Mackie or Soundcraft?

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thedude400

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I know they are both pretty decent boards. I'll be using a 16 channel board for mixdown and most soundcraft 16 channels are a bit more pricy than Mackie's. How do the 2 of these compare, pre's, converters, equalizers? Are they quite similar or different? Should I drop a few extra bucks on a Soundcraft or will a Mackie do me just fine?

Oh and should I take my monitors out of the board or the interface for mixdown?
 
Soundcraft all the way

I own a soundcraft spirit fx 16 , running the direct out puts to a-dat , and I have never had a problem with it. It does cost a little more and takes a little longer to get used to but in the long run it is worth it.Plus the soundcraft comes on board with lexicon effects , which is more than the mackie can say.
 
Personally I think the Mackies are a bit too pricey for what they are worth.
 
I think you also have some great choices in some of the "older" boards. Allen and Heath, Tascam, and Studiomaster come to mind. I have a Studiomaster P7. A nice British board that was not too expensive, (less than a new Mackie)
 
I always suggest soundcraft and mackie for the very particular sound.




The XDR pres in the VLZ Mackie series are not the most expensive or most elaborate design, but they have this very acceptable sound to them.


I had a friend of mine do a pre amp shoot out at a studio somewhere up north. (That means they lined up about 10 different pres of different grades to record one source and compare).


Most of the engineers kept choosing the XDRs over much more expensive pres. He even said they prefered them over Neve 1073s in some cases! I was really shocked over that.

But I can appreciate the XDRs for lower budget recording and/or spot recording.


Soundcraft has a bit of a hit with the ghost console. Very capable EQs and preamps. The spirit line is not bad at all either.


Allen and Heath, I dunno. I've always known them for making awesome live consoles, but I couldn't tell you much on thier studio line stuff.

And yes, there is a difference between live and studio mixers.
 
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