Here is some more fodder for that opinion, posted at PSW by Ivan Beaver.Is it just me, or does Harman turn every company they buy from great to mediocre? Soundcraft, dbx, and AKG, are all cases in point.
Here is some more fodder for that opinion, posted at PSW by Ivan Beaver.
http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,164511.0.html
Great Googly Moogly... I have used everything in venues from MCI JH-600s to every kind of Yamadog out there. I +1 the Digico recommendation. It is getting really common... I am finding road engs are at least able to ramp up to the interface pretty quick.
We had a rider once that came through that said something like: "...we will tolerate any audio console in the venue, except for a Yamaha PM series anything." We were going to test them as we had an oooold Carvin 32ch FOH that we were going to deploy. We took the high road (that one time anyway) and left the Soundcraft in place. It sounded pretty good at the time...
I think we have a Peavey MK IV-24 somewhere near the bottom of the recycle heap....
Several year ago I was a stage hand on the build, show and out of a Rolling Stones tour stop. Their FOH mixerperson carried his own personal console, a Yamaha PM-4000. Good enough for stadium tours of the world's most famous rock band? Yep. Oh, the sub-mixer for the "B Stage" was either a Mackie or Allen-Heath analog board...
Most of the console snobs blame the "brand X" desk for their personal operational deficiencies, IMHO. What separates the good from bad consoles are noise floors, funky EQ responses, and how much headroom has been designed into the buses. Kind of like the Midas snobs who can't understand that blinking red lights usually warn of a problem and use the resulting distortion as a 'feature'. If you're Big Mick from Metallica that's okay, but not in theatre, folk/jazz/etc. I suspect most of the initial dissatisfaction with Yamaha's PM series was the result of folks who expected those mixers to respond like an XL200/250...
@Ancient Engineer Some of us remember the PM1000 when it first came out in a 16 channel format and was the hot new toy! Toodleoo!I agree! Purt-neer all reasonably professional consoles can be used well, if understood by the operator. I had a PM-1000 (crap I am ancient...) in use in a theater environment and it was more than up to the task with careful EQ. Some modern operators/engineers are not open to learning the differences between what they know and what they have been given. I used that PM-1000 in ways the MCI JH-600 could not ever be practically used. The proper tool for the job is the one that gets it done well...
@Ancient Engineer Stratford Festival Main Stage, Monday evening jazz series in the 1970's. The music administrator booked an A lister who sent a rider demanding we supply a brand new PM1000-16 in a factory sealed carton and a case of 24 Brador beers (from neighboring Quebec). They weren't planning on arriving until very close to doors. I had my Yamaha PM430, with added phantom, slaved into two inputs of my Yamaha M512 driving my standard concert speakers, via a stereo pair of Yamaha F1030 x-overs and a rack of BGW's powering four JBL 15's in a pair of rear loaded double scoops, a pair of wooden 40 x 140 degree 2" horns (2397's comes to mind) and an array of four 2305 slot radiators. House tuning was by Orban and limiting by DBX. I had the two mixers shoe-horned in to the landing of aisle 4, one of our short aisles. Aisle six would have been centre but fire egress prohibited the blocking of aisle six. By the time the talent and the mixer arrived, most of the house was in. The music administrator and myself met the talent and the mixer at the stage door. The administrator guided the talent to a dressing room and the first thing the mixer wanted to see was his sealed case of chilled Brador (Sp?) which I showed him in the crew room fridge and then we headed out to my mix location at the bottom of aisle four where I had pre-show playing and showed him his factory sealed PM1000-16 per his rider.@Ancient Engineer Some of us remember the PM1000 when it first came out in a 16 channel format and was the hot new toy that folks just HAD to have!
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
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