Recording/mixing OTB

I am using the X-Desk along with a bunch of stuff. Not using le box for anything but the mix down and occasionally some stems. Tracking and mixing my own productions and picking up random mix clients along the way. I'm using the Alesis HD24 for my tracking so the computer stays off until I'm ready to record the mix. Still learning a lot as I go of course. Tons of fun though. My day job is computer orientated so I worked hard to remove the mouse from my music world.

Which small board are you thinking of?

I have no frigging idea what board I am thinking about

I read all Tony C's Delta stuff with interest and chat with wiz a bit too.

I like to mix in my daw to 8 aux and I have 6 ob pres, 5 comps and no eqs so started thinking about a 10 slot 500 series to get some eq's and a couple more comps and to use them for tracking and mix down.

Thinking bout capi bt50, electra, LTLO Chroma etc..

But also think hmm a board with good eq would be useful too ?

Depends on project prefer OTB, need to find a new home for the Status so I can put the DDA back together!

I sum through an APB board. With the board zeroed out, I can compare these two chains: Motu 16a > APB > 2 bus chain > monitors (16 sources summed OTB to 2 ch) vs the same 16 sources summed ITB > Svart > 2 bus chain > monitors. It's not a perfect A/B test, but I always prefer the sound of OTB. There is just something inherently more interesting about it to me. YMMV.

18R 24 plus 4 stereo missing some knobs ( has all working pots) and dynamics! Sitting here in KC!

yes, reason I ask which mixer you are looking at is because I went down this rabbit hole some years ago. started with a small ramsa, then a big ass soundcraft, then x-desk with 12 slots of 500 series eq/compression. It was a dream boat but damn it was expensive so after some testing I let go of most of the spendy 500 series in exchange for a few sleeper rack units. Now the only 500 series I have are the Neve 542s, 2 Moog Delays and 2 API Eqs. I do have two empty slots though. Probably grab some dbx 560s and call it. I couldn't find a small mixer that would do more good than bad for under 2k. other than a used x-desk. I gotta tell ya, I love using this mixer and it sounds fantastic.

I am excited to see if and when Harrison makes their button-for-button fader controller for Mixbus. That could be a fun alternative to my current situation.

I have a 32 channel Soundcraft DC2020 inline console with flying faders - which I don't use at present - and onboard patchbay. It's a pretty decent chip-based console, was Soundcraft's top of the line in the mid 90's AFAIK. I don't generally use the mic pres, mainly use it for mixdown. Paid 6 grand for it. Main things I don't like are that it's semi-modular with channels in blocks of 8, which is a service PITA and that the onboard computer that controls moving faders, mutes, routing, and metering sometimes acts up a bit and needs rebooting.

I love me some Neotek Elite. Grew up on that board, pretty much. If I had the space, I'd be looking to install one here at home. Will probably never happen. I'm pretty happy with the Hybrid approach since my little place here at home is devoted to overdub/mix. I just HAVE to have at least some real electrical current flowing through real electrical circuits, though. Full ITB just never felt right to me.

In all honesty, I'm seriously curious to see how poorly the modern boards fare vs the classics. I mean in terms of summing, headroom per channel, sonics etc...I honestly rely on EQ during tracking and mixing to have a setup where I don't have that at my disposal in an analog sense. I don't even mix on my console most times, but I print the channels through it to get the EQ and transformer mojo. That's even if I tracked with the same board.

I'm still thinking about building my own summing device, but approaching things differently.

Thanks
-L.

All OTB here. The PC is only used for CD prep. The studio is pretty much the same as it was back in the 1980's except I use a HDR as a tape recorder. Music is done the old way too, play it again, Sam. I like organic music with real people playing real music in real time with real sweat, not programmed insect sounds. Editing is done in the next take like the way all the greats did.

The redesigned current feedback Soundcraft Delta sum amp offers a clarity and depth unmatched by any ITB sum solution. 30 MHz bandwidth, zero degrees of phase shift, 1.5 ppm IMD, -90 db stereo crosstalk at 10k hz, -130 dbu noise and a 2000V/us slew rate makes any analog mixer sound cloudy and any digital mixer sound thin and flat.

Stereo outboard also does better with that sum design, the Bricasti M7 fed analog retains better surround depth and separation than you get using the AES digital I/O ITB. All the other stuff is analog, Lexicon reverbs, a stack of comps, gates and EQ's and some odd balls. Some call me an oddball for this last century set up, but it sure worked good on those last century records.

Wow, sorry to hear of the hard time you're having right now. Hang in there - things will improve. 

Sorry for your loss... RIP

Wiz