Big beautiful analogue mixing consoles

[SafeandSound Mastering]

Disclaimer first, I do not know precisely why I am posting this other than the sheer pleasure of looking at and ownership of consoles that are so very easy on the eye.

The last week in spare time I have been looking at consoles, all sorts of consoles, from Mackie's to SSL's and everything in between.

Many grew up with one, many trained on one, many used them professionally and a few still do, servicing issues and all. Many I suspect look at them very much as symbols of the past and think they look great but they are huge.

In the world of audio engineering you cannot come away from how amazing they look.

I need not mention DAW and their take over as it is so obvious but it is testament to the consoles that every notable channel strip has been emulated, and also broad console emulations have been emulated what with Slate VCC and Sonimus and many other offerings (I would actually like a few other mid range desks to be modelled as well for the fun aspect.)

Maybe just a thread about these desks project 24-8-2's or the 72 input beasts.

Even today they are one of the most impressive items of equipment to the eyes of any audio engineer.

I am astonished at what you can purchase for 1-2-3 thousand of pounds these days. You do need space though and that is the expensive side of owning such equipment. Of course it also suggests the need to require many multiple inputs at the same time or a analogue only mixing procedure.

Much of which many simply do not need or can successfully do with out depending on what they are doing.

After all these years they still have a draw. I am quite sure I will not be going backwards towards them mainly due to not having need but I still like to see them and they are still exciting.

The biggest "desk" I have now is a Mackie 1604 VLZ pro that I use just to record a vocal every now and then. And I still rate it sonically, I see it as 16 great mic preamps in a box. The EQ is not something you would go too heavy with but it is a good mixer for 16 channel recording etc.

In some ways digital can make a studio more complex as an analogue desk is channel x No. of channels and you knew exactly where you were with them.

Everything seems much more modular now giving tonal flexibility 500 series pre amps etc.

Ultimately it all comes down to space and weight with these desks.

They just look great but more than that served a very practical purpose as the mainstay of studios for years.

[The Elf]

I view those old consoles the way I view old cars. I can admire them from a distance, and I am pleased that someone is prepared to spend time and money to keeping them running, but I have abolutely zero interest or desire in owning one again.

[Arpangel]

I can remember going to "Arny's Shack" studio, Tony Arnold's place, many years back, I bought a Bel Delay from there, the Raindirk desk was still there, just the look of it made me speechless, it was beautiful.
Tony had long gone, the studio I think, was being sold off, I have a friend who still won’t go into a studio that doesn’t have a big desk, its just not "proper" to him, if he walks in and sees a computer.
The aesthetics of a studio are just as important inspirationally as the artist and the equipment.
A big desk screams "music space" a computer screams "office"

[SafeandSound Mastering]

This especially caught my eye, looks superb, good looking desk, large and not expensive. Would likely not be a first choice for recording duties (probably reflected in the price) but for hybrid - multi output DAW into analogue mixer work could be very nice. EQ has a couple of bandwidth switches as well on the bells, a nice touch, good looking desk throughout, knobs, faders, meter bridge, solid side panels etc and A+H has some respect.

Like a giant MixWizard.

https://larkingslist.com/products/secon ... ath-gl4800



It always comes down to space, that is the limiting factor for the vast majority of people. I totally understand the lure though.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'm with the Elf and the vintage car analogy. Wonderful things in their day, but in most cases obsoleted now, and for good practical reasons.

[SafeandSound Mastering]

If I had space and time I would do it for the sheer fun for my own hobby music. 24 output interface and ride those faders, evening mood lighting, the works.

A little dreaming I guess.

I just edit this to add. That has very wide ranging adjustable shelves and a adjustable HPF, that is really something. The draw is strong, that would be fun to mix through. (I have zero to do with Larkins or that desk by the way other than wishing I owned it 30 years ago !)

It must be a middle age "second wind" thing.

[MOF]

I'm with the Elf and the vintage car analogy. Wonderful things in their day, but in most cases obsoleted now, and for good practical reasons

The large electricity bill, the need for air conditioning (and its electricity) plus acoustics (that large reflective surface with its comb filtering effect) and a maintenance department to keep it in fine fettle, all spring to mind.

[ceejay]

... over thirty years ago, I signed off on a $400,000 SSL4000 for the main television entertainment studio at ABC Sydney ; twenty years ago I saw that same desk in ABC Adelaide where it has been used since for things like the orchestral recording for the remake of the movie "Storm Boy" ... last year, for my home studio, I bought an SSL2, a USB interface made by the same company that has a "4K" button that claims to perfectly emulate the sound of the 4000, for $275! ain't technology wunnerful ...

[VTypeV4]

https://flic.kr/p/2qb6CZx

My lovely old ML5000 - 48 in reasonably regular use. It looks great, sounds lovely and is a breeze to use.

[Arpangel]

Like a giant MixWizard.

That’s made for me then.

[Sam Spoons]

This especially caught my eye, looks superb, good looking desk, large and not expensive. Would likely not be a first choice for recording duties (probably reflected in the price) but for hybrid - multi output DAW into analogue mixer work could be very nice. EQ has a couple of bandwidth switches as well on the bells, a nice touch, good looking desk throughout, knobs, faders, meter bridge, solid side panels etc and A+H has some respect.

Like a giant MixWizard.

https://larkingslist.com/products/secon ... ath-gl4800



It always comes down to space, that is the limiting factor for the vast majority of people. I totally understand the lure though.

My last analogue studio desk was a GL2400 (bought off the boss after my Soundcraft Live died), lovely sounding desk, I recorded onto a Mackie SDR24/96 and found it really easy to get a good sound. Don't misunderstand me I love the X32 and Reaper but I was well within my comfort zone with the A&H (having used it live many times) and it seemed to forgive my mixing errors where the X32 punishes any mistakes.

[James Perrett]

Looks like I could be doing a session to tape sometime in the next few weeks so I'll be using more of the facilities on the A&H Saber than I usually do. I'm just hoping that they don't want to do a mixdown to tape as well because most of my effects units need fixing for one reason or another...

[Drew Stephenson]

Never having used one, I'm less enamoured with having a large console as with having a studio big enough to use it.
Don't get me wrong, I like my little shed and have no illusions about how lucky I am to have it, but somewhere where you could record a whole band...

[Sam Spoons]

I have such a place though, TBF, the former is only really true if the band is a trio and none of them are over about 5' 8" tall...

[Drew Stephenson]

I could just about squeeze a trio in here but I'd probably have to take a couple of things out first...

[Philbo King]

I had a friend who didn't date women. I asked him why, and he said "They are much like elephants. Interesting to look at, fun to ride, but horribly expensive." I feel the same about large format consoles...

[Aled Hughes]

Here’s ours, half the size it used to be!



Amek Rembrandt - it was 56 channels and stretched all the way across to the patchbay on the right but we cut it down to 24 (well, removed the channel modules but kept the desk frame). It’s nice to have, and people like seeing it, but it’s only ever switched on if a project needs more than 8 simultaneous channels! (We have a 500-series rack for our ‘first’ eight channels)

It gives off quite a bit of heat, and the power supply is huge and very noisy (housed in a separate room)

We’ll probably keep it until it dies, as the room is big enough, and getting rid of it would be a major undertaking and require a lot of planning. The only real need for it now is if the 24-track MCI tape machine needs to be used.

It offers remarkable flexibility, but nothing that isn’t bettered these days with a DAW and modern interfaces. I do occasionally enjoy switching the preamp to the long fader and doing live fader rides on overdubs though!

[James Perrett]

It gives off quite a bit of heat, and the power supply is huge and very noisy (housed in a separate room)

I was surprised at just how much of my studio's power consumption was down to the mixing desk. Back in the days of incandescent bulbs it wouldn't have been seen as that much, as the studio lights took more. These days the lighting takes a much smaller proportion of power which leaves the desk as one of the more power hungry items in the studio.

I'm wondering whether there is some scope for redesigning the power supply to be more efficient? Small switching regulators are easy to find off the shelf but a larger one looks like it might be a custom design job if it is to be a reasonable price.

[VTypeV4]

My lovely old ML5000 - 48 in reasonably regular use. It looks great, sounds lovely and is a breeze to use.

ML 02r bstock 24 by VTypeV4, on Flickr

Actual picture this time.

[Nick Birkby]

I think one should be prepared to learn some electronic diy unless one buys a really well maintained desk and knows a good affordable tech...

I bought a 20 channel Soundcraft 600 from the late 80s and am still tinkering around/ procrastinating with it. Fortunately it was very cheap, been in storage for years..

[Arpangel]

I think one should be prepared to learn some electronic diy unless one buys a really well maintained desk and knows a good affordable tech...

Absolutely, that's why I haven’t gone down this road, unless, if you get something so cheap, then I don’t care if I mess it up, I'll just dive in and have a go.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

I'm wondering whether there is some scope for redesigning the power supply to be more efficient? Small switching regulators are easy to find off the shelf but a larger one looks like it might be a custom design job if it is to be a reasonable price.

That is a good point. I think most companies sold the exact same PSU regardless of desk configuration. As you say, it was not regarded as inefficient at the time. My Amek BC2 was only 8:4:2 but the PSU would've run any size of chassis as far as I know. It didn't get hot running this small frame.

Am with Elf and Hugh as regards desks though. Sold the Amek a long time ago, I don't miss it. It was nice to commit to a sound with the onboard eq and compression but plugins are far better now than they were 20 years ago when I had the desk.

[SafeandSound Mastering]

Nice photos, the A+H and Amek, I always knew desks took substantial power as it was mentioned early in training that "you could hear the SSL sucking the power out of the wall."

Funny some of the quotes you recall. I do not think my old P7 was too bad energy wise, not a massive desk though. The P7 had a noise floor of -86dB or so which was pretty much what the Mackie 8 busses had. I just missed the full parametric band. Same guy who mentioned about SSL power said the 8 bus had got the basic signal path right.

Which I presume meant it was a little more clean sounding than the many consoles the UK had built. Looking back the UK built so many desks, were were not short of brands making consoles through the 80's/90's. I can think of Studiomaster, Soundtracs, Soundcraft, Allen and Heath, Trident, SSL / Neve of course, not sure if Amek was UK based.

I do vague recall the P7 having a slightly cloudy sound, slightly (I suppose warm some would say) but it did not really sound pristine to me. If I recall correctly it had 4560 opamps in it looking in from one end pnel removed with a torch. I think the 8 bus had 2068's

I know good work was done on the Mackie's, I always wish I had one but given what you can get nowadays that has cooled a little.

You cannot come away from the immense flexibility of DAW's.

[Tomás Mulcahy]

You cannot come away from the immense flexibility of DAW's.

100%. Except maybe for recording a full band (for the ease of monitor mixes but even then, not really) I feel a desk would just get in the way too much.

[SafeandSound Mastering]

It sprang to mind with the GL4800, given it has 48 channels (and assuming recording no more than 24 sources at a time) you might be able run 24 channels of tape returns through the other 24 channels on the right of the master section. (Would have to think it through carefully though see if it was possible. I do not see why not though, just like using a split console, like DDA AMR - there we go another British mixer company.)

The EQ seemed especially powerful / impressive on that desk.

The DDA AMR looked a bit like an SSL from that classic "long desk" angle photography. Seems the 2 people behind DDA started Audient. Audient being another current British company still making rather lovely consoles, amongst other gear.