Good Analog Mixers availble?

[Mr Wiggles]

I'm looking to upgrade with a somewhat-low budget, and I'm wondering what are the good mixers out there that really have a good analog sound. Any thoughts?

[Mr Wiggles]

~bump

I apologize for sounding newbish, but anyways I've been using DAWs (Pro Tools to be exact) since I started mixing last year. Anyways, recently a close friend suggested I try the analog mixing route, and I'm curious what good cheap options are out there? Doing minimal internet research I found the Behringer MX9000 or a Mackie Onyx, but again I'm not sure if they genuinely are the good choice, or if its just advertising. So advice please?

[Capstan Cappy]

dont go down the path of behringer , it will eat ur soul and u'll end up selling cookies in a bakery..

try soundcraft and such, whats ur budget?

[TER]

Are you mixing or mastering?

Most people who are doing mastering have no need for a desk at all... a router and monitor controller with outboard is the typical method, and/or a mastering console (spl, crookwood, etc.).

Can you be more clear about what work you'll be doing?


-t

[Mr Wiggles]

Mmmm, well I like my soul so I'll stay away from the Behringer.

Well the budget sort of depends how willing I am to invest into a mixer, but pretty much under 1k is good.

[edit] my bad about before, I'm mixing, my friend's into mastering

The work I'm doing is I'm trying to become proficient at mixing in order to cut costs for my band, so basically I'm a drummer who's trying to gain some skill in the recording engineering field.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

If you really are interested in a high-quality analog mixer that definitely fits your budget, I would give a look to my Soundcraft 200B thats currently on ebay (minimum bid is $775).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Soundcraft-200-B...QQcmdZViewItem

Really is a beautiful piece of audio equipment, but might be over the top if you are just beginning?

[Tibbon]

Keep in mind that to get a console running properly, it's going to cost you a good bit to do all your cabling, and to wire your patchbay. Depending how big and power consuming you might need to keep an eye on your HVAC as well. Probably not an issue in smaller consoles for the most part, but wiring can get expensive to do right!

[Sizzleboy]

Originally Posted by Tibbon

Keep in mind that to get a console running properly, it's going to cost you a good bit to do all your cabling, and to wire your patchbay. Depending how big and power consuming you might need to keep an eye on your HVAC as well. Probably not an issue in smaller consoles for the most part, but wiring can get expensive to do right!

Not to mention the fact that you will need D/A! How many channels of D/A do you have now?

What exactly do you expect from a mixer? How do you feel it will change your workflow? As tibbon said, getting the console itself is just the first step.

[warhead]

Mackie Onyx or A&H Mix Wizard are both good choices on a low budget. I use an Onyx for drum recording quite often, say what you want but if you can't get a good sound out of the Onyx it's not the mixer. Plenty of headroom, it's clean and the EQ's are quite decent (no adjustable Q but for $1300 what do you expect?).

The Ghost is worth looking into for sure.

War

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by Sizzleboy

Not to mention the fact that you will need D/A! How many channels of D/A do you have now?

What exactly do you expect from a mixer? How do you feel it will change your workflow? As tibbon said, getting the console itself is just the first step.

I wasn't that smart and didn't read his second post where he mentions that he's recording digitally. Yea, i'd imagine you'd want at least 12 channels of D/A to do this right.

I don't think that these cheaper boards are going to do all that much for you. If that's your budget, and really think the analogue thing will be better for you then get a summing box. I don't think that a Berhinger mixer will improve your sound or workflow at this level, but a good Dangerous 2Bus Lite summer might...

[Midlandmorgan]

Keeping your eyes open and being able to act fast here at GS can result in some superlative console deals...

Example: I bought a 32 channel Soundtracs from a fellow slut for a riduculously low price...only issue was I had to go get it...which turned out to be one of the nicest days off driving 750 miles in a day (round trip) that I've had in 4 years...but that's another thread...

There are great deals to be had here...I would recommend getting the cash together now for a deal on an mid/upper end board than buy anything new currently availabale...there are no new mixers (that I have encountered) with any build or sonic quality for less than $10-$15K...

As for channels...you can go large, or use a smaller mixer with a sidecar or two...careful track planning can make your console a 16 channel summing system WITH EQ, effects, extensive routing, etc...again, a much better deal...

Just an opinion...

[Led]

If your budget only goes to 1K I would stay in the box for now and continue saving. You will need to spend more than that in converters alone to make it worthwile. If you're doing it for the summing thing maybe a nicerizer, but you'll still need converters for multi outs.