Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - new recording / mixing console for a school

Dirty Gear Pimp · 9th December 2009

hey all you true believers out there in studio land.

so here's the skinny on my situation:

i work for a music production program at a community college. and at our facility, our console is turning into a 2 legged horse. she's starting to limp hard. its a soundcraft ghost 24. while it is an OK console, and i have my gripes with it--routing and signal flow limitations, and sound quality wise, it has served its purpose for the past several years. so we are getting into the market to buy a new console.

we have about $65K to spend on a new board. not too shabby, but not enough for a duality or a neve 88 or something of that magnitude. to be quite honest, i dont think our facilities could house something of that size, along with power consumption, etc. i dont think i could justify a rolls royce in here. lol. but i personally would like to have one at my disposal!!

self interest out of this.....we are leaning towards buying a new console over a used one because of the question of reliability, warranty, etc. although i know i can find a nice used ssl 4K for about what we are looking to spend. i just dont want to deal with the upkeep of a vintage board.

so my main concerns are the following: a board with quality sound, quality in build, reliable, good routing features--the more the better. automation would be nice, but seems like automation starts at about $1000. per fader. i would like to possibly add automation in the future. we want at least 24 channels. we still have an old otari 2", and we want to show people how a tape machine works. (even though i dare to say its a dying medium..but i still love it. ) we teach pro tools and logic here as well. and have pro tools hd setup in this room the board will go into. not sure if we should get an inline or split line board either. most i see today are all inline. 2 main factors are that students will be touching this thing all the time and it is for students to learn on. i dont want another board that when it starts to break down, you throw it away. so something that is modular and repairable and can be easily repaired. a meterbridge, and patchbay bucket is nice. and a board that would be good to learn on so that when they do walk into another studio, they can relate what they learned on this one to learn the next--to reduce the learning curve from working on one board to the next.

we do have a daw controller in the room as well. currently a control 24 , and we are upgrading to a c24. i was pondering the idea of the ssl aws900 boards. i like the fact that you can control pro tools or any daw with it and still mix analog. but i think there are a few short comings on that board--8 busses that dont route internally, limited to 24 channels only with no monitor path . (unless you get another xrack). and it seems like it is more daw suited, than tape friendly. but i do like the automation and total recall on the board. i also dont like the idea of buying into something that is too digital as digital technology is always rapidly advancing forward (i know, the board is mostly analog summing and channelstrip wise-- i mean about daw control being digital), and we can never really see where technology going to be in 5 or 10 years. (maybe things will be like in metalocolypse where the latest in recording technology would be recording to water! lol

). anyway... but if you have a different pov, ill welcome it. not to sound harsh, i think a noob would be walking out of here more likely pushing faders on a mackie than sitting in front of a ssl 9K.

we did just order an api dsm24 system. i wanted to show people how a summing system works, and that one seems to have to have alot of routing and patching involved compared to other summing systems, which i think would be good for students to learn signal flow. i was going to put that in a road case to wheel around the studios as a sidecar mixer.

consoles i have been looking at are the following. any suggestions are welcome.

neotek elite 2
neotek elan 2
api 1608
neve 5088
that new trident board that is still in the works. but i dont know much about it. im always skeptical of some new toy on the block but hasnt been fully tested in the field.

i have been leaning toward the neoteks. based on from what i been reading, that it is repair friendly. most components are off the shelf, it has good routing on it--24 bus routing matrix, mute groups, automation upgradable, inline. etc. and they are reliable.

so any info on any of these boards or your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. we are a school and our main concern is students to learn how this stuff works. so when they get out there to be freelancers, they at least have an idea on how to work this stuff. or if you were going to hire an intern for your studio with good chops, work ethic, proper studio etiquette, can make a damn good cup of coffee and can competently take a midnight lunch order, what you would expect them to know if they were going to work on your large format console...or small format console, or whatever you got. i would prefer suggestions from well seasoned professional people who actually have worked on one of these boards, or the consoles they think would be good for our facility. i DO NOT want a flame war on why people should or should not get a degree in music production or bother going to school for that matter. we are a state institution. but im not going to mention any names. also, if you havent worked on the console, please dont tell me your dream console and how you would love to work on it, so i should buy it.

9th December 2009	#1
Dirty Gear Pimp Gear maniac Joined: Jan 2006 Location: Otown Posts: 260 Thread Starter	new recording / mixing console for a school hey all you true believers out there in studio land. so here's the skinny on my situation: i work for a music production program at a community college. and at our facility, our console is turning into a 2 legged horse. she's starting to limp hard. its a soundcraft ghost 24. while it is an OK console, and i have my gripes with it--routing and signal flow limitations, and sound quality wise, it has served its purpose for the past several years. so we are getting into the market to buy a new console. we have about $65K to spend on a new board. not too shabby, but not enough for a duality or a neve 88 or something of that magnitude. to be quite honest, i dont think our facilities could house something of that size, along with power consumption, etc. i dont think i could justify a rolls royce in here. lol. but i personally would like to have one at my disposal!! self interest out of this.....we are leaning towards buying a new console over a used one because of the question of reliability, warranty, etc. although i know i can find a nice used ssl 4K for about what we are looking to spend. i just dont want to deal with the upkeep of a vintage board. so my main concerns are the following: a board with quality sound, quality in build, reliable, good routing features--the more the better. automation would be nice, but seems like automation starts at about $1000. per fader. i would like to possibly add automation in the future. we want at least 24 channels. we still have an old otari 2", and we want to show people how a tape machine works. (even though i dare to say its a dying medium..but i still love it. ) we teach pro tools and logic here as well. and have pro tools hd setup in this room the board will go into. not sure if we should get an inline or split line board either. most i see today are all inline. 2 main factors are that students will be touching this thing all the time and it is for students to learn on. i dont want another board that when it starts to break down, you throw it away. so something that is modular and repairable and can be easily repaired. a meterbridge, and patchbay bucket is nice. and a board that would be good to learn on so that when they do walk into another studio, they can relate what they learned on this one to learn the next--to reduce the learning curve from working on one board to the next. we do have a daw controller in the room as well. currently a control 24 , and we are upgrading to a c24. i was pondering the idea of the ssl aws900 boards. i like the fact that you can control pro tools or any daw with it and still mix analog. but i think there are a few short comings on that board--8 busses that dont route internally, limited to 24 channels only with no monitor path . (unless you get another xrack). and it seems like it is more daw suited, than tape friendly. but i do like the automation and total recall on the board. i also dont like the idea of buying into something that is too digital as digital technology is always rapidly advancing forward (i know, the board is mostly analog summing and channelstrip wise-- i mean about daw control being digital), and we can never really see where technology going to be in 5 or 10 years. (maybe things will be like in metalocolypse where the latest in recording technology would be recording to water! lol ). anyway... but if you have a different pov, ill welcome it. not to sound harsh, i think a noob would be walking out of here more likely pushing faders on a mackie than sitting in front of a ssl 9K. we did just order an api dsm24 system. i wanted to show people how a summing system works, and that one seems to have to have alot of routing and patching involved compared to other summing systems, which i think would be good for students to learn signal flow. i was going to put that in a road case to wheel around the studios as a sidecar mixer. consoles i have been looking at are the following. any suggestions are welcome. neotek elite 2 neotek elan 2 api 1608 neve 5088 that new trident board that is still in the works. but i dont know much about it. im always skeptical of some new toy on the block but hasnt been fully tested in the field. i have been leaning toward the neoteks. based on from what i been reading, that it is repair friendly. most components are off the shelf, it has good routing on it--24 bus routing matrix, mute groups, automation upgradable, inline. etc. and they are reliable. so any info on any of these boards or your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. we are a school and our main concern is students to learn how this stuff works. so when they get out there to be freelancers, they at least have an idea on how to work this stuff. or if you were going to hire an intern for your studio with good chops, work ethic, proper studio etiquette, can make a damn good cup of coffee and can competently take a midnight lunch order, what you would expect them to know if they were going to work on your large format console...or small format console, or whatever you got. i would prefer suggestions from well seasoned professional people who actually have worked on one of these boards, or the consoles they think would be good for our facility. i DO NOT want a flame war on why people should or should not get a degree in music production or bother going to school for that matter. we are a state institution. but im not going to mention any names. also, if you havent worked on the console, please dont tell me your dream console and how you would love to work on it, so i should buy it. __________________ I'm not a crack head... Just a gear junky.