mixers mackie 1604 VLZPRO ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter trebles
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trebles

New member
Hi there


Well after reading forum after forum of great advice and spending some time researching what gear i feel i may need after spending some time thinking about the kind of recording id be doing i came to the conclusion that id need something more then a workstation with wonderfull features and average mic pre,s ive come up with some questions :-)

Ive been been looking close at alot of the spec sheets on alot of the gear and a common thing occurs alot you finally decide upon one piece of gear then when you look closer there seems to be something that lets that piece of gear down so then you go on another quest to look for what you feel will match your budget and i guess work well with the projects you have planned and what you will want to be achieving longterm.

As for what i want to do i want to mix and record my own music and then maybe burn a cd good enough to send away for commercial packaging something i can sell at my gigs

Id also like to mix and record bands in a homestudio enviroment like a garage or room dedicated just for recording i guess this is why alot of us are here.

Finally to my question Ive decided that Id like to buy Mackie Gear
for recording and mixing ive chosen a Mackie HDR24/96 which in my opionion is the best unit for the recording i will be doing.

Where i am confused is in the mixer department ive looked at many mixers all that claim one trick or another over their rivals ive also read the forums where people will claim the same like one mixer vs another etc.

the mixer i really like is the Mackie D8b but i really cant afford it so i will have to settle for one of their mixers which will fall into line with my budget and will also deliver the performance i expect from a semi pro mixer the mixers ive looked at down from the D8b are Mackies 8bus consoles their 32 8,s and 24,8,s but none of them seem to have the xdr feature of their VLZ PRO range ok maybe i dont need it but the vlz line seem a nice line of desks indeed and are hard to beat when you look at what they offer the only other desk i really liked was the Allen an Heath Mixwizzard 20s is there anyway i might be able to chain two mackie vlz 1604 pros together which will give me 32 channels or will this process be messy?

the thought of the xdr feature really has me sold but if i cant chain these two 1604,s together maybe i,ll have to look for another solution the only reason ive not jumped for one of their 8 bus consoles is because i really like xdr who knows Mackie being the way they are with releasing all the combinations they do :-)
might even extend their vlzpro range to a 24 8 vlzpro :-)))))

Could someone be kind enough to explain to me if iam going about this the right way as so far all i have is alot of opionion i now want to ground some of this opionion and run with some of it just which way to run is what i am still trying to work out here.

i thank you all for the time given to me on this posting


kindest regards wayne :-)
Melbourne Australia







:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Lighten up wayne. There's much more to life than the mackie 1604 VLZPRO. It's mother's day here in the US. If yer mum's still alive, let her know you love her. That's what's really important.
 
reply to Hix

Well Hix


Your right there but i guess i really wanted to know about the 1604 dilema as i am trying pretty hard to work all this stuff out ive always wanted to own some nice recording and mixing gear to allow my projects to come to life o well iam sure i will get a reply maybe from you hix once mothers day is done hey maybe you can record her something nice to listen too :-)


regards wayne :-)
 
trebles-
I use one 1604vlz, and I think it would probably be pretty easy to use 2 of them. Keep in mind, the 1604vlz only has direct sends on the first 8 channels. You would have to slave one to th other in some fashion.
It was my understanding that the new VLZ desk mixers, were using the preamps from the 32*8 and 24*8...I thought thats what the big deal about them was. You might want to call Mackie, or send them an email to find out about that.

H2H
 
Hi H2H

Thank you for your your post yes i believe ive read somewhere maybe in the mackie catalogue that the 1604 vlz pro like the rest of the vlz range with xdr seemed to have taken a leaf out of the book off one of the larger mixers in their range at this stage i have a sales person ringing mackie for me and confirming this before i buy anything i guess id rather have the one 8 bus board rather then linking the two together this is because iam learning and dont want to complicate all before i have even laid a track down its just the more i look at the vlz range there seems little bad said about it and most everything ive read so far has been pretty good id say if the mic pre,s are the same or better on the 24,8 i,ll go for that mixer then at least i have a starting point.but if this is not so then two 1604 pros might be the way to go ive still got to see the allen an heath mixwizzard 20s as well so a little more time i guess will be required before i know for sure whats going to work for me.

I am very new to any sort of recording ive dabbled a little over the years and watched many bands in studios record but because of the expence and never really finding any work in a studio i kind of gave up a few years ago and stuck to more collecting guitars and just playing music i liked.

When i found this site home recording it resparked the intrest in me so much so that i started reading as many posts as i could and kept coppies of stuff id use for reference source to assist me while i was learning

I guess ive also come across one other problem equipment.

I know what i want to record on now and i am close to finding out what mixer i require but i guess what id find helpfull at this stage is if anyone has the time to explain to me what is required in a set up that will go straight into a dedicated room

I guess i like the old hands on the equipment approach rather then the pc or what i was looking for before a solution in a box with poor quality mic pre,s.

I realise i cannot afford such names as neve etc all that stuff is nice but it dont justify what i want to do iam pretty fussy and like nice equipment but as ive got older i realise i got to get the job done as well so i need some sort of starting point a little further on then the basic stuff i only have to sell off later and get nothing back for the stuff so i decided once i had a list of equipment i felt could do the job id buy in one hit at the best price possible this iam good at doing because i wait for the sales and talk the best price for cash deals when the time is right to do so.

I have quite a few mics now some from over the years and some bought recently i felt all i learnt about mics online was pretty straight forward and it was great and helpfull information written from some pretty knowledgeable people as well thanks to all who have posted stuff on mics its been great thank you all:-)))))

OK im going to have a little go at what i think i need for my studio to work well if i stuff up here please excuse me but iam a newbie and i accept this off myself i just hope when someone reads this they can correct rather then run me into the ground over my current basic status AND KNOWLEDGE ON THE SUBJECT i must admit so far most everyone has been nice i thank you all :-))))

OK I guess in the first word im gonna skip is the correct enviroment i realise this is needed and the most important off all things you do i am having a room built for this and before i move my equipment in, the room will be ready for what i buy to put in there.

well i,ll start with the mics i guess a good cross section of mics here would be good like sm 57,s for drum and some cab aplications sm58,s also for some vocals a few beta 58,s would be nice too

i already have a shure ksm 44 , an akg c414, a few old akg 330bt,s and a d112 for drums amoungst others i feel im happy with my mic selection so far.

good strong mic stands never go astray i never like to skimp out on these they are worth what you pay for them at least some of them are.

a snake to connect all of your mics etc to the mixer

well build di boxes

the mixer itself in my case i think the 24,8 will be what i need

something to record your tracks on ive chosen the mackie hdr 24/96.

an effects processor of sorts unless the desk already has this stuff built in but i guess you,d have to be confident that the desks effects were up to the task as well clean enough that is.

a compressor limiter eg an scv

some sort of reverb unit which runs good clean reverb but also has a number of different reverbs to choose from

a set of clark tekniks 1/3 octaves graphics not sure if these are good for studio but they are nice using them live

something to mix down to two tracks i have an ancient teac c3x 3 head deck but it wont be no good i think so i guess something like an alesis multi might be what i need.

a distribution amp a signal router and some good patch bay also a nice portable rack mount system something sturdy but on wheels with wheel stops as well.

two good sets of monitors so far ive seen the event 20/20,s and heard about the yorkville speakers but not heard them as yet if anything their dam well priced

ummm a good workstation to place all your new goodies on ive had a look at the quicklok ws 500 but dont know much about these so cant comment here really i also guess a nice big long desk as well to place equipement on but i guess thats what the quicklok was for hmmmmm.

a good soldering base station never went astray in live aplication things like utility box with sprare mic cable/connectors etc is always handy, a good lead tester with a working battrey :-)

a computer hooked up to the net hehe many good reasons for that :-)))

a small kitchen area with a good working fridge microwave lots of ashtrays smoking areas well out of the studio. oh a nice comfy couch as well geez i guess ive missed something but i,ll leave that to the people answering me o yes the talent and knowledge to run the gear well too and never being to proud to say i dont know :-)) thats why iam here ok thats all for me for now hope to read some good advice here thanks again

kindest regards wayne
Melbourne Australia

:)
 
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