ANYONE USING MACKIE's

[mr. produca]

1. has anybody here used th mackie 24.8 or 32.8 before?
2. did you like it?
3. if i purchase a decent mic and pre (lets say um, an at4060 and a $avalon$) would you recomend getting any fo these boards?????

 

[Nick The Man]

i have never used any mackies but from what ive seen on this board people still buy preamps to go with those mixers ..... people will always buy preamps no matter how good the mixer


hope this helped ...at least a little
i guess i only answered your #3 question

 

[therage!]

1. has anybody here used th mackie 24.8 or 32.8 before?
2. did you like it?
3. if i purchase a decent mic and pre (lets say um, an at4060 and a $avalon$) would you recomend getting any fo these boards?????

What are you recording?

How many tracks are you planning on recording at once?

If your not recording a bunch of tracks simultaneously then I would go for the high end pre and mic. Get a cheaper mixer and use it for routing and monitoring. I use an Alesis studio 24 and it's perfect for that. I don't use my mixers pre's or EQ because I use a stand alone pre.

You could ask Blue Bear about the Mackie. He used one of them until he got his Sony.

 

[mr. produca]

i better shell out the hard dough on my mic and pre
i dont want my mixer craping out on me........
thanks for the input!!!

 

[mr. produca]

also i cant imagine paying big bucks for my mics and pre and then have a crappy mixer drop sh*t on the signal (i would probably die).i want it to sound like it actually came from the mic and pre. again thankz!!

 

[therage!]

also i cant imagine paying big bucks for my mics and pre and then have a crappy mixer drop sh*t on the signal (i would probably die).i want it to sound like it actually came from the mic and pre. again thankz!!

That's not the only thing that will affect your sound. But yeah, the idea with a good pre is to bypass the mixer going straight in.

What kind of soundcard/interface are you using?

 

[mr. produca]

ive got a friend who has a band and wants to do some recording so i will need alot of channels. he's into spanish music, salsa and things but i like more hip hop and r&b

 

[pdadda]

I use my Mackie SR24-4 pre's (and sometimes EQ) when I track drums. Sounds good enough to my amateur ears.

 

[mr. produca]

That's not the only thing that will affect your sound. But yeah, the idea with a good pre is to bypass the mixer going straight in.

What kind of soundcard/interface are you using?

i was more thinking of the analog way than digital. i like how warm it is.(although this may put hole in your pocket). ive been searching for soundcards though.
any recommendations?????
my computer:mac G5 brand new

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I used to use a Mackie 8-bus.... I certainly made it work for me until I upgraded to the Sony..... (mind you, I rarely ever used the on-board pres...)

 

[mr. produca]

also my bro is tight in tha computer biz so anything down that alley is a good thing

 

[mr. produca]

we have another computer a hp pavilion 506x which im using now. i dont think this thing is capable of running a competitive studio (correct me if im wrong) lol

 

[therage!]

i was more thinking of the analog way than digital. i like how warm it is.(although this may put hole in your pocket). ive been searching for soundcards though.
any recommendations?????
my computer:mac G5 brand new

What's your budget?

If you can afford high end converters like Lucid, Apogee etc, great.

There are so many interfaces out there. It's gonna take a lot research on your part because you want to make the right decision.

Then you have monitoring, room...etc etc to consider.

Not to mention software.

You can run Pro Tools on MAudio hardware now and just last night I downloaded the demo just to see what PT is like and it's a pretty nice package but it seems like a Mac app that is ported to XP. I don't even see that you can use right mouse button with it but that won't apply to you.

I hear a lot of good stuff about Logic, but it's not cheap.

 

[mr. produca]

hmmmmmmm interesting

 

[Quantagee]

1. has anybody here used th mackie 24.8 or 32.8 before?
2. did you like it?
3. if i purchase a decent mic and pre (lets say um, an at4060 and a $avalon$) would you recomend getting any fo these boards?????

Those Mackie 8 bus boards have so-so pre-amps in them. They also have inadequate summing buss amps. The EQ section does not do much for the sound quality either (I owned one for 6 years, really it is true). When I went to my A&H 32 channel large console, the pre-amp, EQ and summing busses were TONS better. If you have to have a Mackie, it is useable. I suggest that you look at A&H or Soundcraft if you are going the used route.


I use many high end mics, and yes, Avalons among other pres. The Mackie just slaughters anything in it's path. Get a better console, or route the Avalon directly to the recorder (desireable in most situations).

Good Luck.

 

[Light]

Mackie = totally useless EQ.

Really, completely useless.


It doesn't even do anything until you have turned the knob half way to the max.


Really, really, really shitty EQ.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Cave Dweller]

I've owned a mackie 24*8 for about 4 years now. it's a very decent board, considering what they now sell for used.

i used to use it in the studio until i went to "mixing in the box" the preamp are nothing to write home about, but are usable with decent mics. the extensive routing features are great...the board has 3 inputs per channel (mic, line, tape) so you can basicly forget about a patchbay in most cases.

I now use it on live gigs with great success.

just watch headroom, and gain staging and you will be fine. i've heard some people have problems with the ribbon cable, i've never had a problem.

 

[Tim Brown]

i was more thinking of the analog way than digital. i like how warm it is.(although this may put hole in your pocket). ive been searching for soundcards though.
any recommendations?????
my computer:mac G5 brand new

Personally I think I'd be looking at a MOTU Firewire interface of some type. (The 24 I/O will get you 24 channels in and out for about $1,500, but you'd still need Mic pre's for each of those channels.)

Are you recording in Logic by chance?


As a Mackie user I would say : Don't do it!

Jesus, I hate the EQ on it. It's like the EQ's bell curve is just wide enough and shallow enough to screw up a whole bunch of frequencies at once!

As someone else suggested - I'd take a serious look at an A&H.
Even a 24x4 A&H would be better than a 24X8 Mackie. YOu could always take a direct out for individual channels. (The only thing I tend to group during tracking, are tom mic's anyway.)



Tim

 

[mr. produca]

thanks guys

WOW!!i will take all these suggestions into concideration when i start purchasing.a&h ive heard good things about them, definitly a concideration, the 7g limit just will not stand up,gotta start saving again

 

[Seeker of Rock]

Just bought a used 24.8, but after reading this thread, wondering if I should've Haven't even hooked it up yet.