Rack vs Desk

S

santarsieri

New member
Hey everyone, I've been floating about these boards for a long time and have only made a few posts, but have decided to become a more frequent poster, so long as I can keep things relevant, so Hi everyone! and on to the point...

I have in my posession a DDA M-Series 16 channel (live) Mixing Console. I generally use it with Cubase and an M-Audio Delta 1010LT. However the noise ratio is quite high. The reasons I bought it were the price, my personal incline to analogue gear and the fact it has a nice EQ and 6 VU's

Being a student, I find it very difficult to get spare cash and I find it even more difficult to part with that cash. However, I just bought a Presonus Firepod, which makes my desk relatively useless to me because of the noise difference.

With the new advances in DAW's and technology in general, it has become aparrent that one does not necissarily need a mixing console (please correct me if I am wrong) depending on how you like to work. In fact working with a rack based setup makes for a very portable studio if you have a laptop.

I am considering selling my desk simply to size down and find my own routine so that I can find a way I can work comfortably. So, with that in mind (and with anything else anyone suggests I should consider): Do you think selling the desk is a good idea, and if so what should I use the money towards? Does anyone even think it will get much if I do sell it?

I was considering using it to buy an EQ unit (I'm really not keen on software plug in EQ), or perhaps a more practical desk... Any tips / thoughts?
 
I really love a console but in todays world for the average guy the DAW just seems like the way to go. I have a very nice console but I just use it to monitor in the studio and feed headphone mixes to players. With my live rig in clubs I don't monitor at all. Just set up mic's and go. Then bring home hard drive, feed it into DAW and mix. The ability to save and recall mixes is a must for me, different versions etc. Plugins today today are really good. Now if you have $75,000-$300,000 to spend I would be signing a different tune. I'm kind of suprised the noise is high on that console. DDA does make a very good console I have heard. Some very high end items I believe. Do you use the mic pre's in it?
 
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Yea I didn't think of it that way before, it is mainly the mic pres, but the noise on the 1/4" is still higher than I would have expected, a little EQ does compensate well in this case though. Active Bass DIed through this desk makes me drool.

So I'm guessing the next suggestion will be to try some outboard mic pre's into the line inputs? hmm perhaps I can just chuck my Firepod in the chain to have a play. But then would I be limited to recording on my 1010LT, or is there a way I can go from the desk back into the firepod so i can firewire into the laptop (whilst avoiding a feedback loop)...

Sounds like im gonna have some fun experimenting. On a side note though, I would still like to hear opinions on outboard EQ
 
If you are going to use outbaord mic pres, bypass the console. That is what I do. I have 2 setups. One a Alesis DH24 with a rack of mic pre's, line outs of the HD24 go to console for monitoring. The secong is my mobile rack with digital mic pres into second DH24, either way I bypass the console. The less signal path the better.
 
you might find that for mixing you still prefer the console to software. personal preference thing (and maybe the sound). as far as outboard eq yes. but if I were in your position outboard eq wouldn't be at the top of the list, because some plugin eq's are really, really powerful, considering you've decided to go the computer route. the plugin compressors aren't really as good as good outboard but aren't bad either for most things....but preamps are what the software can't do.
 
If you sell the desk, something like a Presonus Central Station might be useful for you. It's basically the monitoring section of a console, with a master control, levels meters, mute/dim switches, a couple headphone outputs, and a bunch more features. It's a handy thing to have around when working with a DAW.
 
I second Sonic Albert. And Behringer also makes a cheaper Monitoring station with talkback mic etc. http://www.behringer.com/MON800/index.cfm?lang=ENG, not sure if its rackmountable.

If you already have the Firepod you're probably better off going in the mixerless direction and aiming for some other gear.

You should have enough inputs with the Firepod to get most basic drum kits covered.

I have seen many setups with just a DAW, Firepod and some Decent mics that do great recordings. Maybe a few plugins to help out. But the rest is up to the room its recorded in, the mixing environment and the skills of the engineer.
 
the way things work now, consoles are pretty useless in the studio unless you have enough A/D/A to mix in analog and a mixer that's nice enough to have a sonic advantage over mixing ITB...and even then you're going to need a decent amount of outboard gear to do so

unless you REALLY like the sonic character of your console, i'd get rid of it and put the $$ towards something else
 
It's personal preference. For me, mixing and knob turning is as much of the song as moving my fingers across a fretboard or hitting a crash on cue with a kick drum. But then again, I do this as a hobby, not a profession. If it were the latter, I would probably go another route unless my business was large enough to have the analog option where I could charge enough to compensate for a more time-consuming way of doing things. However, that is not my case and I really couldn't see mixing without knobs and faders in front of me.

Falken has a great point...if convenience (and it sounds like portability as well) is your goal, maybe plug-ins would be better money spent just for their convenience.

Whatever the case, sounds like you have a little equity in the board, so have fun with whatever you spend the money on once you sell it. Getting new gear is always such a fun feeling. :) :) :)
 
I think in the home recordist relm, ITB is probably the prefered way. Big time pro studio, you'll find a mix of both. Pro Tools, Nuendo whatever ran through console.
 
For me, a DAW has always made sence in other respects outside of space. I have a 12 channel mixer but i rarely use it to actually mix. It's more of a thing where i mess around because i can rather than for function. To me, what i've spent on software is a fraction of what i would have spent on hardware.

However, if you are thinking portable, i suggest you use two setups. Now obviously you can have things that you can use for both, just make it portable. Get a small rack you can travel with. I know for me, just the basics make portable for recording and i would only do portable if i really needed to (and could borrow a laptop). I tried to figure out how i could integrate a laptop that was given to me and it just wasn't worth it over what i use now, even without much outboard.
 
I scored my A&H Mix Wizzard for about $700 as a brand new, factory 2nd. For the money, I couldn't have found an equal package with 16 nice pres, very nice EQ, and numerous routing options for both me and the tracking band. I'll sometimes EQ to disk, because it's just too sweet an equalizer section to go unused. Whatever you dig, it's all personal preference. I think there's some pretty sweet deals out there on mixers, and if you're smart you can get a lot of performance for your money.
 
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