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anonymous 9 October 2004

Hi all, this is my first post and I must say I love this forum! I am looking to upgrade my studio with new preamps soon. Probably mostly Sebatron s and Vintech. The setup is recording analog into an Alesys HD24 then firewire the track files to the PC and Cubase SX for mixing. I'm trying to decide if I need a "high-end " mixing board though. Right now I'm using a Behringer MX-9000. I know it's a POS but I don't move it around and the sound is pretty clean without using the crappy preamps. I would like to purchase a new console, maybe a Soundcraft Ghost. My questions is, would it be worth the $$ for me to purchase a "better" used MCI, Trident class console to use in my signal path even though I would use outboard preamps anyway? Or put another way, since I'm using outboard preamps, can I get away with using a lower quality (Soundcraft) type board?

Thanks Guys!
Brad Hobbs

Comments

anonymous Sat, 10/09/2004 - 10:01

Thanks for the reply inLoco. I haven't really looked into digital mixer/controllers... yet. It sounds interesting and looks like Cubase SX will feel right at home with it. I'll go through the manual and check it out. I would like to keep the HD24 however and not record directly to PC. It think it's more reliable for the recording side. It runs a stripped down Linux OS and has almost never crashed on me.

Brad

KurtFoster Sat, 10/09/2004 - 11:21

I would love to have the MCI I usefd to have ... no way around it, it is a great sounding console ... but< it cost a small fortune to keep it running. I had the tech coming in at least once a month .. at $300 or more per pop ... The MCI's sound great but cost a lot to keep in top order. I suspect the Trident's you could afford would suffer from the same issues.

As long as the Behringer is working, keep it ... just doen 't record through it. You can use it to monitor the inputs of the good pres you're going to be getting and then mix in the DAW. That's the ticket.

LittleDogAudio Sat, 10/09/2004 - 18:59

I would suggest a Trident 65 or 24. I recorded at least 150-200 albums with this board and everyone loved the results.

It's a super simple design and easy to upgrade.
but..
As with any older analog console, there are always going to be issues. Mostly scratchy pots/faders or if your really unlucky, power supplies.

I have an MCI 636, but it's mostly used as a headphone matrix and a room heater. It sounds just "ok" to me but since I use all out board pre's into PT I'm not really affected by it's sound.

Now I just installed a Soundcraft Ghost in a clients studio and I think that it is one of the best sounding consoles for the $$$.

He had a Mackie and we A/B'ed them side by side and there was no contest, the Ghost sounded way better.

I would stay away from other Soundcraft boards.

If you want to see my 600# boat anchor, http://

Cheers,
Chris

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