WTB: Micro mixer for Podcasting

[langleycello]

Greetings all,

I am presently at a career crossroads, and with my education background am considering diversifying from performance / teaching music with the added possibility of exploring podcasting with school kids. The idea came about after a chat with the station manager at a community radio station whilst on holiday. Tis all very embryonic at this stage but it may be something I could try should I take on sporadic CRT work.

I would be looking at the most simple set-up possible; one which would lend itself to portable operation. I have some bits and pieces to facilitate this but need to seek out one of those diminutive mixers with just a few channels. Maybe a Mackie or Yamaha or even an old Alesis but not a B*********. Having an aux send option would be an advantage so I could potentially use mix-minus with Skype. I would aim to use an iPad for SFX / playlist etc, so a stereo input would be good, and I would probably record on an existing portable PCM recorder and edit afterwards. Perhaps the main consideration is obtaining the best 'clean' gain I can for a low-end unit, as I would anticipate using some AKG D770 dynamic mics I have at hand. I also have a RNLA to use between the mixer and recorder.

I am open to any ideas or possibilities but don't wish to spend too much at this stage - even if someone had a superfluous mini mixer even with intermittent (yet manageable) problems, I could still get some feel for the medium before launching into something more comprehensive.

Many thanks for any consideration of my latest whim!

Regards,

Stephen