A little pre-marketing survery....

Just curious...how many inputs do you REALLY need? I found even with 16 running into DAW I was still a coulpe short on more than one occassion...

All comments/opinions welcome. Since we are interested in the WHY as well the WHAT of your answers, please expound as much as you like...

Thanks!

less then 16 most of the time, offten less the 8, but i always seem to wish for a few more.
so with that, i think i will have to choose ''B'' 16
it would be nice to hit 24, so as i gather more outboard gear i would have all then ins and outs i want.

I like eight for me. I do small projects. I never mic everything on a drum kit. It works.

I used to have extremely high track counts. Anymore, my track counts are like Jack White's track counts.

please ... not you too.

What, was that some sorta smack reference?

Bear

Way OT, but I think White Stripes is the stupidest act to come along in years...I put them right up there with the 1910 Fruitgum Company and the Archies....

I made the mistake of saying so on another forum, and received hate mail (literally) for weeks...

Either you get Jack White or you don't. I'm just thankful he got a good recording out of Loretta Lynn as it'd been a long, long time for her.

Lone Wolf does everything himself, therefore doesn't require many inputs for mixing. The most I've ever used for mixing was about 14, and it's typically about 8. Drums can take a lot of inputs.

I'm obsessed with avoiding noise, and each channel adds more noise. Just last night I was thinking of some producers who use stereo (i.e. 2 channels) for most of their inputs in a mix. It's supposed to sound great, but for me I would be concerned about the extra noise and stick to mono inputs. The same with sub-mixers, they add too much noise.

I have 6 mixers, and my favorite for small mixes is the original "Mackie" CR1604. The inserts (only 8 unfortunately) are post fader, which means the noise gates I always use create a very quiet mix.

Because I have so many tape recorders, I rely on my 24 channel "Tascam" M-224 for monitoring purposes only. It has too much inherent noise (hiss) but does a great job for monitoring. My "Hill" "Multimix" rack 16 channel mixer is used for recording my keyboards hooked up to 10 midi synth modules and 3 samplers.

I want to buy a small digital mixer with an ADAT interface, because all my mixes are on 16 and 20 bit ADAT. Plus I have some mixes on ADAT I want to re-mix, and to avoid noise I require a digital mixer.

At this time I don't do much multitrack recording because I'm focused on marketing my catalogue of songs, so the number of inputs I have is not an issue. For my daily recording session I use one input for my vocals, one input for my electric guitars, and two inputs for my acoustic instruments. Everything is recorded in my booth, including my sitar which rests on my left leg and is perfectly aligned with my Neumann mics. It's quite a stretch to reach the top frets, but I'm not going to sit on the floor and move mics around every day.

Interesting way of working LWS...couple of things that may assist in your habits.

1. More channels does not necessarily equate to more noise...more noisy channels will. but a well built, properly grounded console (analog or digital) will maintain a -60 or better noise floor...

2. There are some great deals out there now on Ramsa/Panasonic DA7 digtal mixers, great boards with an extremely versitile routing scheme. If the ADAT cards are still available, I think you can get hookups for up to 3 ADAT units...a simple bridge cable locks them all into time sync...

3. You mentioned having so many tape machines...how are you syncing them all together so they start/stop/record all in time?

I've looked for ways to lock out 5 R2R 2 and 4 track machines together, but it never worked well for me. I'd appreciate any tips. Thanks.

Noise in mixers is an "obsession" for me, meaning it's a pathological state. Of course a lot of famous hit recordings (including those by the Beatles) are noisy by modern standards. And I never forget that my own songs are usually dominated by a noisy electric guitar. It's the art of noise.

I have 5 ADATS only because I own over 800 SVHS tapes, and their function is for stereo mixes. When I mix I simultaneously record two 20 bit mixes at 48 K and two 16 bit mixes at 44.1 K (to convert to CDs without dithering or anything). When I first installed them I used sync cables, but I disconnected them because they were chasing and locking up to each other. I've recorded a few multi-track songs on ADAT, but only used one machine. One of my XT20s is not in my rack. It gets moved all over the place, and is usually by my studio computer hooked up to an RME card that substitutes for an Alesis AI-1 format converter I cannot obtain. The S/PDIF signal from the RME card goes into a stand alone CD recorder. I don't trust computers.

I have many analog tape recorders simply because it's my nature to own too much stuff. I've never locked tape recorders together, so I have no experience or suggestions. I used to lock my Korg S3 drum machine/sequencer with SMPTE to my tape recorders, but avoid it now. It's best to record everything, because after a few years a track of sequencing data is often just useless sequencing data. Over 20 of my multi-track songs have no drums, just tracks of meaningless sequencer data. Fortunately the stereo mixes have drums.

Up to 16 ADATs can be linked together, but who needs 128 tracks? I laughed a few years ago when I read about a pop star complaining that 40 tracks is not enough! I should buy a Yamaha 02V digital mixer with ADAT cards, but I'm trying to find something smaller.

Depends! I have 32 console inputs. 8 inputs into the 888 I/O to ProTools via the 8 busses. I actually need at least 32 console channels since I record instrumentation, real and midi. The midi devices are all stereo outputs and I have several. If forinstance drums are being recorded, at the very least I need 5 channels just for them. Of course the end result is 2 or 4 track stereo monitoring. At which time the console is simply that. Two channel monitoring.

This is what I'm getting at, Trian....I really prefer to work with enough inputs and outputs to track as many things as possible without overdubs...sounds like you use external modules (instead of VSTi???? How gauche!) MIDI'd together...

I still need a nap

Gauche! LOL! Yes I have mucho externals. Remember I told you that my system, although kick-ass, is still an older system. Mac 9600, 350 MHZ. The 9600 cannot handle VST. However, my G4 can with Ableton Live. I have plenty of outputs as well. Direct outs, 6 auxs, B mix (32 channel) outs. Outputs are never the problem with me. And as of now, 32 inputs is sufficient now that I've eliminated the Fairlight CMI III. It took up 16 inputs all by itself.

I agree with the larger number of inputs. But you know, it just makes you want to buy more things to fill them up.

It again depends on the situation that you are recording in. If I am using live drums, I may mic everything but not necessarily individually track everything. Forinstance, toms. For presence, I may mic every tom but record them all in a stereo configuration. So I may have 4 or 5 mics on them but the end result is 2 tracks. I prefer to have it all in the record session so that when it comes to the mix session, I have the option to add/eliminate or tweek an individual element. In other words, I'm a control freak.

are we talking channels or AD/DA ins and outs channels?
my vote and reply is based on AD/DA convertor channels

my head hurts

Source input channels. Console.

Remember back to the 'good old days' Pan, when you could have a 250,000,000,000 input board, but only 8-16 channels of tape to go to?

That kind of thing...

I get kind of annoyed that I can either run one to one channel assigns OR run the board in 8 buss mode...I would really much rather have a 16 buss console, but to get the quality I have in 16 buss, we are talking huge mega bucks....

okay, for some reason i what thinking AD/DA convertors
i am tracking now

It kinda depends on what kind of recording you're doing. A project studio probably doesn't need too many. Maybe 16-24 channel. However, for large ensembles, orchestras, stage bands, etc. I've gotten by with 32-36 nicely! It all depends.