Looking for a 20+ channel mixing desk for the studio.
Im just looking for something that I can multi-track with. Nice EQ, sounds good, ya know the usual
At the moment im having a real problem with my 12MTK, not having enough channels is one but the main thing is - Say I have channels 3,4,5,6, all running with effects through the AUX. I cant then record these effects to the corresponding channel on Ableton. (Unless Dry) If say I was to press record on Ableton, it would have to be channel 13/14 for recording things wet, but then thats not good becuase I then have drums,pads,synths,hats all with effects or whatever recording into the one channel on Ableton. It’s almost impossible to EQ and is not great for work flow. I mean, If im wanting to record reverb for a pad that im manipulating for 200 bars everything else has to be solo’d so I cant even hear my effin beat!
What Im wanting to achieve is be able to record my stuff in wet to corresponding channels, then play back off Ableton through a channel and then work over the top like this? Does anyone have a solution to this? Hopefully ive explained it well enough. Im sure as hell certain that everyone doesnt work the way I do… or atleast not! ha! Cheers.
The aux send is a bus - you can’t split the channels you send to it back out with reverb on each channel individually. If you want reverb on each track individually you’d have to do it with channel insert FX (and have a separate FX processor for each insert), not an aux bus.
The obvious solution is to record each track dry and add reverb in Ableton afterwards, but if manipulating the FX is part of the performance you might have to get more FX processors, one for each instrument.
You’re using the internal effects processor on the MTK right? Just think about it - a normal reverb effect unit can process a L/R stereo signal and output a L/R stereo signal. It can’t process six separate channels individually. That would require a separate processor for each channel. All your mixer is doing is combining the channels into an L/R aux bus and sending it to the FX processor, and bringing the FX return back on a stereo pair of channels.
This is where software plugins really win out over hardware - if you want another one, you just load a new instance into the channel strip. It doesn’t cost you the full price again.
If you want an analog board with a soundcard and proper eq etc, MTK22 then perhaps? Other options can end up costing quite a bit more, like the A&H mixwizard with the USB card, and even then, channelcount doesn’t increase really that much.
You absolutely insist it be an analog board though?
FWIW I ditched my 12MTK for an A&H SQ5 and am quite happy with it. A QU series mixer would be a much more cost-effective solution though, also the QU series mixers have a really mature OS compared to the SQs as they are now…
Man this is confusing me… So in general I should record dry and then add effects after? Ive tried this but it’s terrible in terms of work flow. Everything needs to be muted just for the sake of 1, 200 bar loop thats constantly changing, it’s not like I can chop it after 16 bars as It would be out of time if that makes any sense.
Surely there’s a work around without having to spend on effects processors. Could my pedals work without Aux and not just going straight into 1 instrument? Even still, everything would still have to be muted so I could record things in wet… I just cant wrap my head around this… Cheers for your input though, it’s much appreciated in trying to help me understand.
Im sort of set on Analog yeah, im open to suggestions but digital is just not my thing. If it’s going to work the way I want it and sounds good then its a must. Ill check out the mixers you suggested. Thanks mate.
Mentioned it before in these forums but I’m very happy with the quality of the old Midas Venice 320. It’s got direct outs on 24 channels and that allows me, when needed, to record the sources and fx units separately at the same time.
Well, it all depends on the effect you want and how you want to work. DAWs are popular for a reason…
Reverb often works quite well as a combined send effect, more than other effects, because it can place multiple instruments in the same “space”. So it might work fine to use it that way. But as you’ve discovered, it kind of locks down what you record.
That’s hardware recording though. You either do multiple takes with the same hardware fx unit on each channel in turn, or you accept the live take, or you record dry and add fx to the separate recorded channels later.
You might be able to record the 100% wet fx return separately? Maybe not, on the MTK. Not sure if that really helps you anyway.
Nice, so when you say direct outs… Do you mean I could connect up my pedals that way or would it be 1 channel for one pedal sort of thing? Or am I on the wrong track? What sort of desks are similar to this do you know? Cheers.
Well, if I get what your looking for you should focus on getting an 8-bus mixer, create whatever fx chain you need (pedals incl) to the inserts of the buses and then route all channels you want to have that fx applied to to that specific bus (could be mono or stereo setup).
Then you would use the direct outs from the buses that would then cater for you getting a “wet” signal recorded from each bus.
You’ll be limited to the amount of buses you have but that might be ok - use overdub when needed :).
I’m doing this for 2 different stereo buses in my setup (different fx/signal processing on each stereo bus and then direct out into the computer from it).
Yeah, if im understanding correctly I think this may be thing I need. Is there any desk’s you would reccomend? Fairly newish, and also can you get something like a 24/8? Asin 24 in’s and
Yeah, I’m not 100 updated on the most modern mixers - others maybe able to chime in there - but to be honest I wouldn’t expect you to be too unhappy with an old Mackie, Soundcraft or Allen & Heath.
Apart from the colossal size, these Mackie’s are awesome mixers with a great sound/feature set, a real steal at the prices they go for. They pop up on eBay UK occasionally. Behringer do a version of this called MX8000, go for even less…
Agreed. As for the behringers, I’ve seen good and bad units of that specific model so quality-wise I’d prefer the Mackie but sound-wise I would say they’re close to identical (IMO).
