Fader, mouse or trackball?

Question

When you mix, do you prefer using a tangible fader, mouse or trackball?

What is most efficient for you?

And do you use the mouse like a fader, riding it up and down, or do you just make breakpoints and edit your automation while stopped?

And, do you use mixboards at all?

I'm afraid Pro Tools is killing the need for mixboards.

What are your thoughts?

Me? I use a fader 90 percent of the time and clean up missed rides and intricate moves with a mouse and breakpoints in Pro Tools. But, that's just me.

Answer 1

"I'm afraid Pro Tools is killing the need for mixboards."

Are you serious? If so you need to spend some time on a film dub stage with seriously good mixers... I don't mix but I am in awe of good mixers, and they dont tend to mix films with a mouse...

While editing I do a lot of work with volume automation, but I consider that envelope shaping, not mixing... I leave the mixing to the mixers and just try to be the best sound editor/designer that I can be...

Answer 2

I use the Kensington expert trackball. Love it. I have an euphonix mc control (kinda overpriced and dinky) that I can use for fader stuff but I use the Trackball for all my automation. I mainly do small TV stuff, so thats really all i need. Although when I have done movies and cartoons with lots of complex moves its nice to have faders. @Ryanhdd

@justin huss BTW The iZotope RX is the bomb, far better than the Waves w noise. i do use both though

Answer 3

I use faders for the bulk of the work, especially automation passes. I'll go into the box to clean up or fine tweak the automation that gets written in those passes. I'm still acclimating to all the functionality that's there in my D-Control at work. I'm trying to get out of the box as much as I can, because the work just feels smoother that way.

As for drawing vs. mouse controlled fader...it's definitely drawing for me, unless I'm doing a very coarse adjustment. Outside of that use, I personally just don't like the feel of a mouse controlled fader. There's a weird disconnect for me.

Answer 4

I was looking at either the faderport or the AlphaTrack a while back and I ended up choosing the faderport. It's perfect for writing volume automation in pro tools, and the transport controls work pretty nicely as well. I recommend it.

Another option that I've heard is really nice to use (especially panning in surround) is the Wacom tablet.

Answer 5

I use a bit of everything.

I have an Apple Mighty Mouse although the main reason I love it so much is the ability to scroll sideways!!! Sadly Bluetooth wont work in my studio so I'm left to hoke out the ball every so often.

I also use a ProControl at work. However, I mainly only use the faders and very little else on there. My flat Apple keyboard (with an Editor Keys silicon cover which I'd recommend to everyone) is directly in front of it and I find it handier to use the shortcuts on there than all those buttons.

I find I use more of the buttons on the D-Control in our larger mix studio, although that's probably as there's no mouse (just the huge built in tracker ball) to quickly use and it's also off to one side.

I hate mixing stuff outside of my day job as suddenly not having faders to mix with seems such a fiddly and long winded operation. There's so much more finesse that you can achieve with faders that takes so much more time but clicking a mouse.

Answer 6

I only wish I had faders. In the meantime it's all mouse based, but I must say that my MacBook Pro's multitouch trackpad is better than a mouse. Besides, I recommend to everyone, but probably don't need to as you'll undoubtedly have tried it already.

But I wish there'd be a controller offering one fader and one knob that you merely need to point at the target with the mouse and use your fingers to do the rest. And, of course, nothing is like a big nice forest of knobs and faders :)

Answer 7

Also a mouse jockey here, with aspirations of taking it more toward the board.

For now, I've inherited my boss's six button Kensington mouse: http://us.kensington.com/html/4011.html

Have it custom so you can flip between tools in ProTools without touching the function keys. Works pretty okay for down and dirty mixing (we do a lot of reality TV). Have had people say "Wow, I would never have guessed that it was mixed on a mouse" (whatever that means).

Tools are tools and only tools so for me it's faster than the trackball.

Answer 8

... tablet. and faders.

mousing is great until you have surgery on your wrist because of it.

Answer 9

First off, i would LOVE a mixboard. I've got access to a Euphonix MC, but it's only the command module and has just 4 faders. And seeing as Protools doesn't like Eucon (yet!), it's just using the HUI protocol. I know they're an evil, monopolising corporation, but i love mixing on Digi (i only know Protools) mixboards; everything's so accessible.

I'll use the mouse controlled fader over drawing, just so i can hear what i'm doing. Then i'll touch up the breakpoints. For the record; the mouse fader is terrible when using a Macbook trackpad, but the trackpad is great for drawing out clicks. For panning and plugins i won't even bother with writing automation; i'll just draw it.

Answer 10

I just recently got my feet wet mixing for post and I'm sad to say that with the exception of music I can't imagine using anything but a mouse or stylus (just looking at a trackball makes my hand cramp up). Perhaps that's because for each 45 min ep. and I have two days to mix. I take a day on dialogue and it's all +/ this and breakpoint that. I can't imagine getting my dialogue to hit the meters where they should, without sounding over or under compressed in the amount of time I have using the Control 24 that's sitting right in front of me. Mixing the music against the dialogue is the only time I touch a fader.

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Answer 11

I'm a mouse user, but only because I don't have any other option. I use an M-Audio Oxygen keyboard that does have faders and knobs, but it's always seemed like too much hassle to get it to work right, when I could do the same thing with a mouse or an envelope much faster.

UPDATE 9/8/2011: That said, I still prefer consoles. I grew up in the music world, where mixers will always reign supreme. I bought my first one (Behringer 32 track) when I was 18, and I use a smaller mixer as my monitor control and for most of my i/o. The moment I can afford even a Faderport for my automation, it's a done deal.

Answer 12

It depends on what I'm doing. When designing sounds or making music i use my Magic Trackpad. Great for easy navigation both horizontally and vertically too. When mixing TV shows I ride the fader for dialogue and music. Faster and smoother. What I would really like is the Avid/Euphonix Transport with one fader. That's all i need really.