Analogue mixers

[steevio]

this is kind of what i meant;

just usable amounts of overdrive, not going into clipping.

this is 909 kick going through Soundcraft Ghost, with gradually more overdrive. (first kick is undriven)
http://www.mindtours.co.uk/backstagewavs/909ghost.mp3

you'll notice the sound becoming more dull as the 909 sinewave becomes more square and begins to eat up the attack. in a normal situation you would EQ to compensate,

personally i think the soundcraft opamps are not perfect for this, there is a very small sweet spot where the kick becomes fatter before it begins to lose its shape and distort. it doesnt give you much room for variation. however it works very well on other higher percussion.

[steevio]

if you can be bothered mate could you do it again with full decay, full attack, full tune on the 909. do say 8 samples and normalise them individually up to 0dB so you can hear a comparison between them clearly. (maybe leave a longer gap between each sample)

i'll do the same, no EQ, no comp,

it will be a good illustration of how different desks sound to each other.

wouldnt it be better everyone uses the same sample to overdrive? maybe the machines sound a bit different or?

yeah this is not an exact science by any means.

[Opuswerk]

you want me to redo them? with more subtle changes?

[steevio]

you want me to redo them? with more subtle changes?

its up to you bro.

it might be better if they are easier to access for people to compare.

[gowans]

okay heres mbase 11 through a soundcraft series 200 mixer gradually overdriving kick, bit of a rubbish test, didnt have midi setup on mbase, aint got ableton installed on the laptop so just pressed the play button as i was increasing the gain on the channel on mixer.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/2el4zi

dont have a preamp from my mixing desk to soundcard, using an echo audiofire 12 and it doesnt have preamps just line in's so i couldnt alter the level of the incoming signal, had to bring the faders down on the master on my mixing desk, because when it was set at unity and my gain was at unity on mbase channel, it smashed my ADC into the red even when the mixing desk master faders where knocked down to around -20db anyone using echo audiofire 12 and if so how are you recording into the computer from your mixing desk?

[lem]

Steevio, can you post a dry clip of 909 kicks?

we have got a good selection of pre-amps at work, including the toft, i could do a comparison too.

[steevio]

just use the first kick on my sample bro. thats dry un-EQed, uncompressed 909 with full decay, full attack, highest tune, you could use that as a default.

ok its only 320 mp3 but it should work.

if thats no good i can post a 24bitwav,

i'm a little busy right now to deal with it though geezers.

if anyone posts anything could you make it a playable file, because i live in the mountains with a rubbish web connection, downloading is a pain.

[eggnchips]

Hey guys,

I am just curious to know why the overdrive capabilities of a mixer are so important to you?
Of course I understand that every mixer has its own character when overdriven, but to someone such as me who is inexperienced with mixers,
buying a mixer solely for its character in overdrive mode can appear extreme.

Does it not make sense to buy a good over drive effect, or even design your own somehow and use it on a mixer send?
This would for sure make the whole concept more controllable, instead of hunting for that sweet spot.
Surely it would be better to use something that is designed to give you that sound.

Ok, I am a bit naive on the subject, but when I think of it, Í think of the guitar guys in the 50's and 60's overdring their amps purposely
to get that distorted sound.
These days guitarists don't buy an amps with overdriving it in mind. They buy instead the effect made to do that, as they don't want to destroy their precious new amps.
Shouldn't the same apply to us?