breathing quality.
Voltage is often equated to the force placed on components. Every generation of computers is trying to do the same work with less current, so it can produce less heat, shorten distances between digital components, and conserve battery use. There’s a reason why we call it, “power.”
Electromotive force exerts a lot of pressure on analog components. When that power gets too much for a component to handle the output is slightly or dramatically distorted. Just like blowing across the top of a glass bottle, those distortions, in analog gear, first create resonances in those components. Because those resonances are multiples of every note entering the gear, the distortions are musical in nature and enhance the processed material.
In the digital world, one millisecond of a resonance is sampled or modeled and placed like a stencil over all of the audio. Any harmonic distortion is also sampled or modeled and used to enhance or filter the signal. With real analog gear that electromotive force warms and cools every component to varying degrees based on the dynamics of the music. This is constantly modifying the harmonic content of the signal, enhancing louder areas with richer harmonics and quieter areas with a completely different complexion of harmonic content.
Tolerances
While analog gear introduces anomalies, its immense power and precision ensure these variations are musical, delivering a vibrant and controlled sonic landscape.
Professional audio processing gear does add anomalies, but it does so with two big considerations. First, those anomalies are the result of incredibly strong internal forces, so they are imbued with a lot of energy, and any compromises made in the signal processing are focused on the musicality of the material. So yes, analog devices use a lot of power, but that power is still very well controlled for musical purposes. Many of the same components and processes are used in telecom equipment, but the tolerances are even tighter and would produce a more sterile and mechanical picture of music.
Determinant and Indeterminant
Unlike digital systems, which are rigid and predictable, analog gear introduces slight, organic variations that create a more natural, multidimensional listening experience.
Say you had a little computer program whose job it is to make digital toast. You can tell that computer program to make sure that every piece of digital toast exits the toaster with the same shade of brown. We call this methodology, “determinate,” because we’ve determined an outcome and designed a method to get us there. In the real world, if you set your toaster to medium and toasted a whole loaf of bread, the individual slices would all be in a range of browns, but they would all be different. Similarly, analog gear can “warm up” your signal indeterminately, but within tight tolerances. Telling your daw to make every track sound like a single channel strip will not result in the 3 dimensionality you achieve by lining up 24 channels of a channel strip that are all reacting slightly differently to the sonic material.
That Three-Dimensional Sound
Analog processing enables a unique interplay of harmonics and dynamics, allowing competing signals to coexist more naturally and enhancing the spatial perception of a mix.
So, how do we get that three-dimensionality from analog audio gear that seasoned engineers talk about? Let’s imagine a single-rim shot as our source material. In the digital world, the voltage of that attack is fixed, finite, and will likely be the same every time the track is played. Let’s also think of that waveform as made of steel. The waveform itself is defined absolutely by digital code. Play that alongside the guitar attack that falls on the same beat, and now you have two inflexible signals competing for the same space. And computers are “Old Testament” machines. They have a lot of rules, and no mercy.
When those same transients enter side-by-side analog channels, the extremes of the volumes are slightly softened, the lower signals exhibit more harmonic content, bringing up the perceived volume of the instrument, and when competing signals are summed in an analog environment, the equipment interleaves some of the signal together, allowing both the snare and the guitar to better occupy the same space. Think of analog as being able to shuffle two decks of cards, where digital lets you stack one deck of cards next to another.
Glue
The "glue" effect of analog equipment merges elements of a mix seamlessly, adding harmonic richness and perceptual compression to make music sound cohesive and alive.
This interleaving, increased harmonic content on non-peak material, and the constant variability of analog equipment is what engineers refer to as “glue.” The more interleaved those two decks of cards are, the harder it is to separate them. The more lower-level harmonic material, the less volatile the actual voltage or dynamics of the signal, perceptually compressing it without actually compressing it. And when all of those little anomalies fire at high rates of speed and continuously vary on every instrument, it makes drums sound more like drums, voices sound more like voices, and trumpets sound more like trumpets.
High-Voltage Physical Processing
The results of analog processing are undeniable: richer, more vibrant mixes with added depth, sparkle, and character that elevate every element of a track.
Analog gear, for almost all sonic material will produce a result that is richer, livelier, better balanced, more interesting, with more sparkle, depth, and width while raising the level of all of the instruments in your mix. From its firehose-like currents to its resonant components and unpredictable variations, analog gear breathes life and authenticity into music. Whether you’re seeking warmth, glue, or that elusive three-dimensionality, analog processing continues to be a cornerstone of great audio production, proving that sometimes, the old ways truly are the best.