This is probably all going to sound trivial to some of you seasoned vet's, but I just need some advice on a gear decision...I need opinions on the Tannoy System15, The Tascam DM4800 digital mixer and the Yamaha 02R96 digital mixer...I'll explain.
I've been working professionally out of my basement for a few years now, and have reached a commercial plateu. I can work out of my home, but in my county I can't advertise where I'm located. I majorly lucked out and got an amazing deal on a 8,000 square foot facility that I'll be occupying half of right now and renting the other half only to expand into that half later(5 year plan) this place is perfect. Offices are already constructed in the front and there's a 2000 square foot warehouse that's concrete block with brick on the outside and the whole place has 20 foot cielings( for the live room/control room space) anyways I've been mixing in the Box in logic pro for a few years now, but with the expansion of the studio I'm also planning on expanding the gear list. I've got great AD/DA conversion, don't have the money for a large format analog console yet, and the all digital set up has worked pretty well for me so far. Anyways I'm monitoring in a small controlroom currently with a pair of Adam S2A's nearfield and I love them, but I'm moving into a much larger control room and was looking into some really nice (budget minded) main monitors. I have heard the Tannoy 15's a couple of times and have been really impressed by them. They seem to image really nicely and transfer very well. I've also heard of mastering studios using them which is great because I'll be using my mixing suite as a mastering suite as well. I'd just like some feedback on what others think if that sounds like a good Idea.
I used to, once upon a time, mix on a Mackie 32/8bus with a load of outboard gear, which I still have minus the console, but since working with logic I've collected an exellent collection of plugins and havent had the routing capeabilities to effectively us my outboard gear. I've been looking into getting a digital console and I've narrowed it down to the Yamaha 02R96 and the Tascam Dm4800. Spec sheets on both consoles are ipmressive and the 02R96 has quite a reputation, but I'm on a pretty strict budget seeing as I'm building a 2000 square foot live room and control room. I guess what I'm asking is...Is the DM4800 a good board? and would I be happy with it? Also SONICALLY is there going to be that much of a difference between that board and the 02R96 if I'm feeding the outputs of my converters multritracked tdif to the console and using the console for routing to outboard compressors and reverb units. I'm just a little indecisive on the whole mixer thing I kinda like what I'm doing in the box, but I'd like to have the flexibility if I wanted it.
Ok and last question... with respect to the outcome of the overall mix should I invest in the board first or the Tascam system 15. I've got to do this in stages, and I'd like to know what you think would improve my entire system the most so that I can consider starting with that.
Thanks for your resposes and sorry if this is hard to understand or runs on...I'm very ADHD.
BE BLESSED
Josh
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thanks for the reply. UPDATE!!!! Decided to stay away from the
thanks for the reply. UPDATE!!!! Decided to stay away from the digital mixer right now because it seems a little redundant. I'm going to wait and save for a decent automated analog console. I did recieve some bad news though....for anyone who cares....Tannoy discontinued the System 15 and the System 215 like a week ago. TALK ABOUT BAD TIMING!!! While I guess I could get some used I get kindof leary about that. I did however get a chance to hear the JBL 6332's and I was very impressed especially at that price point. I placed an order today and should get them soon.
Sounds like you've got a great opportunity here, and you really
Sounds like you've got a great opportunity here, and you really have to evaluate hard where you want to go in terms of equipment. I think the struggle to choose between the 02R96 and the DM4800 could be obscuring the the bigger picture: should you use a digital console for your main recording and production/mastering activities, or should you go for an analog desk for recording and stay in the box with outboards for production?
For the digital mixer choice, if you can't stretch to a Yamaha DM2000 or even a DM1000, I would still prefer the 02R96 over the Tascam for production work, but for recording, the mic preamps in both are not as good as you would get with boutique preamps. If you have enough channels in your existing "great" A-D and D-A, then maybe this isn't an issue.
My main concern about the use of a digital console would be the thought of you wanting to use (analog) outboard gear in the recording as well as the production and mastering phases. Although the 24/96 quality is very good on those desks, there is still the implicit D-A and A-D conversion necessary for the outboards, and with those desks it is going to have an impact on sonic quality.
I took the decision not to do mastering work (I need another professional pair of ears to listen to my mixes), so the MEs on this board may be the people to comment further. However, I think specialist high quality A-D and D-A conversion is the requirement when using outboard analog gear for production and/or mastering. Top-end converters should produce better results than the converters in a digital console.
Whether for recording you go for a digital or analog console depends on a lot of factors, not least how you want to market your operations, so may be that should be the subject of another thread. A single digital console is versatile, but has limitations, and cannot be the best at every task. In addition, it's more difficult to do staged equipment upgrades unless you consider the recording and production processes separately.
I don't know the Tannoys, so can't help you there, but it does sound as though you are happy with your present monitors at least for the time being. assuming they can produce an adequate sound in your new space.