I love the D8B but wanted to try something different as i was after a sound that i just could not get out the D8B.
so started to look at secondhand desks and what better time to do so, there seems to be a glut of of fantastic studio consoles up for sale for stupidly cheap amounts of cash, if you keep your eye out on ebay and gumtree ( im british) or what ever in your country a great deal can be snapped up i have seen £50,000 desks going for £1000 with no takers ! just amazing, in fact some owners not being able to sell have started parting out the chan strips, a sign of the times where it seems studios are now space saving, so if you have the space and want "that sound" what a better time to buy, i think what is going to happen is the same as what happend to the studer and other big tape machines when every thing went digi i remember seeing these on ebay for as cheap £400 ish, i paid £300 for a studer 8 track then and worked great,i have a friend in nottingham that snapped about 8 of these up and the record presses and cutting lathes for 45s and LP he is getting offers from all over the world for these now, so now prices have gone back up where they rightfully should be as more and more people want that analog fat sound and want a hybrid studio, in fact i know artists that got rid of theres are now looking for one again, ( like the band i got mine from) im sure the large studio console will go the same way, we will see, so if you have the space and time what a great project. i have not got the space for a large console so was looking for a large console sound in a small package.
Im not saying here that one is better that the other just different sounding and as we know sound is very subjective,
each to their own and all that.
So I did this as a test really, wanting to see if i could get that fat warm "pro" sound for not much money, so had a good fact finding month on the net looking at desks that were smallish with enough ins and outs, would connect to the HDR easy. and the hard bit, cheap but had great EQ and preamps, Cheap and great is not something often found together.
And So after much reading and finding out what i can get for my badly taxed dosh, came up with an Inline analog mixer that was smallish, is layered like the D8B via a "flip" switch, the HDR connects via the 6 D25 subs to 48xJacks to the Tape ins and tape outs leaving all the input chans free, routing also is very good and the EQ which i read about having been used on its big brothers studio consoles sounds absolutely massive, the desk i norrowed it down to was the
Soundtracs Topaz Project 8,
For lots of reasons, 1 good one was thinking i am looking for a second hand desk and anyone spending $5000 or 7500 with automation in the 90s is not going to have it sitting round with low milage on it, and i would expect most good desks are well worn, i remember reading that Soundtracs over engineered their desks and to quote them they did it "just to make sure !" and sure enough there does seem to be a lot still in use and for sale in perfect condition, that over engineering is coming in to play 25ish years later no doubt.
the price paid for this with 10 good looms thrown in was too cheap to even print, i cant believe i got it at such a great price and in full working order for less than what i would of paid for the looms !
An old desk, but, i can only say that all that i have read about it, is true, it makes my mixes sound huge, the tracks have now Weight and sparkle to them, also a surprise to hear things are separated very well as well with no mush in the middle with no noticeable noise, even without FX my mixes sound better and more, dare i say it.. more "Pro" sounding, if that has meaning at all, toward the sound i am trying to get, to say im happy with it is an understatement, i may have found my perfect mixing tool to go with the HDR for the sound i am after and ..... there is a VCA automation option as well ! after being spoiled by the D8Bs i now need this.
i am hoping a few of you already have been there and tried one of these, and wanted your thoughts.
So.... how many of you are using the HDR MDR SDR through an analog desk? thoughts ? and did you have probs with the hot levels coming into the desk from the hdr? i know there is an easy mod i can do on the Soundtracs to change the -10db to +4db that should cure the hot levels which is next on my list.
And another question as it seems some do some dont..... when recording a band do you have the signals going flat to the recorder to Eq later or do you eq them before they get to the recorder, i have always eqd before as i would do with a live band but have been told its best left flat, do it all later,? your thoughts ?
We are having a full band recording session this sunday through it to the HDR so we will see what the results of that will be, So i am really looking fwd to hearing the results, lets see if all that homework has paid off, fingers crossed.
here is a pic of it on the work bench having a clean.
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