Opinions on my future Purchases...

B

BStoltman

New member
I am planning to build a mixing station for my computer for recording podcasts, livestream, and video work. The hardware I currently use is:

For Audio:
AT4040 Mic
Art Tube MP Amp the $50 one

Computer Used:
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (OC 4.6ghz)
CPU Cooler: Swifttech h220x2 Prestige
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII EXTREME EATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-2666 Memory
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB STRIX Video Card
Case: Inwin 707 BLACK ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM (64-bit)

Its time to upgrade this setup, and going for somewhat overkill, but within a general budget. Here are the products I am considering purchasing. Any opinions or flaws in my thought process are appreciated. I am shooting for at least 4 channels of control, except the mixer which will have more to accomodate more then just 4 Mics.

Rack:
Middle Atlantic Rk 4 Rack Space
Middle Atlantic Products RK Series Rack - 4 Rack Spaces | Sweetwater.com

Mixer:
Mackie FX12v2
Mackie ProFX12v2 | Sweetwater.com

Compressor:
Behringer Multicom Pro XL Mdx4600
Behringer Multicom Pro-XL MDX4600 | Sweetwater.com

PreAmp:
Behringer ADA8200
Behringer ADA8200 | Sweetwater.com

Conditioner:
Furman M-8x2
Furman M-8x2 | Sweetwater.com

Headphone Amp:
Behringer Powerplay Pro-XL HA4700
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...cGG7NmPLGgpAg-bxzHcnzfScjQIHbGphIvBoCN6jw_wcB

Will all of this work together properly, and is there anything I should be considering as an alternative? Thanks for the Assistance.

Blake
 
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Glaring omission? Audio Interface.

The later Behringer ADA unit is said to be "quite good" but it is an ADAT expansion pre amp! I can see nothing in your list for the device to plug into?

Then, Behringer kit is ok, got some but it IS mass market budget end gear and to include such in a "upgrade" is a bit of a paradox IMHO! I would also seriously question your need for an outboard, hardware compressor? Especially a cheap one!

IMHO you need to explain to the top bods here, Bobbsy, Mark et al, JUST what your aims and MO are. Then they will I am sure advise you on the selection of appropriate equipment.

BTW, that PC looks like a reet weak sister! Wanna swap it for this i3 lappy?

Dave.
 
The mixer has the audio interface built into it. Its a USB DAW. I don't do Music work, just audio as in speaking and debates and such. The compressor is to keep people from peaking the mic, hence some of the people I debate with tend to increase their voice dramatically, causing clipping. I also make youtube videos and currently use my desktop to record the audio using my AT4040 and an external video camera with greenscreen. So the extra audio sources will be great to set up different audio capture points in the room when by myself.

If curious my youtube is Arcanum Luminarium - YouTube
but back to the question at hand.

Overall thought process...
Mixer with enough ports to accomodate 4 mics running live stream. some more for phone or other tie in lines as I want them mixed in during the stream.

The Compressor to keep those moments when people become to zealous and could potentially cause clipping.

The mixer has a preamp but i have read it is a little weak, and recommended an external one as well. Hence the preamp to make up the difference on the mixer.

The conditioner so all devices are mitigated of electrical noise at least more so then just plugging them into a power strip.

The headphone amp so each person can hear the audio back at a comfortable volume for themselves, and may even use just to amp music listening for myself thru headphones on the fly.

Hope that gives a general idea.
 
Ok, you seem to have a fair handle on your requirements (but I still don't know where the ADAT pre plugs in?) but I have to say that "basic" USB mixers are rather limited and can be noisy, especially their monitor returns. Many are limited to 16 bit operation.

I would urge you to investigate the Soundcraft Signature MTK mixer range? True multitrack USB operation and DBX limiters per mic channel (saves you a few bob!). Sound on Sound April 2016. And I would certainly wait for a chat with the Top Blokes!

No swappsies? Awww!

Soundcraft Signature 22 MTK | Sound On Sound

Dave.
 
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I appreciated your help and look forward to more information from others. I have looked into the Soundcraft versions of mixers, and not sure I see a gain with those over the mackie other than a higher price. However perhaps more info is needed in general. I am very new to this subject, and the little I do know comes from hours of reading articles online.
 
BStoltman said:
I appreciated your help and look forward to more information from others. I have looked into the Soundcraft versions of mixers, and not sure I see a gain with those over the mackie other than a higher price. However perhaps more info is needed in general. I am very new to this subject, and the little I do know comes from hours of reading articles online.
Click to expand...

Well you don't HAVE to go for the 22M Soundcraft, they do models with fewer channels. The Mackie will be, I am sure, 16bit USB, 2 tracks out and probably not very versatile returns. Does the Mackie have limiters on any mic channels? You wanted this facility. There are other mixers with comp/lims per channel. Yamaha do one I believe.

If you are going the mixer route I would urge you to consider JUST a mixer and then feed that into a standard AI? That would give you 24bit recording and probably far cleaner and more versatile monitoring.
Or! Do as I have? I have an A&H ZED10 USB but do not use the USB facility, instead the mixer feeds an M-A 2496 sound card in a PC. I actually route the 2496 output to another, very small mixer to gather other sources because the arrangement suited my son. You could simply route the card's OP to the headphone amp etc.

Dave.
 
After reading the manuals of both the Mackie & the soundcraft 10M I noticed what you were talking about. The Mackie is only 16bit, and and soundcraft is 24bit and allows multichannel. The price is definately comparable. You may have convinced me to change model of Mixer. In the end I think it will work better. I appreciate that bit of information, I would have been highly depressed to realize that after the fact. Any other ideas or input is greatly appreciated.
 
BStoltman said:
After reading the manuals of both the Mackie & the soundcraft 10M I noticed what you were talking about. The Mackie is only 16bit, and and soundcraft is 24bit and allows multichannel. The price is definately comparable. You may have convinced me to change model of Mixer. In the end I think it will work better. I appreciate that bit of information, I would have been highly depressed to realize that after the fact. Any other ideas or input is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Super, now wait for the REAL experts to chip in! I do hope you have plenty of time to investigate all the possibilities fully. As I said, the Behringer kit is "ok" but not top line and maybe does not have the BSH build quality needed for day in, day out intensive use? I would exclude the headphone amplifier from this criticism because..1) they actually are quite well thought of generally and 2) HP diss' amps don't generally get a hard life.

And just in case the thought occurred? I do not have any connection of any sort with the companies mentioned. In fact I have never owned a piece of Soundcraft gear! (wanted a Compact 4 but when I could at last afford one they dissed it!)

Dave.
 
I recently purchased a Behringer XR18 Air. It's a live mixer with USB connection to your laptop/DAW. I can record 16 channels at a time and each channel has gates, compressors and inline effects (I add effects in the DAW) as well as EQ. I control all functions wireless through either my laptop or my iPad. It's also very small. So far I love it. It should be a similar price point as the others you are looking at. See also QSC, Presonus and Mackie which all offer similar products at similar price points. If you go this route, just make sure the one you get is bi directional (One of the Mackie units, the DL16 R, is not really an interface but more of a live board).
 
16GB RAM would be more than adequate, 64GB definitely overkill. I realize RAM is cheap but it's literally throwing money away.

Is that GPU (video card) passively cooled? Video card fans are notoriously loud.

Get a decent size (250+GB) SSD drive for OS and apps, then a large 2TB+ sata platter drive for raw storage (and I'd recommend a large USB drive and some backup software). Might want to lean toward 'green' platter storage as they tend to be a bit quiter and you don't need a performance drive since all your work should be done on the SSD (including projects, which can be moved to the platter drive when done or as a backup).
 
If it is all voice, 16 bit is Ok. CD isn't even 16bit.

+1 to the Berringer headphone amp. Never a problem, and mine has hard life, LOL.

A quiet computer is a nice thing to have.
 
"16GB RAM would be "more than adequate, 64GB definitely overkill." Yes Mr P!

It is a hard figure to pin down exactly but ram seems to pull about 1W per G idle and 2 or 3 times that when working so 64gig is putting an unnecessary strain on both PSU and cooling system. Of course the fact is that it is unlikely that more than about a tenth of that 64G ever does FA!

Dave.
 
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