Hardware Consoles: Disappointments In Recording Gear #1

[Bobbsy]

In my home studio, my mixer (console if you must) IS mainly a routing device. However, the importance of being able to route things quickly and easily should never be ignored. I'm a firm believer that things like headphone mixes can make a huge difference to the quality of performances and, by extension, your recordings. Even the basics like input gain are easier and faster if you can grab and handful of faders rather than using multiple mouse clicks to do things one at a time.

I'm certainly not looking to any mixer to magically make my sound better--just to not mess it up like much cheaper gear can do.

(In my case I currently have a digital mixer in my home studio but I'd have made exactly the same comment with my old Soundcraft analogue.)

 

[miroslav]

...my mixer (console if you must)...

Well, you guys gotta add the "ue" at the end of analog to make is sound more refined....so we call it a console to sound more refined.

A mixer is what the live sound guys use, and a console is what the recording guys use.

Though really....I think the actual term is a "mixing console"....and it just got reduced down to "console".

 

[Bobbsy]

Just to confuse you, "mixing desk" is also in common use in the UK--as opposed to "desk" which is the lighting stuff.

I guess my confusion is that I do both studio and live stuff and often use the same mixing desk console for both.

 

[Guitargodgt]

I actually agree with him for the most part. Even if I possesed the money to snag one I would never grab an analog desk for my home studio.

I much prefer the rack for recording and the controller/outboard rack gear for mixing when in an envirement that allows me to do such things.

To me it makes more sense as well, having one rack mounted channel strip fail has to be less annoying than having an entire board go down, or having to fix a faulty channel strip on a console.

I mean to each thier own but I would rather have a rack full of distressors, reuibuilt 1073s or clones, 1176s and other goodies over a desk.

lol I forgot to mention that running a desk is also expensive on electricity so there is that as well.

Now on the home recording level, I have never understood the desire for a mixer. When I played around with a presonus 16.4.2 it was imediatly apparent what it was designed for and home recording didn't seem to be the primary function. It was a killer mixer and would be incredible in a live situation for both running live mixes and having recorded tracks to throw to the band when the night was done. But for home recording I found it overpriced and clunky when compared to something more streamlined like the rig I'm running at the moment that runs the same channel count but only occupies 2 racks spaces.

 

[Bobbsy]

Now on the home recording level, I have never understood the desire for a mixer. When I played around with a presonus 16.4.2 it was imediatly apparent what it was designed for and home recording didn't seem to be the primary function. It was a killer mixer and would be incredible in a live situation for both running live mixes and having recorded tracks to throw to the band when the night was done. But for home recording I found it overpriced and clunky when compared to something more streamlined like the rig I'm running at the moment that runs the same channel count but only occupies 2 racks spaces.

LOL...A few hours ago in another forum I posted that the Presonus might be okay for studio use but it was pointless in a live situation. (The lack of motorised faders make scene presets almost useless--and scene presets are the biggest reason for me to use a digital board live.)

I guess that between us we've shot THAT mixer down!

 

[poobar]

"Back in the old days gear sucked so bad you had to look for gear that sucked less." I'm sorry... is that why so many plugins exist for the sole purpose of emulating "vintage" gear? Is that why so many people pay top dollar for vintage equipment? Is that why some of the greatest songs ever written were recorded on "gear that sucked so bad"? Your post contains some interesting points... but maybe you should dial yourself back just a little...

 

[Greg_L]

Is that why some of the greatest songs ever written were recorded on "gear that sucked so bad"? ...

Songwriting and recording have nothing to do with each other. I'm pretty sure that no one writes a song thinking "man this song will go great with so-and-so console and brand-x compressors".

 

[kcearl]

"Back in the old days gear sucked so bad you had to look for gear that sucked less." I'm sorry... is that why so many plugins exist for the sole purpose of emulating "vintage" gear? Is that why so many people pay top dollar for vintage equipment? Is that why some of the greatest songs ever written were recorded on "gear that sucked so bad"? Your post contains some interesting points... but maybe you should dial yourself back just a little...

the vintage gear thats emulated is the best gear from over the decades, how many pultecs or fairchild VSTs are there?

Its also pretty much the same 5 or 6 comsoles emulated over and over again...and definitely not the ones most home producers can afford

 

[miroslav]

I mean to each thier own but I would rather have a rack full of distressors, reuibuilt 1073s or clones, 1176s and other goodies over a desk.

The things is.....once you have racks full of analog gear, how are you going to mix ITB with all that OTB gear?
That's why people opt for OTB mixing with a console....and outboard gear. You can come out of a DAW and run a bunch of tracks through a console and easily tie in all the rack gear.

I agree that for a basic home-rec setup, where you're just doing your own stuff by yourself, it's not necessary to go console and OTB, unless that's what you prefer to do...but the minute you want to expand that a bit, and go project studio, with bands coming in, or more serious commercial recording....then the console and rack gear take on another meaning.

 

[chuckduffy]

"Back in the old days gear sucked so bad you had to look for gear that sucked less." I'm sorry... is that why so many plugins exist for the sole purpose of emulating "vintage" gear? Is that why so many people pay top dollar for vintage equipment? Is that why some of the greatest songs ever written were recorded on "gear that sucked so bad"? Your post contains some interesting points... but maybe you should dial yourself back just a little...

I think he was posting an article, for the purposes of discussion.