Choosing live/studio board

  • Thread starter Thread starter pdadda
  • Start date Start date
pdadda

pdadda

Captain Sea Boots
My next purchase is most likely going to be a mixing board. I need it both for live use and in the studio. I was looking into the Soundcraft M8 or 12 and the Yamaha MG16/4. I don't like the lack of adequate bussing on the Soundcraft for live use. The Yamaha is rather tempting, but I am honestly leery of buying something that has so much for so cheap (might be a dumb attitude).
I probably wouldn't need to have more than 8-10 XLR channels. Right now my band has 2 guitar players (who both sing) and a drummer (backup vocals). We are looking to add bass soon.
I also want the board to sound decent in the studio. I hope to have enough outboard pre-amps down the road that I don't need to rely on the board's pres.
I started looking at the Spirit SX. Any opinions? Is it so much cheaper for the number of channels because the pres are crappy? What about the Soundcraft E series?
 
If your looking for cheap 8-10, i use a behringer ub2222fx 8 xlr's for live and recording, not sure if this is what your really looking for but its only about $200-300. hope this helps
 
The Soudcraft FX16 is a great mixer that would fall right in there. It has 16 channels with direct outs and Lexicon Effects that are very usable for live sound. It makes a great board for recording due to it warm pres and great Eq. It's also 4 bus.
 
The FX16 looks great, but its a bit more than I wanted to spend. Plus I don't really care to have any onboard effects.
 
It sounds like you need 16 channels. Sooner or later you'll be itching to mic the drum kit for real, and that can hog 4 or 6 channels all by itself. 2 vocals, 2 guitars (unless they're acoustic - add a couple of channels), 1 bass (another vocal there?) Already you're at 11 without any funny stuff.

Sometimes decent used analog mixers come up on ebay - look for the vendors with a 99 % positive rating and then learn all you can about the unit. Be sure to get realistic about shipping; these things can be heavy. But I saw a 20 channel Tascam go for under $600 a while ago.
 
Thanks again Treeline. I responded to your other reply before I read this one. My main problem right now is that I just bought monitors and I have almost no money right now. But I need a mixer quickly. And I need to be able to finance it over a reasonable preiod. The only place I know of where I can do this right now is Guitar Center. If I bought used on e-bay, it would be tough to find a financing option. If I put any more money on the credit card, my wife will rightfully kill me.
 
A Yamaha MG24/14FX is under a grand and will give you 16 nice preamps for the money plus some stereo channels, and also has two simultaneous effects. Single delay is pretty nice for vocals if not overdone, and a little reverb is helpful if you have multiple mics on the drum kit. MF finances over a year at 0 % interest, but if you're late with a payment they will hit you with double digit interest back to the date of purchase.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/630055/
 
16 channels is the minimum,
i was the assistant for a bunch of live shows the past two years,
it was all underground stuff, never anything big
, but our 12 channel mixer, damn, did we curse it !!!!
its not enough,
one day there'll be a bend with trumpets or some saxophones,
what then? maybe some extra percussion or just a real big drumkit?

16 is the minimum, if you're gonna spend money anyway,

for recording you should get a mixer with subs,
for live....auxiliaries is what you need
and of course inserts on each channel is a must

i got two Studiomaster mixers, pretty old machines, real cheap, and Yes i like the sound !
you can find 16 channel mixers for about $200 on ebay,
sometimes more, sometimes less.... i think they used to be about $1000 when new..

i wouldn't spend too much money on a LIVE mixer, but for studio recordings,,
mhhh, a little more of course since a CD is a piece of history and a live gig is just a show

plus, if you're using your studio mixer for both live and studio,
you might damage it one day,,,,and then what? you're broke and ruined

thats why i got Two 'cheap' mixers, (NO BEHRINGER JUNK AT ALL),
and soon i'll be making some more money with a live show, then maybe i'll be able to go for some soundcraft stuff

start small, end big ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top