yamaha mg - ??

[FALKEN]

ok so I've had my MG24 desk for about 2 weeks now. I recorded 1 band and am working on remixing my demo which had some problems from the last board. The band I tracked I went through the board instead of using my outboard pre's because I wanted to hear how they sound. I thought I heard something. thought it was the pres. now that I am remixing my demo I hear that it goes beyond the pres. but its subtle.

It is just the sound of the mixer. it sounds hyped in the high end. The bass sounds really good. but the mids to highs are just....this board. it just sounds like this board. like a plastic bursting sound. like a nuclear explosion of frequency. unnatural. I like natural.

anybody else hear this or have any similar experiences with other boards?? I just didn't think any board other than a mackie would impart its own sound like this...I think behringer would be more transparent, fwiw.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I just didn't think any board other than a mackie would impart its own sound like this...I think behringer would be more transparent, fwiw.

I don't know how much experience you've had with Mackie, but I'll take one of those over a Yamaha any day. They get a worse rap here than they deserve. No, they are not GREAT mixers, and yes they have a "sound", but they are no where near the lepers that some make them out to be.

There's a reason why the Yamahas cost a lot less than the Mackies even though the Yamahas are made in factories where the labor rate is higher; it's because they are less expensive mixers.

There's transparency and there's Transparency. Both the Mackies and the Yamahas will kick butt over the Berhingers when it comes to noise. But all three will have their own "color" (or some say "flavor".)

Every board, like every microphone and every monitor, has a color. Even Ghosts, Geminis and SSLs have color, though their colors may be much "paler" . It's a question of finding a color that you like.

G.

 

[FALKEN]

yeah; mackie's tend to sound "thin"...just not my thing...I would definitely take this board over a mackie (personal preference) but this board does sound a little thin too for my ears.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

The band I tracked I went through the board instead of using my outboard pre's because I wanted to hear how they sound. I thought I heard something. thought it was the pres. now that I am remixing my demo I hear that it goes beyond the pres. but its subtle.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say "it goes beyond the pres". Does that mean you're geeting that coloration regardless of whether you use the outboard pres or the mixer pres? Or does it mean that you think that it something in the mixer other than the mixer's pres?

If it's the former - or even if it's the latter to a degree - I'm wondering what you have behind the pres and/or mixer. What's next in your signal chain? If you're recording to digital, could it be you're hearing the converters? Or, FTM, could it be that your monitors are adding the coloration?

I'm just not clear on what you meant by that statement and how your narrowing it down to the mixer, and was hoping you'd elaborate on that a bit.

G.

 

[FALKEN]

well; yeah. both. on the first recording I used the pres and on the second I didn't; I used all outboard pres. I still hear this quality about evenly in both mixes; so I know its not the pres. Both mixes were recorded to 1/2" tape; I haven't tried with digital yet. I guess I could be hearing my monitors more clearly since I got this board and that could be what I am hearing. But I also hear it in the car. I go from the tape machine, to the mixer, mixdown to PC; burn CD. So I am pretty sure its the mixer. The only other option is that its my tape machine, and I just couldn't hear it before because my last mixer was so bad.

 

[FALKEN]

I posted mp3s of the mix with the old art24 and the new yamaha mg24.

granted all of the eq, levels, compression, mastering, etc. is going to be slightly different but the tracks are the same and most of the difference can be attributed to the board, IMO. I can't decide if I want to keep this thing or send it back. it seems to give the audio a better quality on first listen, but after hearing it for a while it sounds a lot like the cheap mixes that come out of cheap studios that I would never record at. there is a lot more high end content but at the same time its almost annoying. am I crazy??