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Falling Into Line

Article from Home & Studio Recording, March 1986

MTRs new 12:8:2 Series 2 in-line desk should solve a few cash flow problems for 8-track owners.


If you move up from 4- to 8-track, the cost of a suitable mixer increases dramatically. This new 12:8:2 model from MTR manages to retain all the essential features whilst retailing at around half the price of its more conventional competitors.


Usually when you buy something that costs far less than you would expect you lose out somewhere, so how have MTR managed to keep the cost of this unit down, and what are the compromises? Well if you look closely you will notice something missing; there are no group output controls visible on the front panel. What this desk offers you is twelve input channels which can be routed either to the main stereo output or to any of eight tape outputs but there are no group level controls at all and the monitor controls are incorporated into the last eight input channels, a feature borrowed from more sophisticated in-line desks. What this means in practice is that you can't control the level of a complete subgroup unless your recorder has input level controls but in all other respects, the operation is the same as a conventional desk when it comes to getting signals onto tape.

In physical terms, the mixer is durably built in a non-modular steel chassis with pine end cheeks, and all the controls are colour coded in a logical manner contrasting tastefully with the brown paintwork. Despite its strong construction, the mixer only measures 25 x 25 x 5 inches.

Before seeing how all this works out in practice I'll run through the input channel layout to see what we do and don't get for our money.

Input Channel



Each channel kicks off with a Mic/Line selector but the line inputs on the last eight channels are dedicated to tape returns and are labelled accordingly. This means that you only have four remaining line inputs for inputting signals. The Line inputs are all on ¼" unbalanced jacks but the Mic inputs are balanced and are in the form of XLR connectors which are wired pin two hot. Furthermore each channel has an insert point which is a stereo jack wired tip send, ring return. All these connectors are on the rear panel which leaves the control surface of the board tidy and uncluttered.

The Input Gain control offers a maximum of 57dB gain on the Mic input and 37dB on the line input which is fairly typical. Below this comes the EQ section which is a fixed 3-band design with centre detented controls offering a reasonable compromise between flexibility and cost. The Low section permits up to 18dB of cut or boost to be added at 80Hz and the Mid and High sections offer 15dB of cut or boost at 2kHz and 12kHz respectively.

One limitation imposed by cost restrictions is that there are only two sends, Aux 1 being switchable between pre-and post-fade and Aux 2 being dedicated post-fade. However, the inclusion of insert points means that you will nearly always be able to find some way of plumbing in all your effects at mixdown so this limitation is not too severe.

Channels 5 to 12 have an additional control which on closer inspection turns out to be a dual concentric Monitor control affecting both level and pan position and these act on the tape returns to set up a monitor mix for overdubbing. This is only active when those channel in puts are set to Mic. When they are switched to tape, the tape outputs are monitored as part of the stereo mix in the conventional way. This is a logical move as some mixers allow both the monitor mix and the tape returns to be fed into the master stereo output simultaneously and this can be a source of confusion.

The channel Pan controls are quite conventional in that they serve the dual purpose of panning sounds within a mix and also route the channel output to the left or right of the output buss pair selected by the Routing Switches and these are again centre detented.

There are six routing switches which may be used singly or in combination and these select Left/Right, the output group pairs 1,2 - 3,4 - 5,6 - 7,8 or PFL (pre-fade listen). This works in the usual manner in that when a PFL button is pushed, the signal present on that channel is routed to the monitor output to the exclusion of all others. This doesn't interfere in any way with the stereo output and so may be used during a mix for checking a particular channel or effect return. When a PFL button is down, a red LED lights up to acknowledge the fact.

As the mixer only has two meters, PPI (peak programme indicator) LEDs are fitted to all input channels which light 4dBs before clipping so that you will know instantly if one of your channels is in trouble. They are also useful for setting up the input gain control as you can increase the gain until the LED just flashes on the loudest peaks and than back it off a little.

Finally we have the channel fader which is a long travel carbon type having a smooth feel with a nicely reassuring amount of resistance.

Master Section



Because of the way in which this mixer is designed, this section is quite sparsely populated. The two unilluminated meters are located below the power switch and are very small moving coil devices about the same size as a special issue postage stamp. A 6-position rotary switch allows the meters to monitor either the stereo output or any one of the output buss pairs. Next to this is the phones level control which affects the level on the Phones Mix output on the front right hand edge of the mixer. There is a second phones output next to this which is fed from Aux 1 and this will normally be used to set up a monitor or foldback mix.

Though the mixer has two auxiliary send channels, each with master level controls there's only one return designated Aux 2 and this has Level, Pan and Routing Switches. If you want to return any more effects when mixing down, these must be fed through the line inputs on the first four channels.

There is an XLR socket for feeding a talkback mic to Aux 1 and this is activated by a non-latching push button mounted below the socket but there is no level control for this function which could be a problem.

Above the output faders is the monitor section which includes the PFL indicator LED, the Monitor Level master control and the Stereo/Mono button. Also present is the Mix/Playback button which allows the completed 2-track mix to be monitored without disturbing the mixer settings.

The rear panel of this section contains the Master, Monitor and Auxiliary outputs (and input) as well as provision for connecting the output of a two track recorder and all these are on unbalanced ¼" jacks.

The mixer comes with the VU meters calibrated to read 0VU for an output level of -10dBm but this is internally adjustable to match 0dBm or +4dBm systems.

In Use



The mixer is very straightforward to use and the only real limitations are the ones that you would expect from reading the specification, such as having only two auxiliary sends and having a fixed 3-band EQ. When you're routing several things to a single tape track it's a bit frustrating to be without a master level control, as you have to adjust all the relevant input channels in order to get the right level onto tape, but that isn't too much of a problem.

There are no channel muting buttons which I find almost indispensable on my desk, but you can use the Mic/Line switches (providing no mics are connected of course) to achieve the same end as these are very quiet in operation. With no signal present and the gain turned right up there's a barely audible click but this will be easily lost in a mix, especially if you get into the habit if switching on a drum beat.

Slightly more serious is the fact that any signal high enough to cause the PPI LEDs to light also causes a burst of noise to be injected onto the programme buss, even with the channel fader down. This is presumably because some of the return current for the LED is getting onto the signal earth so you must be careful to set the signal levels so that the LEDs never come on which in theory is how you should be working anyway.

Budget mixers often fall down in the noise department, especially when using microphones with a lot of gain set on the input channel. The quoted signal to noise ratio is 115dB referenced to 0dB (unweighted) which is nothing special, but in practice the performance in this respect is not at all bad. Plugging in an SM58 and cranking up the gain to the verge of feedback through the monitors revealed some audible hiss but not enough to become a problem unless you have a very quiet vocalist. This performance is typical of nearly all budget mixers and the most cost effective answer is to buy a couple of very low noise mic pre-amps such as the ones made by Tantek for those occasions where you need the extra quality.

The EQ frequencies seem to be well chosen for the majority of applications and the Low control works particularly well on drums. Obviously over use of the high control will bring up the noise level but used sensibly, the EQ section is fine. Again you can patch in a graphic or a parametric if you have a particularly tricky job to do.

Conclusions



It would appear that the designers of this mixer have set out to give the 8-track owner as much in the way of flexibility and quality as possible within a given price range and in this they have succeeded. Any criticisms of the mixer become insignificant when you consider the price and most shortcomings can be overcome by careful use or by patching in the odd external processor. If the designers were to ask me what they should include in their next model without it putting the price up too much, I would say channel mute buttons, slightly larger meters, a level control for the talkback mic and possibly another auxiliary send. Everything else I can live with in return for the low cost.

Like most of MTR's product range, this one gives the recording enthusiast excellent value and if you're struggling to make your budget stretch, I would suggest that you have a good look through the MTR catalogue.

The MTR 12:8:2 costs £510 and further details are available from: MTR, (Contact Details).


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Previous Article in this issue

A Better Mousetrap?

Next article in this issue

Analogue Equipment Design


Publisher: Home & Studio Recording - Music Maker Publications (UK), Future Publishing.

The current copyright owner/s of this content may differ from the originally published copyright notice.
More details on copyright ownership...

 

Home & Studio Recording - Mar 1986

Donated & scanned by: Mike Gorman

Gear in this article:

Mixer > MTR > 12:8:2 Mark II

Review by Paul White

Previous article in this issue:

> A Better Mousetrap?

Next article in this issue:

> Analogue Equipment Design


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