What's the deal with Behringer mixers?

B

BaltJack

New member
Ok. This is probably a dumb question, but why do behringer mixers have such a bad rep?

I got into home recording about a year ago, and I brought whatever gear I could afford, including a behringer mixer and a radio shack mic. doh. (I'm bracing myself for the flaming I'm gonna get) =^)

I just didn't know better...I didn't have the guidance of this board. *grin* As a novice, the mixer seemed to get the job done -- amping up mics to usable levels and such. My sound card was probably the bottleneck in my setup, so I never paid attention to the mixer.

I know they're cheap (hell...thats why I brought it) and just don't use good components. and I know the mixer is resposible for coloring the sound. So do behringer mixers color the sound poorly because of the componants? Are they unreliable? What are the experiences that you've had with them?

Balt
 
Press the Search button and type in Behringer, you will get tons
of info. I just did, and looks like lots of folks arent happy with the mixers.
 
Use what you have don't beat yourself up!

Use what you have don't beat yourself up!
You didn't know... The stuff you have will work until little by little you can afford better gear. Don't let others spoil your enjoyment of the process. 99% of us made the same mistakes, and we still have gear we would like to get rid of, but can't afford to replace it with something better!

I have a little Portable setup I use, and it includes a Beheringer 804 mixer. (With 4 XLR inputs that work just fine including phantom power) It fits in a small bag with mics and cords etc.

Have fun, and remember the music is most important, not the gear!

Dom Franco:rolleyes:
 
Re: Use what you have don't beat yourself up!

Dom Franco said:
99% of us made the same mistakes, and we still have gear we would like to get rid of, but can't afford to replace it with something better!

Dom Franco:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Oh hey that reminds me...

For Sale: Tascam Porta03, limited edition with tracks two and four shorted out... cheddar cheeze scented.

Asking price:$3,000 as is..

:D :D

Cy
 
I have a little Behringer 802 mixer, it works fine. So I'm happy. I think they make a fine product for someone on a budget who is just starting out, or needs a cheap 2nd mixer (me).

The low down on Behringer, as I see it, is this:

(1) Their products, in order to keep them cheap, are manufactured in China. They have limited R&D so they get a lot of their designs by copying others (like Mackie). So you wind up with a product that may sound decent but is made more cheaply than their competitors (Of course in fairness they SELL much cheaper than their compeditors too).

(2) They are a German company with manufacturing in China. Until recently they had no service organization in the USA, and it is still being built. So if you are unlucky enough to have a problem and the store is unwilling/unable to swap out the item, you may be in for a long wait to get it serviced.

If you accept the risks, and your mixer is working OK, I say - don't worry, be happy :)
 
Dont worry about the behringer mixers. I myself almost got a phonic and a nady mixer. (this will probubly get me beat up next time anyone here in this thread sees me.)

But I haven had any bad luck with my beh 602 eurorack which was my first preamp for my condencers. personally Ive had no complaints with it yet. but i have replaced it with a good tube pre.
 
The Behringer MX1604A

I'm fairly new at this...

I'm thinking of buying a behringer MX1604A - it is cheap and for the price has lots more inputs etc. that anything else. Can anybody persuade me not to?!!!

Are there any known problems? Other little things I should know?

Hope I am not buying a dead horse...

Also I'm looking at a Zoom RFX-1000 effects unit and Rode NT1 mics... (I have some other bits..) Any one got any suggestions..


Thx

Siddy
 
Its a fact that not all behringer mixers are defective but alot of users have posted negitive stuff on it here. More often than any other brand(even phonic and nady).
 
Re: Nady's, Behringer's, etc.

Let me preface this with this statement - I'm on a budget - I don't have $500 to drop on a Mackie/equivalent

I purchase a Nady SRM14 last year - hooked it up to a friends ADAT to do a 'test mix' - turns out the R channel kept cutting out - I returned the mixer and picked up the Behringer MX1604a

haven't had a problem with it yet - I haven't found either that it 'colors' the sound as much as some have made it to. It's actually pretty 'full-featured' for the price. I use it in my own little 'home studio' - but I have also used it to do mixes off of an ADAT - and have found the results to be more than acceptable. Maybe I'm lucky and I got the 1in10 Behringer's without a problem??

all in all, it's a fine mixer FOR THE MONEY - this is what I think the
'Behringer-Basher' don't get - The Behringer MX1604a is roughly ONE-HALF the price of the Mackie equivalent. Going by that, I would hope that the Mackie is a step-up.
 
See above icon on ANY Behringer mixer.

So what it's cheap in price, it's performance is even cheaper!

Signed

A Former (and never again) Behringer MX2624 owner!:mad:
 
I didn't know about any of this stuff before I made my first "investment" in my "studio". *grin* using words like that make me sound so professional. Thanks for all the info, guys.

yeah. I knew that I needed something to amp/eq/mix my inputs and I just looked for the cheapest thing around. It ended up working alright for me. So for the person thinking about buying behringer, here is my novice and pretty much unsubstantial opinion.

So, let me get this right. behringer copies the designs of other more expensive mixers, but with cheaper labor and components. Quality control is therefore low. You run the risk of things not working at all...but if luck is on your side, and they glued the thing together right, will you basically have the more expensive mixer?

(I know this may be kind of naive...so somebody straighten me out!)

Balt
 
I just want to comment on your comment about your behringer possibly 'colouring' your sound negatively. I cannot see this being a problem. I'm open to correction here but if your source sound is good, and your mics are good and well placed, the difference in sound quality between a mackie and a behringer of similar specs would be close negligable for most non professionals. Incidently I own a behringer 16 channel mixer, ( can't remember the model no. ) I use it for both live and recording work and have no complaints as yet. I think that the amount of complaints about behringer mixers have alot to do with the amount of them sold to home recording enthusiasts and the lack of support. I'd like to hear from somebody who owns a behringer and a mackie of similar/identical specs who could comment on any great difference in sound quaility.
 
Okay, so Behringers are not in the same league whatsoever, and you do not feel that the trade off in price is worth it. Fair enough...you have obviously got a lot more experience than me of the real live differences between these makes. One question though : given that everything in recording that lies between the source and the tape/disk can affect the sound one way or another ( inc. cables/room/sound card etc. ) how big is the difference in sound quality between a behringer mixer and a mackie of similar spec ( but higher price ) ? I am trying to prioritise my expenditure over the next year or so so that I buy the hardware and software that is going to make the biggest audible difference first. My next three were going to be Gina24 ( to replace my bog standard s/c ), a better vocal mic ( to replace my senheiser xx55 ( xx = can't remember ), and some sort of real time compression solution. Do you think that a new mixer should sneak in there ? I'd appreciate your opinion.

Thanks,

Pap.
 
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