Recording - January 2010 - 34

& Phonic Helix by Mike Metlay where we bring you follow-up articles with application hints and upgrade news about gear already reviewed in Recording Board 24 Universal Board 24 Universal fits into a studio just like any other console would, and on the digital side it appears as a 16in/2-out interface, plain and simple. Feature recap If you don’t have the HB24 FireWire MkII review handy, let me remind you of the basics. The Helix Board 24 is a 19" rackmountable analog console with 16 full-featured input channels, six Aux sends, four stereo Aux returns, four Groups, reasonably flexible Solo capability and monitor routing choices, internal digital effects processing, and a 24/96 S/PDIF digital output. This pretty much covers the bases for any studio with up to 16 input signals (regardless of what they are) and several outboard effects processors. The 16 input channels are identical on the front panel. Each has a Gain pot, 75 Hz lowcut filter to kill mic rumble, 3-band semiparametric eq (12 kHz and 80 Hz shelving plus a sweepable mid, 100 Hz–8 kHz), levels for six Aux sends (1 and 2 switchable pre/post fader; 3 and 4 switchable per channel with 5 and 6, all post fader), pan pot, level control, group routing (1/2, 3/4, L/R), On button (the opposite of a Mute) with LED, Solo button with LED, and Signal Present LED. Each channel has an XLR mic input, balanced 1/4" TRS input, unbalanced 1/4" TRS insert, and on Channels 1–8, a Direct Out for an analog multitrack (still less useful than it might be, since it’s post fader). The Master section has the four Aux send level pots with individual Solo, the four stereo Aux returns (Return 3 includes the output of the digital effects processor), a level pot for the Control Room/Phones level, five mixable sources for the Control Room signal (including the FireWire/USB return), a stereo LED meter for the mains, and faders for the four Groups and the Main outs. 48V phantom power is global for all channels, and there’s a single 1/4" headphone output. I n my review of the Phonic Helix Board 24 FireWire MkII (December 2007), I noted that many old-school studios with lots of mics and inputs were blocked from entering the DAW age in a seamless manner because there wasn’t an easy way to turn all of that lovely analog signal into something a computer could absorb, without adding some interface boxes and a lot of cabling. There’s nothing wrong with rackmount multichannel interfaces; they just require a different way of working than an analog console does. Making the jump from one to the other isn’t trivial in terms of money spent or braincells cooked in re-learning how to do things as simple as, well tracking. So the idea of a device that lets you work oldschool and new-school at the same time has a lot of appeal. It’s interesting how in the two short years since I wrote that review, so much of what was groundbreaking in that FireWire-capable mixer has become relatively commonplace. The idea of a fully-featured analog mixing console with a multitrack computer interface built in (or grafted on) is now well established, and there are a fair number of competitors to Phonic’s offerings. So why was I so eager to get the Helix Board 24 back into my studio in its new Universal (FireWire + USB 2.0) format, and why did I find the review process so eminently satisfying? Because there are a lot of places where one can draw the line between “old school” and “new school” in a device like this, and Phonic’s line suited my working style very well. Like its predecessor, the Helix Board 24 Universal operates exactly like a traditional analog console because it is one. Phonic has provided users with a 16-input 4-group board with lots of worthwhile features, and then they seamlessly integrated FireWire and USB 2.0 inputs and outputs with only a few controls added to the front panel. Because of that, on the analog side of the fence, the Helix RECORDING JANUARY 2010 Rear panel connections include 1/4" TRS and XLR Main outs with inserts, 1/4" outputs for the digital effects, Control Room signal, and four Groups, RCA I/O for a 2-track recorder, two FireWire and one USB port with a switch to choose which is active, a coaxial S/PDIF output on RCA, and a separate Mono/Subwoofer output on 1/4" and XLR with insert that can take its signal from the Mains or Aux 4. Dual footswitch jacks allow bypass and tempo tap control of the internal effects. A hidden feature lies behind a screwdriver-accessible panel under the mixer: individual switches that allow each input channel’s feed to the computer to be pre or post eq/fader/filter. The rear panel can be rotated into two positions, one for rackmounting and the other for tabletop use.
Recording - January 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2010
