#1680911 - 05/21/05 11:36 PM
Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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timrocker
Gold Member
Registered: 10/09/00
Posts: 801
Loc: Palm Springs, CA UNITED STATES
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Hi Everybody,
Yesterday I was tracking and there was a sudden constant bzzzzz. I looked down and the "solo" and "mute" led's on each channel of my Alesis Studio 24 board were on and staying lit. No signal would come through the mixer from there on.
I bet the mixer is gone. I don't know that, but I've kind of gone with the need to move on. So I went to Guitar Center today and looked at a batch of mixers. Seems like every thing pointed in the direction of a Mackie 1604.
I'm tracking to an ADAT, mostly Sansamp direct guitar tones. Almost all, really. Except for the occasional bass tone. I then take my ADAT into a real studio and they import my tracks into Pro Tools. And we build up from there.
Do you folks think I'm going to be pleased with this 1604 for the long haul? I have 30 days to return it.
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#1680912 - 05/22/05 07:39 AM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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Keysking
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Registered: 01/22/02
Posts: 246
Loc: AUSTRALIA
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Yeah... i reckon it sounds better than the Alesis boards. Mackie are well made and very reliable. If you are happy enough with the sound of it... it would be a keeper.
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#1680913 - 05/22/05 12:02 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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Lee Flier
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Registered: 09/13/00
Posts: 15398
Loc: Atlanta,GA,UNITED STATES
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I think it's a good choice. Mackies are maligned by many but the fact is that you'd have to pay a lot more to get anything else that performs as well. The pres have quite a bit of headroom and the boards tend to be very reliable.
Just be gentle with the EQ on a Mackie - it's VERY aggressive and if you boost the mids and highs on a lot of tracks - even a little - it will start to add up to a lot of cumulative crap. Don't use EQ when tracking and be sparing with it at mixdown... use subtractive rather than additive EQ whenever possible.
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#1680914 - 05/22/05 01:33 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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Kendrix
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 09/06/01
Posts: 2150
Loc: Rochester,NY,UNITED STATES
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I started on one.
I often wondered if I got one of chinese rip offs that were on the market in the mid-ninties cause it always sounded kinda harsh to me.
However, this was beore the newer VLZ design was introduced. So my experience is no longer relevant in any case.
As Lee says, for the price, and assuming you can live without mix automantion, its the only game in town IMO
Enjoy.
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#1680915 - 05/22/05 03:50 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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theblue1
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Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4537
Loc: Long Beach, CA
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I like my Mackie board, an SR24-4. It's got the first gen VLZ mic pres and, when I compared them with the collection of low-end outboard pre's I've accumulated over the years (a ragtag grabbag of Art, Meek, Bellari, etc -- looking for some cheapass grail or other), I was shocked to find I liked the Mackie's best.
One of my pals who had previously disdained Mackies came back from a recent weekend seminar (with Tape Op's Larry Crane) with the tidbit that Elliot Smith's Oscar-winning song (from Good Will Hunting, I think) was completely tracked with Mackie VLZ pre's on a Mackie board.
Lee may have a point with the EQ. (Not sure if your board has the same EQ as mine and other older Mackie's.) I've always tried to cut more than add when it comes to EQ, so I haven't run into any serious problems -- but their "air" 10K boost has always looked to me like it could bring up very HF crap. And, as always, a long row of channel strip fixed point EQ's can really be a trouble magnet, causing a cumulative bump (or dip) as the tracks add up... That's why parametric or even semi-para EQ is so important, seems to me.
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#1680916 - 05/22/05 08:05 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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where02190
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 11/06/01
Posts: 5402
Loc: Weymouth, Ma. USA
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The VLZ Pro pres are quite nice, very neutral with good gain. IMHO the eq is useless, but for tracking you don't need it anyway.
_________________________
Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording.
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#1680917 - 05/24/05 07:38 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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timrocker
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Registered: 10/09/00
Posts: 801
Loc: Palm Springs, CA UNITED STATES
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(Ducking in anticipation of thrown objects) I took it back. I could tell that it was way more mixer than I was ever going to need, and I just needed an exact replacement for the mixer that died on me Friday. So I got one off eBay just now.
Now, here is what's puzzling me. Lee, Blue, Where, I know that it's generally good practice to not use EQ during tracking. I've been told that a dozen times-get flat tracks going in. But I swear to you that the tone doesn't thrill me because it just sounds dull. If I didn't use an outboard EQ with a HUGE smiley curve and also a pretty hefty bass boost/mid cut on the channel strip, I would just HATE my tone and never track it at all. Is it my room? Or what? Last time I did a transfer to Pro Tools the engineer told me I had too much bass on my tracks. I believe it, but I'm telling you, if the tone doesn't just sound fierce to me I know I'll never track anything. How can I have my cake and eat it too?  Any and all input greatly appreciated.
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#1680918 - 05/24/05 07:40 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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timrocker
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Registered: 10/09/00
Posts: 801
Loc: Palm Springs, CA UNITED STATES
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Also, would it be a better scenario to use a Presonus Digitube to the ADAT and leave the mixer out of the "going in" process? That way the pres on the mixer, lame as they are, would be irrelevent to getting tone to tape. Right?
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#1680919 - 05/24/05 08:36 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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DanS
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Registered: 11/14/00
Posts: 3476
Loc: Montréal
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Well I've had my Mackie...oh,..nevermind.... :rolleyes:
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#1680920 - 05/25/05 05:45 AM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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Quarryking
Gold Member
Registered: 11/16/03
Posts: 610
Loc: INDIA
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1604's a decent board...used it a lot for small live gigs thru the late 90's....they take quite a beating as well..
_________________________
Vinay Vincent,
BASE Studios
"Live Jazz friday nights at The Zodiac Bar"
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#1680921 - 05/26/05 01:20 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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Gorecki
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Registered: 03/23/05
Posts: 27
Loc: Maryland
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I've had mine for some time now and I still love it...very quite and passive board.
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#1680922 - 05/26/05 06:48 PM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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(RhythmInMind)
Gold Member
Registered: 07/01/04
Posts: 625
Loc: Santa Monica
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Originally posted by timrocker: (Ducking in anticipation of thrown objects) I took it back. I could tell that it was way more mixer than I was ever going to need, and I just needed an exact replacement for the mixer that died on me Friday. So I got one off eBay just now.
Now, here is what's puzzling me. Lee, Blue, Where, I know that it's generally good practice to not use EQ during tracking. I've been told that a dozen times-get flat tracks going in. But I swear to you that the tone doesn't thrill me because it just sounds dull. If I didn't use an outboard EQ with a HUGE smiley curve and also a pretty hefty bass boost/mid cut on the channel strip, I would just HATE my tone and never track it at all. Is it my room? Or what? Last time I did a transfer to Pro Tools the engineer told me I had too much bass on my tracks. I believe it, but I'm telling you, if the tone doesn't just sound fierce to me I know I'll never track anything. How can I have my cake and eat it too? Any and all input greatly appreciated.
_________________________
"I saw one the other day with an impressive number of knobs to twist - I
have no idea what they do." -undisclosed forum member
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#1680923 - 05/27/05 02:54 AM
Re: Brought Home A Mackie 1604 Today
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timrocker
Gold Member
Registered: 10/09/00
Posts: 801
Loc: Palm Springs, CA UNITED STATES
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Eric;
That's a great idea. Thank you.
Tim
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