building a mixing console

[southpark]

i have been looking into building a mixing console and believe it is within my ability accomplish(plus my brother is an electrical engineer that could help workout kinks). just cannot seem to think of what to put it in. any suggestions for a frame or plans to build one. also if anyone knows where to get schematics for api or neve pres and stuff that would also be helpful.
all input will be appreciated,
cheers
Dan

 

[diggy_dude]

I think most people here would recommend buying an old mixer and modifying it to taste, rather than building one from the ground up.

 

[Minion]

I agree with Diggy , Making a Quality mixer from the ground up is a very hard and complex prosess and will take a long time .... and an electrical engineer usually deals with Large scale power distribution and motor controll applications so your brother won"t be of any major help (unless he is also an electronics engineer) ......

but if you are intent on it I do have a chassis for an 8CH mixer laying arround that you can have for cheap ......

 

[southpark]

thanks for replies. um he is one of those who works on power plants however he did take in depth courses in circuits. could you expand on the idea of moding an old mixer(what ones are good candidates, what to mod on them, etc....)

 

[diggy_dude]

I hear Allen & Heath mixers are good for modding.

 

[diggy_dude]

Here's a simple op amp mixer design I found interesting. It could be just the thing to get you started. You would have to find mic preamp and eq section designs to add to it. The schematic is at the bottom of the page.

Simple Mixer Schematics

 

[southpark]

ive allready found a place to build one from High Quality Sound Mixer but thanks.
Cheers

 

[diggy_dude]

I looked at some on the ESP site last night too. That looks like a nice one. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[southpark]

sure thing. might take a while so i better get to work considering that im practically going to be building everything for my studio(summing mixer, monitors, computer, etc..) have not figured out how to make mic stands yet. maybe ill just buy them, there cheap enough?? i feel so psyched after readin the junk tele thread by crazydoc

 

[Blue Jinn]

I think Craig Anderton's Home Recording book has a plan. Also, for Neve etc pres check out prodigy-pro.com/diy there are a bunch of circuits over there, some with pc boards, e.g. "green pre" and various clones eg the (UA?) 1108. TapeOp magazine had an article about two years ago about a guy building his own console.

Check out the Lab and the White Market

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/diy/index.php

Check this out to:

http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com/

 

[Jeremy Clarkson]

I dont know much about wiring but it would be sick it you made a wood body and face and just put the guts of another mixer into it.

 

[ayoung240]

I have always wanted to do this... I would definitely mod an old board that needed some TLC, however.

 

[southpark]

well im not gonna go all out and make a super complex one... its more just to use as channel strips for mixing down a recording to tape.... im thinking like 10-16 channels maybe(seriously when are you gonna need more). i wanna make it as simple as possible (going with the less is more theory)reamp(new york Dave's one bottle pre over at group diy) eq (haven't looked into that much yet) and the fader's with just mute switches cause i cant think of a way to do solos yet then have it all go down to two outs... oh and also a direct out for each channel so that if i ever need to do a live concert or session.. i can have each channel separately recorded for ease of mixing later.... damn ive got some work ahead of me.... but first things first.... i needs to build me some monitors(if your reading this and have experience with building such monitors_ please feel free(obligated) to go visit my post on building them) i need more help with that than this?!?!?