What’s your favourite mixing console of all time?

    • January 20, 2023 at 7:23 pm #4412
      Rich Steve Beck
      Moderator

      • January 21, 2023 at 1:15 pm #4418
        Mary Mazurek
        Moderator

          Neve 8048As a classical music recording specialist, I generally go for a very clean path mic pre’s to interface to  DAW, but I have a special affinity to this console. This is  Murray Allen’s Neve 8048, which resided at Chicago’s Universal Recording originally founded by Bill Putnam.

          I had the pleasure of learning on this console from Murray, and chief engineer Tom Miller when I was a recording student at DePaul University and then as an assistant at Universal until its closing in 1991. While there, I documented, setup, struck this console for house music producer Marshall Jefferson, many jingle sessions, scoring sessions for the restoration for Orson Wells’ Othello, and even setup for a Metallica session.

          The console now resides at The Village Studios in LA where it is lovingly careered for. ❤️🎚

        • January 23, 2023 at 9:37 pm #4456
          Bob Olhsson
          Moderator

            Quad-Eights and Electrodynes were the last of the best. Most studios never expected to move past 16 track. When clients began demanding 24, the budget they were willing to invest dropped dramatically. Tridents were also really good.

            • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Bob Olhsson.
          • January 25, 2023 at 9:38 am #4463
            Ryan Sutton
            Moderator

              If we’re specifically talking about mixing, I love the SSL 4000 E.  The flexibility it offers is, in my opinion, unparalleled.  For the music I tend to work on, I like the “bite” that the EQ and dynamics sections have.  Plus the fact that you can drive the individual channels and stereo bus pretty hard.

              For tracking, I’m with Mary.  The Neve 80 series are my personal fav.  I also have at my studio 4 channel strips from and original Trident A Range that are pretty magical on drums.

              • January 31, 2023 at 9:42 pm #4490
                Mary Mazurek
                Moderator

                  The SSL 4000 was another console I worked on at Universal Recording in Chicago. The big joke with the SSL computer was to type ET phone home, the automation would freeze and you had to call SSL. They’d put you on speaker phone laugh at you, then tell you how to unlock it. Good times.😎

              • February 1, 2023 at 1:49 am #4505
                Russ Hughes
                Participant

                  Not sure if you’ve seen this, made by my friend Karen Down, who spent over 25 years at SSL. A trip down memory lane. https://youtu.be/KmwGACcltdQ


                • February 1, 2023 at 9:05 am #4522
                  Bob Katz
                  Keymaster

                    Oh, Russ, I remember those primitive times!

                    My favorite console of all time is a classic API. Those opamps and transformers were so gorgeous. API sound is not the cleanest in the world, those opamps have a bit of grit, great for rock and to be honest I’ve seen people use them for classical music as well.  But you can modify a classic API to have a clean path and a slightly dirty path, change the opamps, all kinds of things. You can even have a Neve sound inside of a classic API. Make one pair of busses be clean and one be standard API summing. Very versatile. I hate the patchbay layout, though…. Neve and SSL gozouta on the top and gozinta on the bottom is so much more logical than the American way.

                    • This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Bob Katz. Reason: Updating the facts, Jack :-)
                    • February 1, 2023 at 9:16 am #4524
                      Mary Mazurek
                      Moderator

                        Cool video on SSL! Thanks Ryan.

                    • February 3, 2023 at 10:26 pm #4708
                      David Streit
                      Participant

                        My favorite is Trident A Range #13. I got to use it a lot when I was on staff at Quad Studios in Nashville in the late ’90’s. I especially loved it for tracking, but mixes through it sounded great too.


                      • February 14, 2023 at 9:52 am #4890
                        bob stjohn
                        Participant

                          Mixing? SSL 4000G.  Recording…Neve 80 series or Trident A-range.  Took me years to arrive at those conclusions…and while I truly believed I would have enjoyed mixing on an 80 series Neve (it was equipped with GML automation at the time) but I found myself missing the warm and fuzzy SSL console qualities, as well as the extra compressors and gates.  Conversely…I’ll record on an SSL if that’s what the studio has…but I just don’t like the sound of the preamps…so I’ll always use outboard mic pres on an SSL.   I feel bad for any engineer who hasn’t had the breathtaking experience of recording on an 80 series Neve…and well, once you know…you know, right?

                        • February 21, 2023 at 2:08 am #4975
                          JasonHiller
                          Participant

                            Sound Techniques

                          • February 21, 2023 at 2:09 am #4976
                            JasonHiller
                            Participant

                              That’s a brand new Sound Techniques. Pretty great stories behind the Sound Techniques consoles. Check out http://www.soundtechniques.com

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