Recording - January 2011 - 12

B Y M I K E M E T L AY

Recently PreSonus has taken an ambitious new approach to the problems of the modern computer-based studio. The Louisiana-based audio hardware company, long known for its signal processors and audio interfaces, now has software products as well—most notably the Studio One DAW (reviewed August 2010).

A complete hardware/software solution for live and studio mixing—and recording
While PreSonus hardware and software each play nicely with the competition, when combined they integrate into seamless and easy-to-configure systems. That’s a tempting prospect for recording musicians who are tired of constantly battling to get their disparate hardware and software elements to just cooperate. Nowhere has the vision of this integrated approach been more evident than in the StudioLive digital mixers. These mixers combine many of the hardware features of a full-on digital console— scene recall, built-in effects processing for everything from eq to dynamics and Auxbus effects—with fully bidirectional FireWire interfacing for integration with a computer. And the deal’s sweetened with a set of software applications that not only let you easily edit and save the mixer’s many parameter settings, but also turn the StudioLive into an I/O front end for a full DAW tracking/mixing environment or a shoot-and-forget multitrack audio recorder. The first StudioLive mixer was the 16.4.2, released in 2009; in this review we’re taking a look at the newer StudioLive 24.4.2 and its bundled software, which form a complete package for tracking and mixing, whether in the studio or at a live gig.
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RECORDING JANUARY 2011

PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2
The hardware The StudioLive 24.4.2 isn’t just a 24channel version of the 16.4.2; the added real estate on the front panel gives it a bit more in the way of user-interface options, and it has more powerful eq, more Aux busses, and some other added features under the hood. We don’t have room for a full feature comparison here; check the PreSonus website for the differences. The StudioLive 24.4.2 offers 24 inputs with PreSonus’s very clean and clear XMAX mic preamps, routed into a mixer architecture with four Subgroup outs, an extensive master routing/monitoring section, and a whopping twelve Aux buses, ten to external sends and two to internal stereo effects. Almost every parameter setting can be saved in scene memory and recalled at the push of a button. The front panel is very much organized on a “digital” model. There are relatively few knobs; instead you use buttons to select what the main display/control area, which includes 24 encoders and a multifunction 24-channel LED meter bridge, is controlling at any given moment. We’ll talk more about this central display and the DSP effects it represents, called the Fat Channel, below. The 100mm faders aren’t as butter-smooth to the touch as those on higher-end mixers, but have a nice long throw and sound immaculate. Each input has its own 48V phantom switch and FireWire button (for routing audio from FireWire back through the console). The gain pots for the mic preamps are in the analog domain, so their values can’t be stored with Scenes... usually not a problem if you’re not swapping inputs around in the midst of a session or concert. Each input also has its own Select, Mute, and Solo buttons, as do the four Subgroups. A large LCD in the Master Control section displays information about the built-in effects processors, scene data, system settings, and so on. The rear panel of the mixer is nicely featured, with each of the 24 inputs having an XLR mic input, a balanced 1/4" TRS line-level input, and a 1/4" TRS unbalanced insert. There are 1/4" balanced outputs for the first ten Aux sends, the four Subgroup outputs, four external Aux returns (two stereo pairs), control room outputs, and Mains. The Mains
Recording - January 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2011
