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Author Topic: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?  (Read 4375 times)

wireline

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Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« on: September 05, 2004, 01:12:02 PM »

Curious:

Is anyone still plugging mics into a board, sending signals to a recorder, and so on, or has the business gotten to the point preamps on mixers are passe and ... just weird?

Anyone operating without any external preamps?  If so, what boards are you using?  

Ken
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Ken Morgan
Wireline Studio, Midland, TX
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Jan Folkson

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2004, 04:31:12 PM »

I have no problem using the pres on a J or 80xx, unless I'm looking for something specifically different.  But EVERY studio that I work in will generally have a selection of outboard pres for different colors.
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Noiseless pickups?  What's the point?

hargerst

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2004, 05:59:11 PM »

For the most part, we use the board preamps for drums, guitars and other acoustic instruments.  Vocals are usually through an outboard preamp, but we use the board's preamps ocasionally there, too. Bass usually goes to one of the outboard preamp D.I.'s, either the Origin SST-1, the Great River, or the RNP.
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Harvey "Is that the right note?" Gerst
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tom eaton

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2004, 08:45:05 PM »

Hi All-

Yes, I still use in the board preamps...especially during larger tracking sessions.  I have had an old MCI 428 board with Valley TransAmps, an Amek Angela, and now an Otari Elite, and all the preamps were useful for many things.  There is no bad preamp, just a preamp that is or is not the sound you're looking for.  I LOVED the TransAmps on just about everything, the Angela pres on electric guitars and drums, and so far everything I've tried on the Otari (it's been here only a few weeks) sounds pretty darn good to me.

-tom

thomas eaton recording
http://www.thomaseaton.com
acoustic recording guy

Fig

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2004, 05:31:43 PM »

Quote:

 
Is anyone still plugging mics into a board, sending signals to a recorder, and so on,


TER wrote on Sun, 05 September 2004 19:45

have had an old MCI 428 board with Valley TransAmps, an Amek Angela, and now an Otari Elite, and all the preamps were useful for many things.  


Chiming in with a resounding YES!  We utilize an Amek Angela, too.  Ours has 51 mic pres (yup -- 51, don't know why).  We also have an old Neve broadcast board (5452) that's been modded with direct outs, as well.

They sound very good to my ear.

We have a four channel Millennium, Amek 9098, a couple M1s from John Hardy, even a Joe Meek.  We'll use 'em occasionally, but usually when its one mic in an overdub situation (vocals through the M1s can be stunning!)

I use the 8MX2 from ATI for remotes, its incredible (and much easier to tote around than either of the consoles!)

I'm curious why you ask such a question?

Regards,

Fig
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wireline

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2004, 09:51:50 PM »

Quote:

I'm curious why you ask such a question?



Several reasons:

1.  Seems 'all the rage' is in preamps and summing mixing (right now)...and I was really just curious if anyone was still using one console for everything...

2.  If there were any 'regrets' or repeatedly posted concerns or issues about the modular approach, I hoped they would have been sussed out here...

3.  I am rapidly nearing an upgrade decision point, and have scoured every reputable pro audio page I can find, reseaching, researching, researching...

4.  My operation is pretty low end, but we have a lot going on...trying to see if I can figure out which way the industry is headed, as any investments I make have to last a long long time...

5.  Since I'm either too busy or too broke to get to larger market areas to see first hand, I was just being nosy...

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laptoppop

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2004, 11:37:55 PM »

I'm running a Mackie Onyx board with the direct outs feeding a MOTU 24i/o.  I use the "mixer" part of the Mackie to generate the monitor and headphone mixes.  The preamps sound extremely good to my tin ears.  I do all the mixing inside the computer running Sonar and controlled by a Mackie control.

I'll get some outboard pres for more audio pallette choices eventually - but for now this is working very well.  If I had major $, the liquid channel preamp looks very interesting.  I'll probably start with a couple of channels of boutique preamps -- but I'm going to rent some first before I lay down my $.

-lee-
http://www.gracesongmusic.com
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Han S.

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2004, 07:15:36 AM »

Yes, I'm using the DDA-AMR board's pre's for everything, no problem.

The board has Optifile Tetra automation and everything is tracked to 2".

The mix goes to 1/4" tape or 24/96.

Nobody complains about the sound, quite the contrary.

Glad I didn't invest in ProTools, which had only cost me a lot if I had done.

Most studio's in my country complain about having very little business, you wont hear me complain. Cool

Peace, Han
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covert

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2004, 08:11:04 AM »

Most stuff goes through the Topaz. This might change when I finally get the rewiring done.
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Vertigo

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2004, 11:40:03 AM »

I'm running an old Midas PRO4 console into a MOTU 24/io with a couple of outboard pre's (RNP and a Focusrite). The console is the heart of my whole setup. I use the pre's on drums and guitar, and sometimes vocals too. I use it as a monitor mixer when tracking, and then I bus all my tracks back out to the console from the MOTU at mixdown time.

-Lance
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Fig

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2004, 05:20:57 PM »

wireline wrote on Wed, 29 September 2004 20:51



1.  Seems 'all the rage' is in preamps and summing mixing (right now)...and I was really just curious if anyone was still using one console for everything...




Correct me if I am wrong, here.  A traditional console provides preamps and summing mixing in one surface, right?

Do you mean to tell me my old world ways of recording is actually "all the rage"? Rolling Eyes

Sir, you just made my day!

Best regards,

Thom Fiegle
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wireline

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2004, 06:30:44 PM »

Cute...

I was refering to everything being in a system, not a collection of parts...all working together as a designed unit, not a bunch of stuff that works together....

But you knew that.

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Ken Morgan
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willpowrd

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2004, 03:04:02 PM »

hargerst wrote on Sun, 05 September 2004 16:59

For the most part, we use the board preamps for drums, guitars and other acoustic instruments.  Vocals are usually through an outboard preamp, but we use the board's preamps ocasionally there, too.



Same here.

I'd thought of going console-less, especially after I sold the 24 track machine.  But, the console is just too central to the room and the way I work to get rid of it.



will
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tom eaton

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Re: Anyone Still Doing The "Use The Board" Thing?
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2004, 08:07:00 PM »

And where would you put your notes and pencils without a big console in front of you?

I really think there's no good reason to go consoleless if you already have one, but finding and maintaining a good sounding console can be difficult.  There's a reason good consoles do everything they do...they were designed by folks who needed to run sessions day in and day out.  I am continually amazed at the thinking behind my current console (Otari Elite)...it was clearly designed by someone who ran into studio situations where they needed things outside the feature set of normal consoles.  I can't imagine trying to do fx routing, headphone mixes and monitoring via some kind of software interface.  I'm happy for the computer to be a glorified tape deck/editor and to have a bunch of (warm) buttons, knobs and faders in front of me--a functionally complete device, doing what it does best.  

-tom
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