Why Mackie?

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amr

I was very close to buying a Mackie 32/8, but everyone and there brother and sister has one in there studios. Plus I did not want an 8 buss really. I ran across about a 10 years old Peavy AMS 2400 series console. 36 in's and 24 monitor. I really love it. Sure the Peavy name gets people sometimes, but I'll tell ya, It really sounds nice and the 24 mon. is real handy. Plus as I said in another thread,it was owned by John Kay of Steppenwolf. He did his new solo CD on it and the last 2 Steppenwolf CD's so he says. Cool!!,Jim
 
Mackie Vs Soundcraft Ghost 32-8

Hi Guys
After the interest i caused with the why Mackie question
and looking at all the reply for and against Mackie it seems that the world and his mother has a Mackie so every ones shit sounds the same. it was tempting but not tempting enough,so i went and bought a Soundcraft Ghost and i have to say it must be one of the best board ever made the EQ is so warm you feel like cosying up to it, i tested my Neumann U87 with a Mackie and it sound like a piece of shit then i tried the Ghost and you would swear that they were valves glowing inside .I would be very interested as to what you guys think. so once again i'm throwing down the Gauntlet
M A C K I E vs The mighty all British S O U N D C R A F T GHOST 32-8 With Automation
What do you think?
 
You make me proud Mixman! A very good investment!

I have both at the club I work at. I can assure you the Ghost will smoke the Mackie in every way.

I LOVE the eq's on the console. In addition, I have so many more routing options, and the mute automation is very easy to learn and use.

Wait til you use it some more. If you can try some lower end Tridents, DDA's, Amek, Neotech's, etc....you will be very impressed that the Ghost holds it's own against them.

I bought my Ghost on a recommendation by a consultant I used when putting Echo Star Studio together. This consultant never steered me towards a "bad" piece of gear. He was VERY excited about the Ghost for a console in in's price range, or for 3 to 4 times as much.

The Ghost is a "sleeper" in recording consoles. If one hasn't used one, they really don't know what they are missing.

I agree that Mackie has that same ol' familiar sound that everyone gets. Hmmmmmmmm.....:)

Your Ghost should serve you well. If you need something better then it, you are doing some pretty impressive stuff! ;)

Sorry Bruce, you NEED to try a Ghost. 10 out of 10 engineers who have tried mine and worked on Mackies AGREE! The Ghost smokes ANY Mackie.

Ed
 
He-he... you guys kill me!

Ed, I don't doubt you're right about the Ghost... and when it comes time to replace my board, it will be under strong consideration (unless by then I can afford to jump up to an AMEK or SSL!) ;)

My only point is I have no trouble getting good results with my Mackie!!!!!

As far as everyone sounding the same, I disagree - just like the same guitar played by 5 different musician will sound like 5 different instruments, you put the same recording gear into the hands of 5 engineers and you will get 5 different sound results! It's the same principle as a recording engineer being able to get far better results with a PortaStudio than a novice will! :)

And besides, there is not an audio consumer (and few engineers!) alive that can hear "the console" in the finished song!! ;)

Bruce
 
Heh-heh!

I CAN'T WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:
(the chances of me being able to afford an SSL is pretty piss-poor anyways - I need considerably more big-ticket projects before THAT happens - "man cannot make wampum to buy SSL via vocal demos, one-of's and bootleg transfers alone!!!!" :D

Funny, though - I've heard a number of reviews against SSL consoles lately. They seem to be the console-to-piss-on du-jour! Are they becoming the Mackie of the big boys studios??????????????

Bruce
 
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MIXMAN...... Sorry 'bout your luck recording your U47.... You gotta be doin' something wrong.. I mean even if a user vote was taken and we found that yes, soundcrafts are better.. I and the 2 others who I know with the 32/8 (mackie).. are getting audiophile results, even using inferior mikes like the AT 4033.... Me and a few buds have been watching this board and we are really starting to question ability here... I mean, Sonusman was complaining about distortion or something coming out of a mackie he used, and you saying your U47 sounds like "shit" when recorded with a mackie ... no one I know or even the number of "famous" people who have installed them, have ever had these problems... It's gotta be user error, or we would all be experiencing these problems... Maybe it's bad monitors with blown tweeters, or bad cables, I don't know... Everyone I know who has a mackie, even the tiny VLZ series, gets results in a little bedroom studio, that would compare totally or at least almost to a full scale commercial recording... (ok minus the mastering ala' Bob Ludwig)... But still.. This thread is throwing me for a loop, and I know you won't like to hear this, but bulliten boards are for speaking ones mind.. I like soundcraft and own one myself although I like my mackie better ...But I gotta step in when a company I respect is getting "slammed" without reason...I don't want this thread to scare off any perspective mackie buyers cause I know how much enjoyment in recording and sound mine has given me...Heres a good question, whenever i get Mix magazine or EQ, I read article after article about famous people using mackies, and installing them as main consoles.... but very, very rarely do I hear about soundcraft????... Why is this?... I mean they can't all be wrong...(These are interviewed articles. They are not ads trying to push Mackie) Congratulations on your purchase Mixman, You will fall in love with your soundcraft the moment you plug it in.. I own one, and even though I don't think it is better than Mackie, I Still respect the soundcraft line, and am aware of the quality.
From Voxvender... Bored of this thread now, and moving on..........
 
VOXVENDER -

Give it up dude. I have mixed on a handfull of high quality desks. I don't make statements about desks based upon lack of "ability". Don't be a moron. I have not heard your work, so I cannot attest to your "audiophile quality" you refer to. But if the crap I have heard from people who CLAIM "audiophile quality" in the past is any indication, you should have your hearing checked!

Which Soundcraft console do you own? A Spirit? A Folio? What? Don't compare apples to red meat. If you haven't mixed on a Ghost, then don't make the comparison. I have mixed on Mackies. One listen to my work will tell anyone I don't lack "ability". I don't like Mackies, and I never will. They sound like crap.

Link me to some of your "audiophile" work that YOU have done. I want to hear this!

I too am bored of this thread. Truthfully, I am tired of debating this with people who have never mixed on a Ghost, and have never heard their work. Put up or shut up!

Ed
 
Mackie 8 buss versus Soundcraft Ghost?
As I understand the evolution of consoles in this genre, it would run something like Soundcrafts Spirit Studio and Mackie's 8 buss having been the only two reasonable consoles for a number of years.
The Ghost is regarded as being the "next generation" and as such has put the ball back in Mackie's court to come up with something that can compare. In the meantime this discussion is pointless unless you compare the Mackie with the Spirit Studio, (a question I asked earlier in this thread and haven't had answered).

I spent the last few months searching for the right deal on a Mackie........along the way I kept being told to consider the Spirit Studio, as overall they are better OR if I had $16500 (Australian) then to buy a Ghost. Last week I picked up a Spirit Studio partly influenced by opinions in this BBS as much as opinions of people who both use and sell these consoles.

Just my 2 cents worth..........peace people.
 
Without wanting to "play judge" - you get what you pay for, and in this case as well as most others, the more expensive console has a definate edge.

quote "Heres a good question, whenever i get Mix magazine or EQ, I read article after article about famous people using mackies, and installing them as main consoles.... but very, very rarely do I hear about soundcraft????... Why is this?"
Very simple, it depends on where you are. If you were in Europe, the opposite might be the case.
 
Sjoko, ..... Maybe, just maybe because Mackie are in a position the "push" their product on their home turf, whereas Soundcraft may have to rely on their US distributors whose loyalties might be divided amongst numerous products. Not to mention what the foriegn exchange rate may do to prices of imported products. Just come and try and buy US or English made gear here in Aust. at the moment.......AAAAARRGGGGGHHHHHH.
 
A small adition to the advertising stuff.

On expert forums i rememberd this and did a search and found it

A question ask by somebody

if Roger doesn't like the mackie HD824s then why in the latest installment of Mackies "In Your Face" the 1st edition of the new millinium under the aforementioned monitor section,state & i quote "Top engineer producers like Roger Nichols....use them.In fact, they're in several thousand major studios"

And Rogers answer,
There is a difference between saying "I don't like those monitors" and "I don't like those monitors as well as xyz mon itors."
I never said I didn't like them. I said that there were other monitors I liked better. I like Meyer HD-1 monitors, but they are over $5,000 per pair.

I don't like my Lexus as well as my Ferrari 355, but that doesn't mean that I don't like my Lexus.

Also, I didn't know that Mackie was using that in an ad... I will have to give them a call.

Roger
 
Sonusman: Just as interesting to know is to know what Mackies you have been using? A Soundcraft Ghost 24 ch costs something like 4 times what a 24 ch Mackie VLZ does, so it's hardly a surprise that the ghost is better. But what about their 8-bus consoles? They are half the price of a Ghost, and might be more comparable?

If you are comparing just the Mackie el Cheapo mixers with a ghost, I thing you once again are comparing apples and oranges...
I need a new mixer too, but a Ghost costs twice what the rest of my studio has cost me, including the instruments, so it's quite as unfeasible as an SSL...
 
Regebro..........
I suggest you read Sonusman's 1st post on the first page of this thread......................:o)
 
I have said this before and I will say it again.

It all depends on the people you talk to about a product.

Examples:
the soundcraft ghost. I have heard sonusman's work and it is awesome, but I read a thread where someone asked about the ghost, and EVERY engineer dissed them as sounding like crap. Of course, they recommended more expensive consoles.

the make hr824s. Great things only about them for six months straight till a recent thread and a major engineer can't mix on them, and it turns out that at leat 10 engineers think they are too bassy to be of any good.

the meyers. the best till an article where some quested monitors make the meyer's sound like crap, even though they are in the same price range..


Was roger nichols for real about owning a ferrari 355 and a lexus?. Darn
 
..... you guys haven't lived...... my Rat Shack CONSOLE absolutely kicks! I think Phil Collins uses one..... No, No, No.... sorry it's his brother Tom.... a smooth anterior conical sine wave attenuation of the upper mid's with a warm and pungent glow of the lo mid bass line of articulation. Likewise, the summing busses negatively mult the EQ frequency division. Distortion is so nominal it's measured in angstom units!!! All for $89.95 Delivered F.O.B. from uppa U.S. Dial 911 to hear examples of my work ask for Mike Hunt.
 
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