simple ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter lbcstudios
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Sjoko2 - Please accept my apology for calling you a bonehead. It was uncalled for.

Chessrock - Thanks! Now that's what I was talking about. That could definitely be something to look into.

Soundcraft M4- $439 4 Upgrade pres - $500 Charge for upgrade - $300-400(?) $1,300

If those pres are as good as the RNP or Sytek, that would be something a home rec'r could really use. 4 good pres WITH decent EQ, inserts, high pass, panning, digital out, sub mix, .......YASSIR ! For less than 1500 bucks. Gonna have to check this out.
 
StevenLindsey said:
If those pres are as good as the RNP or Sytek, that would be something a home rec'r could really use.
Click to expand...

Jim Williams is one of the lesser-known guys out there, but his work is really no less respected or appreciated. He rubs elbows with some very big names, and I rarely hear anything bad about his personal character or his work.

Now if you get a chance to talk with him, I'm sure he'll tell you his stuff smokes the RNP or the Sytek. :D And he'll probably tell you a lot of his other theories on audio as well, I'm sure. I'd compare his stuff more to a poor man's Buzz Audio. He uses lightning-fast opamps and what not. Very fast transient response . . . extremely accurate and clean, etc. On the minus side, there's not a hint of color or flattery . . . very honest and not in the least bit forgiving.
 
hmmm may have to run em all through a nice Behringer compressor to make them sound better.
 
lol :D Yea.


Honestly, though, at $150 a shot, Jim's mic pres are probably one of the best deals in audio today. Can't think of anything other than the Sytek that can even come close on a per-channel basis.
 
One could just order an M4 or M8 from say 8thstreet, have it sent to him for modification and then have him forward it on. I'll bet that would be one nifty little rascal. I'm going to weigh this option well before I buy any more pres. Of course, there may be a catch. Maybe he has a minimum order...... I'll see if the time comes. Thanks for the information. Intriguing.
 
Didn't it occur to anyone that it is foolish to hard wire quality pres into a mediocre mixer. You may as well keep the pres and the mixer seperate, bypass the internal pres and someway, upgrade the mixer or, considering the way things are going, you may even lose the mixer altogether and opt for a control surface, independent pres and an indpendent monitor section.

There are most certainly mixers with better component parts than what Soundcraft has to offer. The issue is cost. Those companies manufacturing affordable gear make the choices they do so that their equipment will be functional on a certain level and affordable on yet another level.

Why not make a kit that turns a Behringer mixer into an SSL. I don't mean this as a joke either. Obviously, the difference is not the concept bu the components. Therefore, take your Behringer, improve all the components with SSL parts and components and viola! But, clearly, it is not that simple.

The same question could be put to the music. For instance, how come two guys playing identical guitars, one with and identical bass and a drummer with identical drums in the same studio as the Beatles don't sound like the Beatles. This is rather extreme but the point is, the whole is often greater than the sum of the parts. Therefore, merely sticking better parts, like taking a mediocre group and adding a great drummer, will certainly be an improvment but it will still be what it is.

Not only that but, when the pre amps are left free standing, you have the choice to change them, add new and different colors by mixing and blending differenty types of pres. That is a wonderful thing.

I therefore conclude that you should make a companty the manufactures a mixer that has bussing, faders, a monitor section and inputs and outputs but no pre amps. This device will have a seperate bussing or plug-in section for the pre-amps and you can route any channle to any preamp however. This could be the same as having built in pres but where the preamp would go, all you need is connectors. Plug in the preamp of your choice and, bang, your good to go. You could also make this thing kinda work like a control surface too. I suppose there might be some matching problems and possibly some noise problems but I am not a techy and don't know if that is so or if such problems could be dealt with. I do know that such a device would seem to serve the home recording market well.
 
Good ideas Jerry. However, my thoughts were this: I'm satisfied with the job my old mediocre mixer does except for the pres. It's quiet, good eq, inserts work perfectly well...etc. If I had a mixer of the same mediocre quality with good pres, it would be very useful to ME. The mixer without the pres you mentioned in your last paragraph is a great idea. If I had the know how and money, I would be working on one right now. I think it would fill a gap in the lower end recording equipment range. Much better than a bunch of channel strips. And I think I would make money with it. Somebody ought to do it. It'd be great to be able to run several different kinds of amp through one inexpensive mixer without having to go through cheap pres. But, as usual, I may be missing the big picture anyway. I'm just starting to get a small clue about this stuff. Seems to me though that to do the same thing ( as with the mixer idea ) with standalone pres, you'd spend a ton of money getting amps WITH high pass and inserts, standalone eq for each channel. I mean, I could always just get a real board with neve pres and such for 75,000-100,000. But no, I'd rather have a small mixing board, kind of like I have right now, with some reasonably good, quiet, high-gain pres. I don't think that's foolish at all. I think it's perfect. I'd then have two RNP channels, two excellent Blue Tube channels and four good pres in a mixer for eqing, inserting, etc., and then could add some more separate pres later if I ever got any more money. Like I said, I'm probably thinking totally wrong about the whole process. I appreciate the input - excellent!
 
Hey Jerry, don't they call that a line mixer? :D i think that, too, is being done.
 
Hmmm, I always wanted a ferrari, But I don't really need it to be fast because the speed limit is 55 anyway, and I can do without all the really well made interior, transmission and suspension stuff. I know, I'll start a company that takes Ferrari body shells and mounts them on the chassis and drivetrain of secondhand 1967 VW beetles. :D
 
My cheap mixer sounds good with a good pre running through it. That's all I'm trying to get at. It's a very simple concept. If I had four - six better pres in it, I would have something very useable without having to buy a Ferrari. I don't want a Ferrari. I want a Volkswagen that can go a little faster. And that is obtainable. People may jeer at it but I'd have what I want.
 
An affordable line mixer is really not a bad idea. Basically, put the money you would have otherwise put in to the preamp section, and put it towards better summing or EQ and have all line inputs. There is a gap in the market for it, as most line-level mixers are very expensive. And there are a lot of people who prefer outboard mic pres who don't necessarily need the added gain stage.
 
The point I was trying to make is that a company isnt simply gonna put out a budget board with upgraded pres, you need to upgrade the power supply, the mix bus, and just about everything else as well.
 
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