Compact desktop line mixer?

[brucega]

Before Gary Richrath joined REO, he was in a band in Peoria and one of my house mates worked at the tv station where I worked and was their roady. They would practice at our house all the time. Those were some interesting times.

 

[MidnightArrakis]

Did you manage to record any live GratfulDead to cassette?

[Did you manage to record any live Grateful Dead to cassette?] -- I, myself personally, didn't record the YES concert. That show was actually recorded by the -- YES -- FOH mix engineer using their own equipment and he -- GAVE ME!!! -- the two complete cassette tapes of that show!!! He patched in a rack-mount TECHNICS RS-M85 MKII into the "Stereo Send" signal that was feeding the stereo-audio signal down to the PA amp-racks!!! So, this signal was the "Stereo Out" signal from his mixing console and AFTER all of the signal-processing equipment and then going out to the entire PA-system!!! MAN!!! You talk about one POWERFUL sound on tape!!! THIS IS IT!!!.....

A couple of weeks or so later, I took those YES cassettes and my own TECHNICS RS-M85 MKII cassette deck over to a 24-track studio I occasionally worked at and carefully transferred the 2 cassettes over to 3 - 10-1/2" reels of SCOTCH 207 tape. Instead of running the signal through a stereo compressor, I manually "rode the faders" in order to smooth out the audio from the PA mix. It became somewhat apparent (to me, at least) that after a few repeated listening's of this concert, that I could hear what were small changes in level in the PA were rather noticeable changes in the cassette.

So, I had made a whole list of careful notes marking the time-stamp and the amount of level change at each point. Then, as I played the cassette and was recording onto an AMPEX 440 deck, I was "riding the faders" and acting as a "human compressor". All-in-all.....the end result is absolutely stunning!!! Easily at least 5-times better audio quality than any of the recorded YES "LIVE" releases!!! And.....it was so cool for me to be sitting at the console in a 24-track studio while listening to YES in a recording studio environment. I'll never forget that memory!!! Here's the tape-deck:



I had absolutely no idea at that point-in-time that just a few years later, I would find myself working at "one of the largest concert sound-reinforcement companies in the world" (at that time) and would end up mechanically designing the actual "10,000-Watt Transportable Amplifier Racks" that YES would be using during their 1984 South American Tour!!! So.....that was also thrilling!!!

/

 

[studio1117]

I don't think anybody has mentioned this: https://www.ams-neve.com/outboard/88-series-range/8816-summing-mixer/. or it's deluxe sibling: https://www.ams-neve.com/consoles/small-format-consoles/neve-8424/

 

[darth fader]

[Did you manage to record any live Grateful Dead to cassette?] -- I, myself personally, didn't record the YES concert. That show was actually recorded by the -- YES -- FOH mix engineer using their own equipment and he -- GAVE ME!!! -- the two complete cassette tapes of that show!!! He patched in a rack-mount TECHNICS RS-M85 MKII into the "Stereo Send" signal that was feeding the stereo-audio signal down to the PA amp-racks!!! So, this signal was the "Stereo Out" signal from his mixing console and AFTER all of the signal-processing equipment and then going out to the entire PA-system!!! MAN!!! You talk about one POWERFUL sound on tape!!! THIS IS IT!!!.....

A couple of weeks or so later, I took those YES cassettes and my own TECHNICS RS-M85 MKII cassette deck over to a 24-track studio I occasionally worked at and carefully transferred the 2 cassettes over to 3 - 10-1/2" reels of SCOTCH 207 tape. Instead of running the signal through a stereo compressor, I manually "rode the faders" in order to smooth out the audio from the PA mix. It became somewhat apparent (to me, at least) that after a few repeated listening's of this concert, that I could hear what were small changes in level in the PA were rather noticeable changes in the cassette.

So, I had made a whole list of careful notes marking the time-stamp and the amount of level change at each point. Then, as I played the cassette and was recording onto an AMPEX 440 deck, I was "riding the faders" and acting as a "human compressor". All-in-all.....the end result is absolutely stunning!!! Easily at least 5-times better audio quality than any of the recorded YES "LIVE" releases!!! And.....it was so cool for me to be sitting at the console in a 24-track studio while listening to YES in a recording studio environment. I'll never forget that memory!!! Here's the tape-deck:

View attachment 143452

I had absolutely no idea at that point-in-time that just a few years later, I would find myself working at "one of the largest concert sound-reinforcement companies in the world" (at that time) and would end up mechanically designing the actual "10,000-Watt Transportable Amplifier Racks" that YES would be using during their 1984 South American Tour!!! So.....that was also thrilling!!!

/

Great story! Sounds like the profesion you chose combines quite a few interest of yours, always a good thing

 

[darth fader]

I don't think anybody has mentioned this: https://www.ams-neve.com/outboard/88-series-range/8816-summing-mixer/. or it's deluxe sibling: https://www.ams-neve.com/consoles/small-format-consoles/neve-8424/

I've been eyeing that for quite some time but the 8816 plus 8804 approaches 4 or 5 grand. It's what I would consider best of all worlds form factor and feature set wise that price for me is where I start looking for diy solutions tho