Re: mackie? vs. soundcraft...

[dtapia@unoco.edu (Douglas Tapia)]

>hello all,
>       sorry to jump in on a converstion, but in regard to the mackie vs
>soundcraft thing:  mackies are cheap, quiet and they have excellent 
>customer
>support.  i highly reccomend them for settings where size, reliability and
>money are concerns.  they should be commended for  great products.

True.  True.

>But, they
>just don't sound as good as your average soundcraft ( not the new plastic
>boards, either).

Sad, but also true.

>i have owned and used lots of mackie gear  and have no
>complaints other than that the mic pre's sound thin.

(oh come now, you're being very generous)

>period.  i dare you  to
>A/B them with any old soundcraft or MCI or API console.  sorry, but i 
>mostly
>produce records for a living and think we shouldn't confuse reliability,
>price and customer service (all very important) with plain good sound.  of
>course it is entirely subjective, but i've yet to hear otherwise from 
>anyone
>who has checked it out.


All good points.  My studio experience with the Mackie has been mostly
positive, though the preamps don't have NEARLY enough gain.  This is, in
part, how Mackie achives such stellar specs.  I've been working with a
studio equiped with a 32x8 w/ a 24 chanel expander, and for most
aplications, we have been bypassing the Mackie pres altogether, using the
board only for tape returns.  This means two racks full of Focusrite, Brent
Averil, Grace, Summit Audio, and Avalon front end.  So, in our application,
the Mackie has saved no space over other consoles, though the clients are
REALLY impressed by the front end.  For what it's worth. . .

Doug