Mackie 24*8 meter bridge accuracy

[darwin]

How accurate are the meters on the Mackie 24*8? I am talking specifically about the ones in the optional meter bridge.

I mainly intend to use the board for monitoring while tracking. I may also use some of the preamps while tracking. During mixdown, I would use the board to mainly perform A/B analysis with my mixes and commercial reference mixes. Since the bulk of the mixdown will be in the digital realm, I would only really be listening to about 4-6 inputs at once.

[Blue Bear Sound]

How accurate do they need to be for what you're trying to do??

Tolerances are probably a lot wider than Dorrough meters - but Mackie meter bridges are cheap in comparison to the Dorrough meters!

I suspect they'll be more than adequate.

[regebro]

This is the first time I've ever heard anybody mention meter bridge accuracy. Since the needles wobble and the leds are discreet I guess a couple of db's to and fro won't make much difference when tracking.

[darwin]

I have an older CR1604, and it seems like the master meters maybe aren't quite calibrated right or something. I say this because when I play commercial stuff, there can be a difference of up to 2 db between left and right sides when I monitor the meters on the main output bus. To me, it doesn't seem like they should be that different. It's just a little irritating thing that I would like to see corrected in the next mixer that I buy which will be pretty soon.

[Blue Bear Sound]

If you play the commercial mix in mono do the meters read the same (they should).....

With a 2-track mix, it would be quite normal to have the meters peaking with 2-3 db differences.... it's called "STEREO".........!

[DJL]

My Mackie 32x8 bus with the MB32 Meter Bridge reads the same when in mono with commercial CD's.

[darwin]

Blue Bear, I know that. I mainly notice it during really loud "non-dynamic" sections. There shouldn't be too much difference during these parts.

DJL, thanks. That is what I wanted to know.

[Blue Bear Sound]

On my own 24*8 meter bridge, I don't see any obvious differences... I did have to re-calibrate one of the VU meters on it, but other than, it's "accurate enough".......

[DJL]

Originally posted by darwin
Blue Bear, I know that. I mainly notice it during really loud "non-dynamic" sections. There shouldn't be too much difference during these parts.

DJL, thanks. That is what I wanted to know.

No problem. I agree with Blue Bear. It's "accurate enough".

[TexRoadkill]

How old is your mixer? There was an issue with some of the 1202s when they first came out where the master buss was slightly off balance.

[darwin]

This is like the one of the first CR1604s. I got it in like 1993.