About 18 months ago I purchased a mixing board.  I had been saving for a long time for this purchase.  I wanted a Mackie VLZ Pro.  I didn't get that.  The bonehead at Music-go-round convinced me that I needed the 24 channel, 8 bus british made Topaz mixer they had in the store.  A Soundtracs Topaz 24 x 8.  He sure was excited...

The reason I wanted the vlz was for the pre amps. Period.  They apparently are awesome.  I never found out.  Instead, I have a mixing board that, well, scares the shit out of me.

seriously, take a gander! -->
Is that not just rediculous?  In searching for a pic, I found a little interesting info about it.  It retailed for $6000 in 99 and the lighted meter was an extra $600.  Now, its going on eBay for $200.  Well, there's three days left on that auction and that unit has problems.  Besides that, this informationm came from an ebay-er and was in all caps.  So take it with a grain of salt.

Back to me, me, me.

Since I did not listen to myself and bought a board I do not understand, I have not recorded a damn thing in 18 months.

This thing is not intuitive.  I want to  plug in my guitar, record, plug in my mic, record, play back.  Fortunately, I found some good resources online and have started to research the world of mixing boards.  I was tempted to eat the loss and trade it in on a vlz pro.  Instead, I think I'll try to figure it out.  I learned alot about HTML scripting by learning advanced DOM manipulation with javascript.  I learned alot about changing the starter on a car by stuffing a corvette engine matched to a truck transmission into a 79 Monte Carlo (when I was 16 and full of spunk).

I will have to order a book.  I am sure aI can conquer this.  If someone has landed here by searching for Soundtracs Topaz 24 because they love this board and know all about it, please, let me know. send me an email.  Imagine how good you'd feel helping some poor fool record his dream album!

A couple of week ago, I began cleaning this monster.  I pulled half the knobs off and took a toothbrush dampened with citris fantastik (the best freaking cleaner, BTW) to it.  I carefully wiped exposed surfaces and soaked the knobs.  Then I let them dry for a week and put them back.  I will do the other half soon.  This really helped me get to know it and returns to my theory that, if its not working, take it apart. 

Here is the first helpful article I found: Mixing Board Basics.  It is merely one of many fantastic articles on recording technologies and techniques.  Check it out.

I'll add more as I find them if only in the hope that I might help some poor soul where I have gotten lost for a while.