I do not get out much for live shows, i do mainly 99.9 percent studio work. I had a chance to take in a festival in our home town loaded with all sources of music, i just happen to see a country band.....Chris Young (my son wanted to see), he is a up and coming RCA recording artist, however i did know my local friend that was running sound for the shows that go on thru out the weekend, i think we have Mothers Finest tonight, Alan the sound man does great work because i have had him do work for me before. He told me that we just went all Digital so i said to myself, i need to hear this at least for reference, so i did. Outside of a few things Alan was doing, i did not agree to using a beta 52 on a kick and a sm58 on a guitar amp. This is a counrty band !! Well as i heard the entire concert, here are the results. The low end was tight and smouth so that was great, the problem was the program / mix had NO Grrowl or bite to the mid section and no real dymanics in the mix, (it was not compression) no matter what, even with a sm58 on the guitar it should of had some bite, i could tell the guitar had a great tone coming from the stage when the pa was off. I just found the concert sound to be bland. I think im still to much of a analog board guy. What are your thoughts on LIVE Digital boards that you have heard ??

I have never had a problem with them in live. Actually I love them. Used the big yamahas, digico, and innovason.

Tamas Dragon

im hoping it was just a eq -ing issue are something....I do not want to knock Live digital boards until i can hear some more input from them. Im a old school analog board guy, that works for me.

The bigger Yamahas and Innovason are good for live recording. But if you took a O2R and compare that with a small analog mixer like a venice I bet you will be always faster with the Venice and get a dynamic sound easier than with the small digital mixer.

If you do not need snapshots and a lot of possibilites in routing on a small footprint there is no real good reason for me to choose a small digital mixer.

Interestingly a lot of studio guys with DAW cry for analog summing.
In a live situation, where you hav no digital source but analog sources, there are good reasons to work and do the summing analog.

Have you ever worked in the sun with a digital mixer? Only the real pro desks like Innovason will be convenient. Take a Soundcraft Spirit Digital 328/324 and you´ll never no which layer you are on or which channel is on or off - soundwise it is good for the money.

I used a PM-5D on Gigantour, I really liked it a lot. I also used a Waves Maxx BCL for the D/A conversion. We a had a couple of outdoor venues where we had to put a tarp over the console. But it was great to be able to store different mixes. We did use an XL-200 as well but I like the ability to recall a mix in a multiband situation, as soundchecks were limited.
Noise gates and dynamics are must more convient at your finger tips rather than going to the rack and reaching down for them. I did not care for the reverb effects in the Digital board and I used a PCM - 80 instead.

It depends on the money and the needs. There are advantages for digital or analog boards. If you don´t need snapshots, why ADDA convert a good analog feed?