Recording - May 2021 - 28

Korg SoundLink MW-2408
Hybrid Digital/Analog Mixer
There are four faders for the subgroups, each with L/R and
PFL options. You also get FX return and L/R Main output faders
and a rotary fader and assignment switch for talkback level
and routing. There's a 12-step level meter with an LED that
indicates whether you're metering the L/R Main or PFL levels.
Finally, there's a 'Break' switch that mutes all the inputs at once.

Digits on digital

The digital side is dominated by a small LCD screen, an encoder
knob, and a small collection of buttons for data entry and navigation.
You can apply digital EQ, dynamics, and feedback suppression
individually to the main and aux 1 and 2 mixes. The digital FX section includes a variety of nice-sounding reverbs and delays. There's
also a useful collection of digital utilities. Along with a spectrum analyzer, you'll find sine wave, white and pink noise generators, and
slow and fast frequency sweep tools-all super useful for sussing
out a venue or for ringing out mains and monitors. Digital conversion is handled by Velvet Sound A/D-D/A converters.

No waiting for the bus

The MW-2408 is a joy to use. The mic preamps are super quiet,
neutral-sounding, and provide boatloads of headroom. With an
input impedance of 3k ohms and oodles of gain to play with,
you can get a clean pickup with a wide variety of microphones,
including dynamic and passive ribbon microphones.
The one-knob compressor on the mono channels works surprisingly well. Modest settings result in effective and unobtrusive
gain management. Higher settings achieve a more aggressive
but still pleasant effect. The ratio, attack, and release settings
have been well calculated; they worked well for me on a range
of vocals and strummed / fingerpicked acoustic guitars.
The analog EQ section is musical sounding-the fixed
frequencies are well chosen. This isn't surgical EQ, but it's
more than adequate for sculpting frequencies and doing gentle
sweetening. I've convinced myself that I hear a touch of the
'British sound' in the signal path-possibly influenced by my
knowledge of Peter Watts' tenure at Trident.

Sophisticated routing

For me, the routing is the star of the show. The MW-2408 is a
true 8-bus mixer offering tons of routing options for both live and
studio work. The four aux busses provide a ton of monitoring
functionality that again works equally well for live and studio
installations. The musician's headphone matrix is brilliant and
will be a real time saver in the studio.
The Peter Watts-inspired digital EQ and dynamics sound great
and make quick work of dialing in front of house and monitor
mixes. The mute groups and bus assignments help get things
organized for a multi-act performance or a sophisticated corporate presentation. Little touches like PFL and AFL monitoring
everywhere sweeten the deal.
The feedback suppressor gets a special mention. There's no setup
involved; you just turn it on. Once engaged, it dynamically monitors and applies appropriate notch filters to the selected outputs.
28 RECORDING May 2021

Live gigs have been tough to come by this year, but I did create
a quasi-live setup in my tracking room with multiple mics and
a pair of loud monitors. Switching the suppressor off and on
quickly revealed just how effective it is.

Studio and stage

While the MW-2408 has many digital features, it's not a digital
mixer or a multi-channel interface. Its USB connection to and from
your DAW is stereo only, and you'll need an additional multi-channel
interface to make full use of the eight busses. I paired the
MW-2408 with an 18X8 Focusrite interface for testing. I could
easily (and happily) do a modest-sized band recording with this
setup. It would make an excellent portable recording rig.
I can see both the MW-1608 and the MW-2408 being a very
attractive option for many use case scenarios. The built-in effects,
mute groups and monitoring flexibility would be most welcome in
a small to medium club, performance space or house of worship.
Everything you need in terms of mixing, routing, and processing
FOH sound is right there in a tidy, easy to use package. Its clean
sound, full-featured bus routing and monitoring capabilities make
it well suited for tracking projects in a studio too.

Summing it up

For anyone looking to step up their recording game by adding
a first mixer, the Korg SoundLink line would be a fine place to start.
The MW-1608 and MW-2408 package great-sounding preamps
and EQ, sophisticated routing found on high-end consoles, and
robust DSP, making them a tough combo to beat.
Bill Stunt (stunt@recordingmag.com) is a recording engineer,
producer, and recording musician living in Ottawa.
Price: MW-1608, $1299; MW-2408, $1499
More from: korg.com

http://www.korg.com

Recording - May 2021

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