Mixing OTB?

Ok, basically i want to get off the computer forever.
So, i have Slim Phatty, A4, and minitaur. Probably will get a Theremini cause i am heading to ambient teritorry and really enjoying it.
I want to set up A&H zed10 mixer and hook up my instruments there. Also ill get some HQ reverb and delay. Not sure which ones yet, tough.
A4 will do drones, minitaur bass, maybe some more stuff and slim and theremini leads.

Is it possible to make a good sounding mix with just that much tracks without multitracking at all?
Just mastering at tbe end.
Isn that a real old school mixing way???
I mean, you got fat soundning synths, HQ eq’s and HQ verbs and delays.
My mixes will jus probably be splashed i reverbs so i dont need much tracks cause the mis will be filled, so no need fo extensive separation of instruments, exept positioning with panning volume and reverbs/delays…

Shouldnt i be able to record such mix directly to recorder and be just fine ( assuming there will be some later masteri g with outboard)???

Whats your opinion??? (Imagine that zed10 mixer has no usb recording feature)

Have a listen to tIB.
His stuff is all live thru a console with just Left & Right feeding a stereo recorder. Wicked stuff :slight_smile:

Perfectly possible…all my stuff is done exactly like this. Not saying it’s right for everyone, but for me it’s the only way to fly.

yeah same here… its much more natural way to go just jamming around or roughly planning out your song before you hit record and as long as you can get it sounding right or at least close to what you desire as a final product, then you are not wasting time. If you want to do this its very important that you have great monitor speakers or headphones because if you find out later that your mix is bad, it can be a lot of work to repair your mistakes.

on a modest budget, analogue summing is far superior and unless you spend a bag load of cash on clocking systems, serious multichannel A/D converters and software you won’t get close. the trade off is that all you can do post recording is stereo ITB processing and chopping out chunks of audio with any performance errors. Also if you want to reproduce, remix or tour professionally you will have to either recreate your music or simply play your prerecorded stereo music which is not very flexible so that may be something to consider.

Your plans sounds OK. i’m not sure about the zed idea though, you might find a more solid mixer with a more usable EQ and get a sweet two channel A/D converter if you are going down this route.

then… you can look around for some nice quality stereo pre/eq/comp/limiters etc in the future and completely remove the computer if you want!

Keep an eye out for a A7H Mixwizard if you can way more routing otions and up to 6 post/pre fx sends…

Thanks guys. Yes as already mentioned, i just want to “fly” trough the process.
Expensive mixers are out of question. I need only 2stereo and 2-4 mono channels.

For the end of the signal i looked up the Art Pro VLA II. Good reviews and gets love on forums. What do you guys think?

I also am thinking of getting some nice recorder… with good price/quality balance… more tips? :slight_smile:

Zed 10 will fit the bill… But beware, only 2 aux/fx sends, and they are fixed 1 pre and 1 post fader… Oh and the routing to headphones is whack… I’m using it live, and it works ok… But for serious studio use - save your pennies and buy something better…soundwise it’s a bit MEH when compared to my SSL x-desk (I know, out of budget for many…but worth it)

My 2 cents

Since i am new to routing effect processors trough hardware mixers, what exactly 2 aux/fx sends mean?? Only two processors can be connected??

That is correct, 2 aux or fx sends means only 2 fx processors can be connected.

Now if your mixing desk has say 6 aux outs and only 2 returns, you can use the other 4 auxes to 4 more fx units and return them to stereo channels.

ie: your mixer has 8 mono and 4 stereo channels. you can use the 4 stereo channels as aux/fx returns.

thus allowing to connect 6 fx processors to a desk. plus your inserts for comps, graphic eq’s. limiters.

But the Zed10 has no returns, so you can only mix in your fx if you have spare input channels!
There is a master insert, which could be used for Comp/eq/filter/limiter…or a combination (needs special insert cable)
But for verbs and delays and such you need to send your sound (snare for example) to your reverb and have the reverb send the resulting sound back into the mixer… Enter the returns…you need a slightly larger desk for that… Doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg… Zed’s arent bad at all, mackie’s can be good, soundcraft, yamaha… Look for a desk with enough channels and/or returns to accomodate 2-? FX processors

AUX’s can be Pre fader (sound is sent to FX at fixed level, even if fader is down) or Post Fader (sound is sent to FX only when fader is up, amount of sound sent to FX is proportionate to the fader position) or they can be freely assignable

Some may laugh at this but I’d recommend a Mackie 1202 VLZ3. Much better routing options than the zeds. 2 stereo returns, aux 1 is switchable pre/post. The Alt 3/4 mix bus (which is great for routing a stereo record connection to the OT). And it’s built like a tank. No master inserts, but you can just cable in line your master bus processing.

agree with you mackie
dude seems stuck on the zed however

Unless you need the USB interfacing (which is only mix master L/R if I’m not mistaken) the zed boards are way over rated.

If you do get the Zed, make sure you don’t hot patch the XLR with the phantom power on. I do corporate audio visual for a living and I work for a company that has a bunch of those zed boards and a bunch of inexpeirenced techs who just leave the phantom power on all the time. They’ve got gaff taped off xlr inputs with blown mic pres all over. On boards less than a year old mind you.

I personally use a dangerous music d-box as my main mixer. I connect my Moog slim Phatty, Korg radias, MD, and the 1202 vlz 3 to the d-box, and then feed both my DAW (via sound devices usbpre2) and my OT. So when I don’t feel like fussing with the computer I can just drive my whole rig with the OT and only have to change 1 midi patch connection.

Ok i gave up on the zed.

Now checking Soundcraft EPM6 and a BossRV70, just to learn myself to setup stuff… i could use one stereo channel strip for fx returns, right??

Or i am missing something?

Mackie 1604 VLZ-3 might be a good option… it’s the previous model so it’s cheaper now, designed for recording applications as well as live sound applications.

EG: the first 8 channels have lines out to run into the next 8 channels.

Yes, you CAN use one stereo channel to return all your FX. But you won’t be able to balance levels if they are all on the same return channel. I guess this isn’t a big deal if your FX have level adjustments on them.

You mean fx level on the reverb itself or the fx level on the strip with which i choose how much of the signal is beaing sent?

Thats what i basically just want to do.

Send each channel to a reverb, independendtly, with amount i want…(with the setup i mentioned)

I am somehow confused… aux, send, fx arghh… in DAW it looks so easy… :slight_smile:

Thats because in a DAW there are no cables. :joy:

Yes, the mixer should have a send knob per channel so you can send different amounts of each channel to the reverb unit.