Anybody with any info on this mixer? Danny

http://www.audient.co.uk/

I heard quite a few VERY positive opinions on them, but never used one myself.

I was in the market for a console around this time last year, but their starting price was over $10k USD I had at the time, so I never really looked into pursing a demo with one.

So, I ended-up with a Trident-MTA Series 924; which I am selling, now that I can reach the Audient ASP8024 price range.

I downloaded their whole manual!! and read it, and it seems to be a well thought out, well designed mixer. I have thought about this in conjunction with Digital Performer. The only thing that I worry about is lack of surround sound and recall. I have that with the digital console I have now. I am just not happy with the sound of my digital console. If you don't mind, drop me a note if you decide to get one, with your experiences. Thanks.

I've had an Audient ASP8024 for about 18 months now. I use it with Soundscape and Pro-Tools TDM.

Ergonomically it's about the best laid out and easiest mixer I've ever used. The controls are well spaced and everything seams to follow a logical path. Routing is very flexible and there hasn't been anything I've needed to do that I haven't found a way of achieving. Engineers come into the studio and never need more than a few minutes overview before feeling at home with it.

Sound wise, it's very clean. Certainly not a Trident (I have some of their EQ modules). If you want something neutral and wish to add different colours by using different outboard then it's perfect. If you want a desk that stamps a large character over your mix then this isn't it. The EQ is very usable and not at all harsh and the pre-amps are extremely good (We have Telefunken and CLM outboard pres but sometimes choose the audient in preference).

There's no recall but you can get a couple of automation packages.

They do a surround controller add-on (Abbey Road uses them) but I haven't used it personally.

Email me if you want more specifics.

Hope this helps
-Peter

just a note- I use Digital Performer among other things, and also had a digital board (D8B). I recently went to a Quad 8 Virtuoso (should be in the same general range as the Audient, just in terms of cleanliness and design philosophy). No automation, and I have absolutely no regrets.

Originally posted by Danny Stinnett:
I downloaded their whole manual!! and read it, and it seems to be a well thought out, well designed mixer. I have thought about this in conjunction with Digital Performer. The only thing that I worry about is lack of surround sound and recall. I have that with the digital console I have now. I am just not happy with the sound of my digital console. If you don't mind, drop me a note if you decide to get one, with your experiences. Thanks.

Hi Jon, Do you just run all your tracks to the mixer and eq in it, or do you do all your eq etc in the computer? Be curious to know how you have your system setup.
Thanks for your time. Danny

Digital Performer into a Trident Trimix here (a little south of you.) I use the console EQ, 4 band with swept mids, for general tone shaping. I still use Channelstrip for heavy carving, like on kick, and Pultecs for specific tones. I use the 1176, LA-2A, and Fairchild plugs frequently, so if the EQ sounds better feeding the comp, it would have have to be a plug-in.

Originally posted by The Establishment:
I've had an Audient ASP8024 for about 18 months now. I use it with Soundscape and Pro-Tools TDM.

Hope this helps
-Peter

Peter,
I remember getting product info from Audient that mentioned a built in bus compressor. How do you like it?

It's really good. I monitor through it whenever I want to to give a good vibe to a band during tracking. I always do a mix with and a mix without and use the comp'd mix about 50% of the time.

If you want a good analog board, with surround and recall check out the Amek Media 51. It also doesn't hurt that it comes with Rupert Neve preamps and Eq's. I think this board is the best bang for the buck around.

Subspace, How do you set your mix up? Do you leave the board at unity and then use the automation in DP? I really like the automation in DP. Just thinking total recall might not be all that big a deal.You can just send a track to 2 channels, then you can set up 2 different eq's or maybe a different reverb etc. Thanks Danny

Hi Thrillfactor, What kind of price tag does the Amek go for? One thing that bothered me looking at their website was the inserts and direct outs were unbalanced. I am surprised that on a board like this that they had the unbalanced connections. The other thing is that I think it only has 8 aux sends while the Audient has 14. Thanks Danny

Hey Danny, I use the Trident's faders for setting overall levels and DP's automation for dynamic changes. When I'm tracking, I set the 1224's outputs to monitor the correlating inputs directly so I can do a live control room mix on the board with no latency. At mix, I assign each track to it's corresponding output so the basic mix is still in place with all DP's faders at unity. Then I'll add automated changes based on that starting point. I used to write automation into DP mixes and then have to go back and "change continuous controller" or use a trim plug to try it with a little more snare or less vocal. Now I just ride the console faders til it sounds good and let DP take care of writing automation and mutes. This won't work if you're using analog dynamics and need constant levels to set thresholds. It also means that sub-group mixing will have to be handled manually, and using analog comps for the bus mixes.
It's a hybrid approach, but you can always go to one extreme or the other. You could do everything inside DP and just use the board as a unity mixer, or just use DP as a tape machine and do all the mixing and processing in the analog realm. I like real faders and the board EQ but can't offer near as many channels of good dynamics in the analog realm. If I want a cool modulation sound, I'll just assign a send in DP to a stereo output and try someplug-ins For a shared reverb, I'll use a board send to a Lexicon. It's a good combo for me as I don't have massive amounts of outboard or the world's fastest Mac, but between analog and digital, I haven't run out of options yet. HTH

I'm really just feeling my way with an analog console again- used to have one, went to a D8B, went back. Most of my work is back on the 2", as well. When it's analog board and computer, though, it's kind of a crapshoot as to what I am going to use where- like subspace, though, I'll usually do the general levels on the mixer and run automation if needed in the computer. Busing, and especially bus compression, is generally analog to get around latency. Muting usually happens by trimming the soundbites themselves, vs. running mute automation in the computer. If I get 8-12 channels of some sort of plug-in analog automation, I will probably do nothing in the computer save the odd Waves plugin.

Originally posted by Danny Stinnett:
Hi Jon, Do you just run all your tracks to the mixer and eq in it, or do you do all your eq etc in the computer? Be curious to know how you have your system setup.
Thanks for your time. Danny

Danny, the Amek Media 51- 28 channels(28 Faders/28 tape returns, 4 stereo effect returns-$35,000-40,000, 44 channels(44 faders/44 tape returns, 4 stereo effect returns-$55,000-65,000) there is also a 60 channel frame and you can buy a(8) channel side car. Also you can get it with a side patchbay. I'll have to check about the inserts and direct sends. With the auxes, you can send a stereo pair to the tape sends and that will give you 6 more stereo pairs. The Audient has 14, but you can't use all 14 at once. This is a great sounding board(this not a "big" even though they are using the frame). From the get go, Headroom was what they wanted to improve and they did. Also it has the most intelligent surround sound setup in an analog board. Not to mention the ease of Supertrue automation(with off line editing,grouping,etc). It makes the Audient look like a toy.(IMO). And I am not an Amek rep, I just like this board. Its not perfect(the EQ knobs are too small, no EQ in lights, also the build quality isn't the greatest) but I guess they had to cut corners to squeeze this much horsepower for a lower price.

Hi Guys Thanks for the responses. Appreciate the info! Thrillspace, I hear you on the sound quality...I guess my point is that I will need 30+ input channels but I wont need 44 preamps.(even if they are Neve's!!) So that seems a little overkill for what I am doing. I could work around the aux send issue by sending some stuff directly from the computer to reverbs etc. What I probably will end up doing is save some more pennies while I see how the whole 96K/surround sound deal works out. Thanks for your time. Danny

hey all,

Recently the studio I worked at sold our old Neve 8014 (w/1073's) and got an Audient console.

The two are, as you can imagine, like night and day. The Neve was king of colour, the audient is king of transparency.

I couldn't believe how bright this thing is because I've always spent all my time behind the Old "Dark" Neve.

I find it to be a really accurate console, nothing is exagerated in it. The eq's are quite usable but nothing to write home about. For most major eq'ing I go to outboard gear.

I find the image of the mixer lacks a little. It could be more precise, this is my only real complaint.

The bus compressor is quite "interesting". It is not transparent....it seems to have like an exciter circuit where it boosts 10-12k, and you can hear that it has a pretty negative affect on the top end. It is pretty obvious when you engage it and disengage it which is too bad. This was not a huge surprise though considering its pricetag.

This thing is increadibly quiet though. Everytime you patch in a reverb and pull up the faders you hear it's noise. I never realized just how brutally noisy boxes like the H3000 were with the Old Neve.

I've never used the mic pre's but I've heard from others that they're supposedly their quite usuable.

As far as layout goes its pretty cool. The hardest thing to adjust to is that there are about a million switches on every strip and you really have to look to see if they're in or out. So normalling has never been more important. With the Neve everything's so big you always know what's goin on.

Overall I'm a fan of the console. I've done mixes of stuff in Protools with all the fancy plugs. And I've done mixes with the audient and the real outboard gear and I like the audient mixes better everytime. I actually tracked everything on the Neve and mixed with the Audient and this seems to be the ideal situation.

I find the console mixbus has a lot more depth than the pro tools mixbus.

Feel free to ask any questions. I've only done a couple mixes on the thing so I'm no expert with it yet and unfortunately, I've only spent any real amount of time behind the Neve and an a Tascam M600 so I can't really tell you how it compares to anything else out there.

Happy holidays,
Jason

Hi Jason, This is kind of the way I was thinking of it. Tracking direct to Digital Performer, through whatever micpre sounds best then mixing down through the Audient. Thrillspace is real high on the Amek media 51, which may be a better comparison to your older Neve. I guess my thought now is you could take the money that you saved on the Audient, and put it into Manley, Avalon, etc eqs. Do you all run the automation on this console? I am curious how it works. Thanks Danny

Hi Danny, I was only trying to help. The thing also to consider is the resale value on it. The price is about $25,000-30.000? If one day you decide to sell it, do you feel you'll will get half of what you payed for it back? Anything you purchase in the mid range will depreciate a certain amount within a year or two. Good Luck.

Hi Thrill. What did you think about the EQ in the Media 51? I found it to be a bit more radical(not in a bad way) than most Neve stuff. I was unable to give the headroom a good test drive. Is it really much improved over the Big? Thanks, Ted.

Hi Ted, the EQ was done that way on purpose I was told to get the most out of it in the quickest time(which really means so they can save money). They left out the glow and sheen functions from the 9098IEQ. As you know with most Neve Eq's you have to pour it on to hear it sometimes, but on these the swing is pretty big. I got used to it after a while. The Headroom is definitely much improved(I tried a 48track Pro Tools mix and pushed it as hard as it could go and it still felt like it had some room left). The only thing I didn't care for is the build quality(the frame is all they kept from the Big"I don't know why", if this were the old days, I don't think the board would last after two years of wear and tear. But we live in a different age, where pristine, well kept gear is actually in. Also there are no EQ in lights, and that always bugged me(I wear contacts and sometimes because of eye irritations I can only wear one, and I could see where this would be a problem). Other than that, I liked it alot, the recall function was a blessing(specially if you work on a lot of projects at the same time). And it has no noise, if you work with digital a lot its something that you get use to. I would say call Josh Thomas at Amek and ask if you could try one out in your city. I am sure he would be happy to oblige. Also ask him if Amek could possibly bring the price down maybe? I guess maybe not.

Hi Ted, the EQ was done that way on purpose I was told to get the most out of it in the quickest time(which really means so they can save money). They left out the glow and sheen functions from the 9098IEQ. As you know with most Neve Eq's you have to pour it on to hear it sometimes, but on these the swing is pretty big. I got used to it after a while. The Headroom is definitely much improved(I tried a 48track Pro Tools mix and pushed it as hard as it could go and it still felt like it had some room left). The only thing I didn't care for is the build quality(the frame is all they kept from the Big"I don't know why", if this were the old days, I don't think the board would last after two years of wear and tear. But we live in a different age, where pristine, well kept gear is actually in. Also there are no EQ in lights, and that always bugged me(I wear contacts and sometimes because of eye irritations I can only wear one, and I could see where this would be a problem). Other than that, I liked it alot, the recall function was a blessing(specially if you work on a lot of projects at the same time). And it has no noise, if you work with digital a lot its something that you get use to. I would say call Josh Thomas at Amek and ask if you could try one out in your city. I am sure he would be happy to oblige. Also ask him if Amek could possibly bring the price down maybe? I guess maybe not.

Thanks Thrill. I really appreciate the input.
Thanks,
Ted.

Hey all,

The way we do it is that we track with the nice mics into the outboard 1272's and API's straight into the Mackie HDR24. Then from there we go back out straight into the audient at mixdown.

The studio has quite a bit of nice outboard gear, more than the average studio I guess. Therefore, most of the time the board is just summing the signals. 95% of eq and compressing etc. is done with the outboard stuff.

I like this board better than the Neve for mixing because it has a ton more inputs and way more sends.

It was a debate whether or not to get automation for the board. For various reason's we held off on the automation.

We switched from a analog 24track/ADAT with flying faders on the Neve to the Mackie system with the audient (not automated).

Now when I mix I do all the volume automation in the Mackie which is more tedious and way less fun than flying faders. I worked quicker riding the flying faders than I do with the mouse but things like cleaning tracks is much faster.

Everybody misses the flying faders so I think we'll upgrade to flying faders eventually but for the time being things are definately workable without them.

Everybody have a great day,
-jason