This RadioShack Realistic mixing console was one of the first mixers that I used when I started DJing in high school in 1989. I just bought one today on FB marketplace for twenty bucks to use to play around with, as a backup mixer in my home studio, and as a nostalgic conversation piece. I loved the layout and styling and it was a solid mixer. I'd probably still have mine, but I lost my original gear in a tornado - and I got sucked into replacing it with a 19" rack mountable mixer with a few more bells and whistles.
This is the first Radio Shack realistic mixer that help me learn how to hot mix in the summer of 1983 this is one of the best mixes that I had ever came across to start learning how to mix and scratch
I worked a summer in the final fixing rooms for the Swedish Radio Corporation. The quality on the professional mixing tables were the same am on my "home mixing console". Turntables and tape recorders at that time.
Back in 1990 - I took the original crossfader knob and crazy glued it onto one of the phono/aux switches to make transforming easier with this unit and replaced the knob from the far right mic fader.
I have one of these also. Still working as well. I have a Realistic Lab-260 turntable plugged into mine and a cassette deck too. I'm able to listen to old cassettes and albums through my computer as well as digitizing my old stuff.
I also used to have one, together with 2 Realistic turntables & 3 Realistic cassette decks running through a Realistic tape control centre. I had my very own bedroom radio studio that my friends & I would present shows from. The happy childhood of a radio nerd !
I bought mine in 1990. They are built very well. Classy for Realistic to offer a mixer with a crossfader and extra channels at affordable price in the late 80s... made many great mix tapes with this.. but I usually gigged with a Numark console and then Rane.
I just bought the 4-channel mixer today at the local thrift store, which includes a wireless microphone unit and 2 mics for $10. No clue what I will even use it for. Lol.
Can't believe I've seen this. My first mixer bought in 1988 from Cloud Electronics (Sheffield UK). So cool to see one again (don't recall what happened to mine)
Just snagged one at the thrift shop, replaced an alesis sub mixer for my keyboards. Half of them are RCA output so it worked well. Have a synth with left and right 1/4” out though and hooking it into one of the mic inputs it is very very loud. I barely nudge it up when using it, any further and it maxes the vu. But overall the mixer works great and I didn’t hear any noise at all, it’s a nice upgrade from the alesis which was a bit noisy.
Don't you mean that you had to buy a transformer to bring the supply voltage down to 120V? I have a similar though simpler and possible earlier version of this. These vintage Realistic mixers certainly got the job done and if maintained well, can do a surprisingly clean job. I don't think they support balanced connections, not even for microphones, just grounding out the (-)inverted phase. I thought at the time, CERamic connection was a bit odd, for the 80s as that is more a 60s thing with inferior frequency range, by the 80s MM/MC were well established in the HiFi market with MC offering the highest fidelity, no enthusiast would bother with CER. I thought it odd that they didn't include a MC preamp in these, but I supposed it was aimed at a DJ market, so I guess it does makes sense to support the older CER tech over high end MC for that application.👍
mon nencien mixer de radio shack de beaux souvenir de mixage de mon studio vgm fm que jutilisais pour mixer et javais un micro mono aussie wow mais en 1990 a 2000 que javais cette promiere cosole aujourduis cest le nextech stereo mixer wow
The7thStranger I have this guitar recording on a cassette. However there is a nice recording I did in 1991, now released on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/80go0UqiSdw/видео.html
Thank you for this video it is super informative. do you know if this mixer will work with condenser microphones that require phantom power? I dont see a button for it and have tried researching a bit online but found nothing. I have an AT4041 that I would want to run through this to record but dont know if it will work.
If you buy a separate Phantom Power Supply you can use your AT4041. 35 years ago only professional mixer had phantom power. However this mixer is extremely good.
@@osopolarmovies Ah OK.. much thanks.. they are electret codenser.. but run off battery.. I came across talk in a thread about these a few years back.. someone who considered these the very best microphones for recording bright metallic and brittle sources such as gongs chimes and gamelans etc.. I had made a mental note then to trace some down.. but all evaporated out of mind. Thanks the reminder! 😊
@@gammakeraulophon I had a Sony WM-D6C cassette recorder (a bargain from Hong Kong) and a home made microphone amplifier without any audible noice. With this recorder and the microphones I made at least 50 musical live recordings. This is real Hi-Fi!
@@osopolarmovies Ok.. that's interesting.. can the Nakamichis run from the Sony plug in mic power? Ah.. ok.. sorry.. just realised you said you had an external preamp.. so you would have been going into the Sony Line In. I got very into David Lewiston's early field recordings of Indonesian Gamelan some while back.. very simple portable tape and mics setup. His recordings are not perfect.. they do have distortion.. especially the loud sections in the low end of frequency spectrum.. But I think they sound great.. the lo-fi adds something. Anyways.. much thanks the info..
I own this same console. but I cant seem to get anything to come out of the "tape out" ports. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding how to use them or if they're broken edit: i can only get sound to come out when nothing is connected to "main out"
I'm using it for band praktice in garage , i connect One Mic for vocals and bass guitar in input. Output is Amplifire for cd player wich is connected to guitar speakers. and it is working very good, i lik it. Only problem is that I do not have manual. Can you send me manual pdf if is it available? thanx
Nästan rätt, vi flyttade till Spanien och bytte nantionalitet. Jag satt en sommar i programkontrollerna för SR så självklart ville jag efter det ha en egen mixer.
The signal from the pick-up is extremely small and is competing with other noice in the air. The inner wires actually work like antennas. With the ground connected the inner cable is protected from the outside noice - Faraday’s cage. The best you can do is to connect/disconnect the ground and listen to the difference.
@@osopolarmovies very very interesting; thank you. i learned more from this than i intended to, which is more than i get from any youtube search experience. really, THANKS.
This RadioShack Realistic mixing console was one of the first mixers that I used when I started DJing in high school in 1989. I just bought one today on FB marketplace for twenty bucks to use to play around with, as a backup mixer in my home studio, and as a nostalgic conversation piece. I loved the layout and styling and it was a solid mixer. I'd probably still have mine, but I lost my original gear in a tornado - and I got sucked into replacing it with a 19" rack mountable mixer with a few more bells and whistles.
i still have that mixer in my cupboard bought it new cant say ive used it for 30yrs but I did use it
My first was the one with no crossfader. Was so happy when I got this one…..still have it
This is the first Radio Shack realistic mixer that help me learn how to hot mix in the summer of 1983 this is one of the best mixes that I had ever came across to start learning how to mix and scratch
My dad ran an FM station with one of those back in 1990-1991
I worked a summer in the final fixing rooms for the Swedish Radio Corporation. The quality on the professional mixing tables were the same am on my "home mixing console". Turntables and tape recorders at that time.
Back in 1990 - I took the original crossfader knob and crazy glued it onto one of the phono/aux switches to make transforming easier with this unit and replaced the knob from the far right mic fader.
I have one of these also. Still working as well. I have a Realistic Lab-260 turntable plugged into mine and a cassette deck too. I'm able to listen to old cassettes and albums through my computer as well as digitizing my old stuff.
I also used to have one, together with 2 Realistic turntables & 3 Realistic cassette decks running through a Realistic tape control centre. I had my very own bedroom radio studio that my friends & I would present shows from.
The happy childhood of a radio nerd !
Recorded so many songs and skits with this mixer
Just scored a brand new one on ebay! Thanks your video sold me.
Congratulation! 100% quality!
I bought mine in 1990. They are built very well. Classy for Realistic to offer a mixer with a crossfader and extra channels at affordable price in the late 80s... made many great mix tapes with this.. but I usually gigged with a Numark console and then Rane.
Very nice illustration of the sound mixer I liked the original Radio Shack adds you posted. I have the model below this one 23-1101A 👍👍💛
I just bought the 4-channel mixer today at the local thrift store, which includes a wireless microphone unit and 2 mics for $10. No clue what I will even use it for. Lol.
@@TangoCharlieAlpha build a home studio it's fun!
I gave mySTEREO MIXING CONSOLE to a friend who has a turntable. New amplifiers seldom have inputs for turntables.
Can't believe I've seen this. My first mixer bought in 1988 from Cloud Electronics (Sheffield UK). So cool to see one again (don't recall what happened to mine)
man, this brings back memories
Excellent video, thanks!
Thank You Sir
Just snagged one at the thrift shop, replaced an alesis sub mixer for my keyboards. Half of them are RCA output so it worked well. Have a synth with left and right 1/4” out though and hooking it into one of the mic inputs it is very very loud. I barely nudge it up when using it, any further and it maxes the vu. But overall the mixer works great and I didn’t hear any noise at all, it’s a nice upgrade from the alesis which was a bit noisy.
sounds about right.
my first crossfader.
Don't you mean that you had to buy a transformer to bring the supply voltage down to 120V?
I have a similar though simpler and possible earlier version of this. These vintage Realistic mixers certainly got the job done and if maintained well, can do a surprisingly clean job. I don't think they support balanced connections, not even for microphones, just grounding out the (-)inverted phase. I thought at the time, CERamic connection was a bit odd, for the 80s as that is more a 60s thing with inferior frequency range, by the 80s MM/MC were well established in the HiFi market with MC offering the highest fidelity, no enthusiast would bother with CER. I thought it odd that they didn't include a MC preamp in these, but I supposed it was aimed at a DJ market, so I guess it does makes sense to support the older CER tech over high end MC for that application.👍
With a soldering iron one can do anything
mon nencien mixer de radio shack de beaux souvenir de mixage de mon studio vgm fm que jutilisais pour mixer et javais un micro mono aussie wow mais en 1990 a 2000 que javais cette promiere cosole aujourduis cest le nextech stereo mixer wow
J'ai donné ma REALISTIC à un ami qui l'utilise comme amplificateur de gramophone (RIAA).
That little acoustic guitar sample is really catchy. Is that song available anywhere?
The7thStranger I have this guitar recording on a cassette. However there is a nice recording I did in 1991, now released on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/80go0UqiSdw/видео.html
Hi great video.. How do you stop.it cracking?... I tried to use this scratching..used the line in switch to Transformer scratch :)
Clean all the faders and switches with contact cleaner then oil the faders
Haha, exact same here
de-oxit or various other methods.
Thank you for this video it is super informative. do you know if this mixer will work with condenser microphones that require phantom power? I dont see a button for it and have tried researching a bit online but found nothing. I have an AT4041 that I would want to run through this to record but dont know if it will work.
If you buy a separate Phantom Power Supply you can use your AT4041. 35 years ago only professional mixer had phantom power. However this mixer is extremely good.
Do the two meters light up?
Yes
What year was this mixer actually released?
I feel that a synth woould blow this thing out. but it seems good enough for line levels... no color for you. colour does not exist.
Hi.. longtime posted I know.. but thanks for the vid.. and what are the microphones? Thanks!
The two Nakamichi CM-300 microphones you can see on my video.
@@osopolarmovies
Ah OK.. much thanks.. they are electret codenser.. but run off battery..
I came across talk in a thread about these a few years back.. someone who considered these the very best microphones for recording bright metallic and brittle sources such as gongs chimes and gamelans etc..
I had made a mental note then to trace some down.. but all evaporated out of mind.
Thanks the reminder!
😊
@@gammakeraulophon I had a Sony WM-D6C cassette recorder (a bargain from Hong Kong) and a home made microphone amplifier without any audible noice. With this recorder and the microphones I made at least 50 musical live recordings. This is real Hi-Fi!
@@osopolarmovies
Ok.. that's interesting.. can the Nakamichis run from the Sony plug in mic power?
Ah.. ok.. sorry.. just realised you said you had an external preamp.. so you would have been going into the Sony Line In.
I got very into David Lewiston's early field recordings of Indonesian Gamelan some while back.. very simple portable tape and mics setup. His recordings are not perfect.. they do have distortion.. especially the loud sections in the low end of frequency spectrum..
But I think they sound great.. the lo-fi adds something.
Anyways.. much thanks the info..
@@osopolarmovies why use home made microphone amplifier, cant you connect the mike directly to the mixers mike input?
I own this same console. but I cant seem to get anything to come out of the "tape out" ports. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding how to use them or if they're broken
edit: i can only get sound to come out when nothing is connected to "main out"
Check the MAIN OUT Jacks
I'm using it for band praktice in garage , i connect One Mic for vocals and bass guitar in input. Output is Amplifire for cd player wich is connected to guitar speakers.
and it is working very good, i lik it. Only problem is that I do not have manual. Can you send me manual pdf if is it available?
thanx
I can´t find it. However the manual is available in the end of this video. I tried to make a "live manual".
@@osopolarmovies i found it. thanx
So this has a phono preamp...magnetic and ceramic?
Mark Hill Any microphone. Some microphones need Fantom feed.
yes
magnetic
Du låter svensk. Har jag rätt?
Hur som helst, jag köpte precis en sådan här grunka så uppskattar din demonstration, tack.
Nästan rätt, vi flyttade till Spanien och bytte nantionalitet. Jag satt en sommar i programkontrollerna för SR så självklart ville jag efter det ha en egen mixer.
I'm having trouble connecting it to speaker I can't hear anything
@@bjornwahlsten9104 ):
How can this be used with for example a guitar?
connect background music in one input and the guitar in another, the mix
Ah I see! Thank you so much for the quick reply.
That music coming thru is quite dated actually much older than the unit itself great video otherwise
Yes, I made a some live recordnigs in 1983. Listen from 1:56! You can see one of the cassettes here: ruclips.net/video/JnPExqeuZxw/видео.html
Realistic=TANDY
grounded why? has this question been asked before? why's the record player gotta be grounded?
The signal from the pick-up is extremely small and is competing with other noice in the air. The inner wires actually work like antennas. With the ground connected the inner cable is protected from the outside noice - Faraday’s cage. The best you can do is to connect/disconnect the ground and listen to the difference.
@@osopolarmovies very very interesting; thank you. i learned more from this than i intended to, which is more than i get from any youtube search experience. really, THANKS.