The mixer arrives

I went with a Behringer MX9000 desk mixer. It has 24 tracks of audio and they boast it can operate as a 48 track, but as I use it, I only get 24 real tracks of useful input. Your mileage may vary. I think it's a great machine and it sounds wonderful.

Foam, cables, and parts

more cables n' parts

An 8 channel TRS snake

These are the TRS audio snake cables. When you are wiring up this many tracks through multiple patch bays, and to multiple pieces of outboard gear and recording equipment, you want to keep things organized.

Lightpipe, gooseneck light, etc...

The lightpipe cable will connect the Behringer 8port unit to my ProTools machine. I do AD/DA conversion with the rack gear and run ADAT over the fiber to the ProTools card to give myself an extra 8 inputs. Handy when you want to mic up a drum set with a unique track for each piece of the kit. Makes editing easier .. which is a good thing if i'm drumming :)

More foam, a flight case

Uh, some construction progress

For future reference, make sure you get your gear out of the room you are working in. It will save you a TON of cleaning later, and prevent possible damage to your equipment.

quite the mess, although you can see the fireplace kinda in the back

foam installation progress

Auralex accoustic foam is wonderful to work with. Easy to put up with their adhesive, and does a good job without taking up a ton of space. These Lenrd bass traps are supposed to help deaden corners which are notorious with bass frequencies. You can see in the middle bottom a Feedback Destroyer. I got that to try and boost volume levels while jamming or practicing in the room. I am still out to lunch on if that will do what I hoped.

The foam is up!

Whether you use it to cut down on room flutter or whatever, you can't deny that accoustic treatments really make a studio look more like a studio :)

Mixer closeup

That is one heavy mixer. Although it's still not like the big beasts :)

Desk frame construction

I decided to build my own mixer desk so that I could match the slope of the surface to that of the mixer and set it in flush. Note the strategic use of my bass cab as a weight to hold down some drying plywood. I overbuilt this desk by a longshot opting for 2x10's for the horizontal frame boards but i'd rather it be a tank than drop my mixer on the floor. Plus I wanted to span the 12 foot room without having legs in the middle to bang my knees on.

more detail

more progress

In position, and clamping some surface material

By the way, a random orbital sander if you start rough and work to a finer grit will definitly give you a smooth surface. Make sure you don't rush the urethane coats either and sand/tack cloth in between coats. It's worth it when you are done.

Progress party :)

Desk installation

Another shot

Now see? Doesn't that look nice?