mixer hook up question

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elicantu

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i have a mixer that has 16 channels and 8 buses
each of the channels has individual tape in tape out
right now i am doing the 8 outs from the buses into the 8 in of my interface
and i have the 8 out of the interface into the first 8 channels (tape in each) of the mixer for mixdown.

is this the way to do it or should i be doing someting with all those tape outs?
 
I'd hook the direct outs and the 8 busses plus the inputs to your recording device to a patch bay. I'd hook the tape returns directly to the mixer. That way you can connect any channel or group of channels to any input of the recorder.
 
well i dont have any money for a patch bay and i am doing pretty good with the buses going into the interface but the thing is that i've been having some problems with my mixer "leaking" sound into other channels and stuff

by the way ..is there any way to fix that
 
What kind of board? What kind of interface?

My intial reply would be to use the direct outs, mainly because that's what they're for. Assuming that they bypass the rest of the channel electronics, meaning that the signal leaves through the tape out before it hits the eq section on the board. If you use the Busses as your outs you're running the signal through uneeded circuitry and the major conesus around here (from what I've seen anyway) is that less is more when it comes to tracking.

I use a similar setup, I use a mackie board with the direct outs going to my interface. I could care less about the rest of the board, I just want the preamp/gain knob and that's all I use.
 
well the thing is that i also mix in the mixer and but the thing is that if i use the buses i can hook up 16 channels for tracking then send them in 8
but if i do 8 channels direct out
that is all i get to track with
 
elicantu said:
well the thing is that i also mix in the mixer and but the thing is that if i use the buses i can hook up 16 channels for tracking then send them in 8
but if i do 8 channels direct out
that is all i get to track with
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Or use a bit of both. Some assigned to busses/groups, others the cleaner direct outs' that won't benefit from bussing.
 
I'm sure the "degradation" from going through the added circuitry of sending signals out on channels bussed to group outs will be negligible as compared to using the direct outs. Being afraid to use the buss outs because the signal is going through more circuitry seems awfully paranoid if you ask me.
 
On many consoles, buss outputs, and especailly aux outputs can sound pretty different. Especially on less expensive consoles.
 
We can probably agree it's nothing' in the big picture. (Compared to the song, or the playing for example) I was just tossing out route options.
On the other hand, I look back on all the 'incremental steps' so small they blur together; M312b, to makies, (remember BassDonna :) saying 'sounds clearer") to out board pres. But the one that sticks out- getting the mixer completely out of the record and play back chain. :D
Again, these are modest mixers here though.
 
Usually different. Every mixer is built and designed differently. There can be a lot of things in the signal path between a direct output and a fully bussed signal. Whether or not it is worse is up to your ears;)
 
Are you recording on all 16 channels of you mixer at once? If not, I would use the track outs. If you need all 16 channels, then I would submix the drums to a pair of buses and probably direct everything else.
 
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