Recording - September 2013 - 46

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Drawmer is a British company known for
its MXPro line of gates, compressors and
de-essers and its 1960s Series of mic preamps, equalizers and compressors, as well
as its boutique signature series of compressors—including one of the few multiband
hardware compressors on the market. The
MC2.1 is its first monitor controller.

Drawmer
MC2.1 Monitor Controller
A famed name takes on the established players in a new game
Controlling monitors
Monitor control used to be done from
the master section of a traditional recording console, typically involving power
amps driving the studio’s speakers.
Nowadays a monitor controller lives
between your sound card or D/A converter’s outputs and your monitor speakers,
which are usually of the active variety.
The monitor controller can be active or
passive, a simple device with a single volume knob and a single set of inputs and outputs, or a complex routing box that allows
multiple audio sources to be auditioned
through multiple speaker configurations with
built-in 5.1 handling, bass management,
and more. As per its “2.1” designation,
Drawmer’s new MC2.1 is a stereo model
that also handles a sub, with 3 source choices and 3 speaker destinations.
The Internet is rife with debates as to
whether an active or passive controller is
superior. Drawmer is quick to point out that
a good active design (like the MC2.1) is
sonically more consistent, allows for longer
cable runs, and is better at mono summing,
among other advantages.
The physical, the electrical
The unit measures roughly 81/2" across,
10" deep and 31/4" in height and weighs
51/2 lbs... or, according to our British
friends, 215 mm x 272 mm x 81 mm and
2.5 kg.
Its contoured body is dressed in a silky
looking and feeling brushed black finish
with white lettering. It demonstrates a typically Drawmer rock-solid build; the buttons,
jacks and knobs are of great quality, especially the large 11/2" volume pot which has
46

RECORDING September 2013

a great combination of glide and resistance.
As a desktop unit it rests on 4 rubber feet,
and the product manual offers advice for
permanently mounting it to your desktop.
There is currently no rackmounting option.
A few choice specs: The MC2.1 has a
Maximum Input Level of 21 dBu and a
Maximum Output Level of 27 dBu (before
clipping), yielding a Dynamic Range of 118
dB @ unity gain. Crosstalk is L/R @ 1 kHz >
85 dB / Adjacent Input > 95 dB. Total
Harmonic Distortion is 0.0014% (unity gain
0 dBu input), and the MC2.1 offers a 20
Hz–20 kHz (±0.2 dB) Frequency Response
and a 20 Hz–20 kHz (±2º) max Phase
Response. The unit can be internally switched
to operate at 115 Volts AC or 235 Volts AC.
The ins and outs
All inputs and outputs (except the headphone jacks) are located on the rear. The
three input pairs are labelled 1, 2, and Aux.

Input 1—a pair of standard XLR; input 2—a
pair of Neutrik Combo jacks with both XLR
and balanced 1/4" TRS inputs; Aux input—a
mini (3.5mm) stereo jack (for an iPod/iPhone
or other MP3 player) and a pair of unbalanced RCA jacks (for equipment like CD
players, tape decks and more).
The three sets of speaker outputs are
labelled A–B–C. All are standard matching
left and right XLR outputs, with the A section
also including a summed single, mono, fullrange XLR output. It can be used to feed a
subwoofer or on its own as a dedicated
mono output to a single speaker. If you do
choose the sub route, note that the MC2.1
does not offer any bass management, so
you should ideally use a subwoofer with its
own selectable crossover point or even an
external crossover box.
Also on the rear of the unit is a 1/4" talkback output that we will look at below, a
power socket and power switch.
Controls
The front of the unit is cleanly and logically laid out and starts on the left with a
pair of matching TRS headphone outputs,
each with its own separate volume control independent of the main volume
knob. I found them to be clean and deafeningly loud if turned up—which will vary
with the impedance of your headphones
but you should have plenty of level even
on high-impedance phones. The second
headphone output can be quite handy as
a send to a headphone amp.
On the far right of the front of the unit is
the large volume knob, and it feels great.
It is a paralleled custom quad potentiometer with +12 dB of gain.



Recording - September 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2013

Recording - September 2013
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
The History And Mystery Of Monitoring: A Chat With JBL’s Peter Chaikin
Better Sounds From Tight Spots
Do It Yourself: Fix Your Cables—Save Your Money!
Emotiva Pro Stealth 8 Monitors
MOTU Track16
Ashman Acoustics SOM50 Microphone
Sontronics Sonora 2
Stop Sound Leakage!
Drawmer MC2.1 Monitor Controller
Do It Yourself: Build Acoustic Treatment Right Into Your Walls!
From Shed To Studio
Sneak Previews: Apple Logic Pro X and Avid Pro Tools 11
Readers’ Tapes
Plug-In Outlet: FXpansion Bloom
Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 21: Equalization—Part 2
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - September 2013 - Intro
Recording - September 2013 - Recording - September 2013
Recording - September 2013 - Cover2
Recording - September 2013 - 1
Recording - September 2013 - 2
Recording - September 2013 - 3
Recording - September 2013 - Fade In
Recording - September 2013 - 5
Recording - September 2013 - Contents
Recording - September 2013 - 7
Recording - September 2013 - Talkback
Recording - September 2013 - 9
Recording - September 2013 - Fast Forward
Recording - September 2013 - 11
Recording - September 2013 - 12
Recording - September 2013 - 13
Recording - September 2013 - The History And Mystery Of Monitoring: A Chat With JBL’s Peter Chaikin
Recording - September 2013 - 15
Recording - September 2013 - 16
Recording - September 2013 - 17
Recording - September 2013 - 18
Recording - September 2013 - 19
Recording - September 2013 - 20
Recording - September 2013 - 21
Recording - September 2013 - Better Sounds From Tight Spots
Recording - September 2013 - 23
Recording - September 2013 - 24
Recording - September 2013 - 25
Recording - September 2013 - Do It Yourself: Fix Your Cables—Save Your Money!
Recording - September 2013 - 27
Recording - September 2013 - 28
Recording - September 2013 - 29
Recording - September 2013 - Emotiva Pro Stealth 8 Monitors
Recording - September 2013 - 31
Recording - September 2013 - 32
Recording - September 2013 - 33
Recording - September 2013 - MOTU Track16
Recording - September 2013 - 35
Recording - September 2013 - Ashman Acoustics SOM50 Microphone
Recording - September 2013 - 37
Recording - September 2013 - Sontronics Sonora 2
Recording - September 2013 - 39
Recording - September 2013 - Stop Sound Leakage!
Recording - September 2013 - 41
Recording - September 2013 - 42
Recording - September 2013 - 43
Recording - September 2013 - 44
Recording - September 2013 - 45
Recording - September 2013 - Drawmer MC2.1 Monitor Controller
Recording - September 2013 - 47
Recording - September 2013 - Do It Yourself: Build Acoustic Treatment Right Into Your Walls!
Recording - September 2013 - 49
Recording - September 2013 - From Shed To Studio
Recording - September 2013 - 51
Recording - September 2013 - Sneak Previews: Apple Logic Pro X and Avid Pro Tools 11
Recording - September 2013 - 53
Recording - September 2013 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - September 2013 - 55
Recording - September 2013 - 56
Recording - September 2013 - 57
Recording - September 2013 - 58
Recording - September 2013 - 59
Recording - September 2013 - Plug-In Outlet: FXpansion Bloom
Recording - September 2013 - 61
Recording - September 2013 - Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 21: Equalization—Part 2
Recording - September 2013 - 63
Recording - September 2013 - 64
Recording - September 2013 - Advertiser Index
Recording - September 2013 - 66
Recording - September 2013 - 67
Recording - September 2013 - 68
Recording - September 2013 - 69
Recording - September 2013 - 70
Recording - September 2013 - 71
Recording - September 2013 - Cover3
Recording - September 2013 - Cover4
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