DSA Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Hi, I wondered if anyone could help. Im looking for a new desk which will operate not only for small to medium sized live (eg rock bands) applications (with monitor and FOH and a recording to MD), but also for a home recording studio to record my own masterpieces. It would be nice if it could be used for location recording too (as I am in a choir and it would be nice to record our concerts 'professionally'. So effectively I am looking for a multipurpose desk, with a great reputation (and that is not stupidly difficult to use) that does not break the bank. I know I may be asking a lot, but any suggestions please..... Thanks,David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Allen & Heath Mix Wizard is good! They should have specs on their site www.allen-heath.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 I remember seeing a decent yamaha desk in the back of one of my sound control mags a couple of weeks ago... but for star6ting off, I'd say beringher were ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Some others to think of. Soundcraft LX7 - has direct outs on 1st 16 ch only for your recording use, Yamaha 01v96 - I've gone on about these desks quite a buit already elsewhere in this group but with the MY16-AT card this gives you 24 iso ch outs - you will need another adat > analouge bob though... Good Luck James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicgross Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 You have two options really: 1) Go for a mixer, MD and outboards2) Go for a multitracker with onboard recording It depends where you will use the gear most and for what kinda thing. For a first multitrack you can't really go wrong with the yamaha gear. If you are looking to do option 1, I would recommend going for a soundcraft if you feel cheep, or a mackie VLZ or CFX. It all depends what you hope to get out of it: Recording multitrack using outboard gear will end up being v.expensive but much more flexible, but a multitrax mixer will be easier to use.... the choice is yours... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Approximately how many channels do you think you need? For value for money, I always think Allen & Heath are lovely (particularly the 2200 - so cheap!). Not sure aboput the home recording angle with those, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSA Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 Yeah I dont know really At school we have a 12 channel 'seck' (whoever they are) v. old mixer which does its job... I expects 12-16 channels max for a reasonable live gig (what do you think - would 12 be enough from your experience). Presumerably I can run stage monitors out of the aux sends and my MD recording out of another 2?? When recording my choir I suppose 6 mics carefully placed (were talking about cathedrals etc here) would give a nice sound - I dont know about this (I have no experience in this field). At home it would be nice to multitrack and add effects etc. so that it doesnt have to be recorded as 'live' etc - but the money will play a big factor here. It would be nice to get a good all round product to do all these jobs. I have a budget of about £500-£1000 for a desk. (I realise I need some good mics too - that'll have to be another years spend...) David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Alcock Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Dear PatesDave, Here's my suggestion on how to spend your grand: Desk - Soundcraft Sprit FX16 (better than a mixWiz IMHO and much more flexible stereo returns, plus you get a subgroup which could be handy for recording use and Lexicon FX built-in. (about £600) A pair of Rode NT4 condenser mics, Octava MK012s or a pair of the new Behringer B5 condensers. These you could use as a stereo crossed pair which would form the basis of a serious choir recording. (about £200) 1 or 2 Behringer B2Pro large diaphragm condensers, also for recording. (£129 each). A couple of decent Proel mic stands and half a dozen good quality mic leads. (£25 each, plus £15 each for the cables). You should have a few coppers change and will have a good desk for both live and studio work, and some mics so you can get cracking straightaway. I'm editing a choral recording I made in a church with an identical setup last weekend, (direct to hard disk at high sample rate) and the clarity and depth is staggering. Trust this helps. All the best, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Foster Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Allen & Heath Mix Wizard is good! They should have specs on their site www.allen-heath.co.uk Ive not realy done sound, but ive seen quite a few people use the allen & heath desks. The mix wizzard 14:4:2 seems to have all the features of a bigger desk but with less channels. Also you can route the aux sends to the groups for monitor mixes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 patesdave I would be a bit concerned about a MD mix of your bands. These aren't big gig's and a direct desk feed normaly will sound completly wrong, totaly out of balance with what you are actually hearing If I was to record a live gig I would just (with the band's permission) rig a couple of mics either side of the desk and feed them to your MD. Experiment but I think that might work better, For the choir again you might want to experiment with just 2 mics a nice pair, try MS, AB, or XY stereo modes, and see what works best - again no desk - straight into the MD Another thought - in churches I've had some success with close miking and distance miking simoultaniously, - then mixing the two to get a realy nice sound and controll over how "wet" it sounds - in most churches the concept of adding reverb is more than a little laughable. Oh and for multitrack Seriously - 01V96 - just a bit beyond your budget - but it's a midi desk as well - sync it up to your computer and try different mixes at will - change what you like it's too much to explain - and the studio manager software sounds brilliant.... :) Have you ever used a desk with automated faders before?? Oh and if you want to use it for live work - apart from having all your outboard internal - the ability to pull up another page of faders for each monitor send rather than a row of knobs is realy nice... Anyway- good luck. And see if you can hire, beg borrow a desk or two before you buy to see what you like. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSA Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 Maybe im being stupid, but how can you input 2 mics (for a stereo pair) directly into a MD recorder which has only 1 minijack line in socket???????? Surel it would have to go through a mixer of some sort. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metro Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Yamaha 01v96 - I've gone on about these desks quite a buit already elsewhere in this group but with the MY16-AT card this gives you 24 iso ch outs - you will need another adat > analouge bob though...Agree with James, Never used an 01V but heard good things about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicgross Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 dave, depending on the mics, you will require a phantom pre anyway - so just make up a stereo minijack lead for it. If you have a bit of dosh I can't recommend AKG C414's enough. We use them as a stereo pair into a Tascam dat to record all our small stuff, and the results are brilliant. I also have to agree with james. Keep it simple. Over stocking with mikes, outboards and other bits only cause more problems. If recording in a church, let the natural acoustics do the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Maybe im being stupid, but how can you input 2 mics (for a stereo pair) directly into a MD recorder which has only 1 minijack line in socket???????? Well My MD recorder has 2 XLR's switchable from Mic to Line.. There are a number of devices for solving that if all you have to work with is one of those MD walkman things - however it might be worth considering investing in either a low end rack MD (eg tascam MD 301 - see previous thread) or a 2nd hand porta dat. It's normal to find that your minijack is a stereo input - so with a little bit of soldering - you could make an adapter with a couple of transformers in a box if you wanted to do this regularly - but then you would either have to put in a phantom supply or only use dynamic or internaly powered mics. It can be done... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Agree with James, Never used an 01V but heard good things about them. Sorry for excessively plugging them but I just got my hands on one at work that isn't going into an installation immediately..... Just had a good few hours playing with the excellent studio manager software... It has a lot more features than the 03D which I'm more familiar with at the moment, It's great to be able to see in realtime what your desk is doing on the screen of your laptop and to have decent sized ch bar-graphs for each page of inputs and all the outputs makes the desk so much easier to use - and they give it away with the desk as standard... OK OK OK I will stop raving about it soon.. :) Oooh - throw it into surround mode and suddenly you can pan in 2 dimensions with your mouse and it does all the 3.1 5.1 or 7.1 calculations - How much would that help my pantomime sound effects this year :) :D Oh father christmas if you loved me at all YOU WOULDN'T SEND ME TO WORK IN A PLACE WHERE I CAN'T AFFORD ALL THE TOYS I GET TO PLAY WITH :D :D :D James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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