Phildo wrote:


You don't need a Neve for "a small home studio". It's pretty obvious from
the desk choices this guy gave that he is not in the market for something
like a Neve. It's a small home studio not a commercial house.

I'm very careful with people who use the term "small home studio." It's
usually followed shortly by "professional results."

You don't need
an expensive professional mixer at the level this guy is obviously at.

It's obvious to you and me, but is it obvious to him? What does he
really think he's going to get for $100? Like I said, it's a good
approach to learning and making recording that can be fun and pleasant
to listen to. Competent, too, after a while. But is he preapred to buy
something better next year? Or will he get frustrated and sell all his
gear? We don't know. I'd rather advise people on what's best and then
cut back from that based on what they're willing to not do.

most cases you do not need an expensive professional mixer at all given that
most of the audio will be done on a computer these days anyway.

The mixer is, in most cases, the way in and out of the computer. That
affects everything that you record, and everything that you do to that
recording based on what you hear. Now this cheap stuff isn't horrible,
but it is limited and he needs to understand that. He also should
understand that in this price range, it doesn't make a bit of
difference which one he chooses, so he might as well learn to make some
decisions himself. At this level, there's no reason not to buy the
cheapest, but it might be better to buy whatever he can get from a
local dealer even if it's not the chapest so he can start establishing
a business relationship.

A couple of
good preamps and mics to go with your DAW is about all you need for a lot of
applications.

Uh . . . have you forgotten about monitors, a montior amplifier, a
decent mixing room? Sure, that's all you need to "make tracks" but you
can't finish the job, and you can't be sure what you're doing. But you
can indeed impress some of your frineds with a simple rig. I don't
remember if it was in this thread, but I often suggest that people who
are looking for a cheap mixer for the wrong reasons (wrong reasons to
use a mixer, not wrong reasons to buy cheap) consider a mic preamp, a
patchbay, and a monitor controller instead.

I still think telling an obvious newbie to get a Neve for his "small home
studio" after he's said he's looking at Samson and Behringer level is
ludicrous.

I didn't tell him to get a Neve, I suggested that he really needed
something better. If he got a Neve, he'd be able to get his money out
of it. Actually, today there really aren't a lot of choices once you
get above the Behringer/Mackie/Alesis range. The new 8T and ATB
consoles from Trident and Toft respectively look good, but the Mackie
8-bus is sorely in need of a facelift, and Soundcraft isn't really
doing much with the Ghost any longer. Those are real multitrack
recording consoles that could make a good companion to a DAW if you
have the right attitude. And a little Behringer can be good training
for using a full sized console.

So, the point is that the user needs realistic expectations. Otherwise,
rather than assuming that he's going to be satisfied with what $100 can
buy, I choose to assume that he wants quality and let him tell me what
compromises he's comfortable with if he isn't preapared to spend what
it should cost to set up a decent studio.