Recording with MG10/2

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mitosis

mitosis

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I recently purchased a Yamaha MG10/2 to do recording with and I have a couple of questions. Which is the best output for me to choose from the mixer? I have the choice of REC OUT (RCA L & R), STEREO OUT (1/4'' L & R), and CONTROL ROOM OUT (1/4'' L & R). I am currently choosing the REC OUT and going into a 1/8'' Line In on a Creative Soundblaster Audigy II sound card.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but to set the levels on the mixer, you should start with everything at zero, then produce sound at the source (ie, the mic) and then raise the initial gain volume until it peaks and then back off on the gain until it only peaks occiasionally. Then you should set the master fader level and then open up the main channel volumes until you get a good mix. My question is, how high should you set the master level; until it peaks and then back off, to the little arrow on the notches on the knob, or until its about the same volume as other songs on your computer.

Also (sorry), but I'm miking drums right now and when I try to set the initial gain levels for the overhead condensor mics, the peak indicator shows that it is always peaking anytime there is sound. I even turn the initial gain levels all the way down and it still shows the peaking. I eventually just ignored it and choose a gain level that sounded decent although it said it was peaking. Is this a problem or should I just ignore it?

Thanks
-Nick
 
mitosis said:
1/8'' Line In on a Creative Soundblaster Audigy II sound card
Click to expand...
Pop for a better soundcard like this or this.

Don't ever ignore overloads anywhere in your signal path. Proper gain staging --- in other words, the maximum non-clipping level at each adjustable point --- is crucial to getting clean recordings and is not difficult to achieve.




.
 
AHHH another victim of the dreaded MG series boards! I work at a store that is a yamaha dealer and when the MG boards came out we bought a ton of em. and sold a ton of em, and got a ton of em back (at least all the ones bought to use for recording) The MG board was designed for small bands that cant afford a big live mixer. Yamaha themselves told me that the MG is not a good board for recording. It is a LIVE mixer, the pre-amps are not even decent for recording. They actually have extreme crosstalk (you can hear other channels in every channel even with the faders all the way down) Those MG boards are great inexpensive boards for a band, or church or so on. But I would definately take it back and exchange it for something else if you need a board for recording. Try the PHONIC boards in that price range (phonic is the company that makes Allen and Heath's mixwizard, as well as some of the small mackie boards) Stay away from Behringer and yamaha small boards for recording. Needless to say my store does not carry the MG series boards anymore, we still have yamaha and love most of their gear. But this day in age if a board can record we have no reason to carry it. Hope this helps and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but better to find out now than when your half way through the recording and cant figure out why everything is phasing itself out in the mix. Later!
 
i've got to say i'm very suprised by that. maybe it's the whole 'never tried anything else so don't know better', and maybe you're only talk about the 10/2, but my MG12/4 has been rock solid for the past 18 months, used for recording at least once a week (and much more regularly recently) and i've never had any problems at all. i've also used the pres on a few other desks, and a few 'studio in a box' thingys, owned by family and friends, and the yamaha hasn't been disgraced. by no means am i saying they're 'the best' or 'incredible' - but i haven't come across better option for getting 6 reasonably good (or in the case of the 10/2, 4) preamps without spending more than £150. i'm sure there's better stuff, but as a 'first mixer' i'm sure there's also a lot Lot worse. *shrugs* just my opinion though, based on quite limited information :p.

i've always used either the stereo outs for going into my computer, or the inserts on the back. i use the control room out to control the volume both from my computer and my CD player, which are all going into the mixer, and use the same set of speakers.

Andy
 
Ditto, I've got the 16/4 and I'm in love with it. No complaints at all. Well, other than it doesn't have stereo returns on the 2 aux, busses. No MAJOR complaints though. :p
 
I'm with HollowDan,

I only use my 10/2 for my I/E monitor mix(drummer). You can definately hear cross talk between channels.

Love it for the $, but not for recording.

MHO

-LIMiT
 
Now what?

Gee Hollowdan, I'm shopping for a mixer for my humble home studio and I was really leaning towards the MG16 until I read your post. I heard a lot of positive reviews about these boards and yours is the first negative one, but I'm not about to dismiss it without further research before I plunk my bucks down. Also, I've gotten the impression from reading the forums that the Phonic name was not especially known for high quality stuff. I'm going to hold off on my mixer purchase until I hear some more opinions on the matter. I welcome comments from Yamaha MG owners.
jboy
 
I owned a mg 12/4 at one point. It was solidly built, pretty quiet, and the pre's were usable although nothing to brag about. I never noticed any crosstalk on the one I owned but I never really looked for any either. Maybe some MG owners could test their boards to see.
 
Speaking from personal experiences, the ONLY Yamaha mixer that has a minute leak is the 10/2. ALL the others are tight. The reason for the minute leak on the 10/2 is because there are no MUTE buttons for the individual channels, all you can do is turn the level knobs down.
The12/4 series and larger alll have individual mute buttons on all channels. Yamaha mixers have very good pre-amps and produce a very rich sound. They are the best of the budget mixer lines.
 
Well, I started this post and just saw all the responses now. Unfortunately (I think), I now have dual MG10/2s. I run them into a M-Audio Audiophile Firewire. What kind of bleed would I get if I was using channel one to mic vocals and had all the other channels turned down but just with cables plugged into them (with the mics removed from the cables)?

I also don't really mind bleed between the channels that much (I haven't really noticed it being a problem at all). The multiple signals all get mixed to one signal before it even goes to my computer so I hope it doesn't really matter.
 
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