What do you guys use to write on your mixing boards?

[Snarl 12/8]

My new Ramsa DA7 seems to have these little plastic rectangles that seem designed to write directly on with something. Does anyone know what's safe to write with on there? Dry erase markers?

Barring that, does anyone have any creative "scribble strip" techniques, tools, supplies that they use?

Does anyone write anything beyond Kik, Snr, HiTom, Git1, Git2, etc., on their strips to good effect?

Just curious. I'm getting ready to bust out the masking tape, but I figure there's got to be a better way to go.

Thanks,

[joel hamilton]

Artist tape and sharpie.
The outboard gear gets labelled that way also.

I did make a custom strip made of dry erase board material for my old console, and that worked well, but Artists tape and sharpie is my favorite, and the most standard thing I encounter.

[Fritzkrieg]

Grease pencil(china marker). It wipes off of smooth plastic really good... that being said I have only used the grease pencil on a Neve VR and a couple of SSL's, space is small for writing so keep it simple.

[linus]

The other benefit of artist tape: If you are switching between mixes you can peal off the tape and stick it to the wall until you need it again to touch up that songs mix.

[decocco]

Artist tape and sharpies for me. I like the ability to move the tape around for different songs and mixes and such.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

One more vote for tape and a sharpie. The engineer's 2 most important tools (after your ears).

[dsw]

Try to avoid spray paint.

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Only problems with the dry erase strips are (A) the pens are all pieces of crap and (B) someone ALWAYS writes on them with a sharpie. Even if you don't keep sharpies in the studio someone will find one and screw the thing up. Tape's a little more expensive and perhaps a bit more wasteful but it works for me.

[roscoenyc]

tangental post.....

this stuff http://www.fahrneyspens.com/Item--i-83769 works in an amazing way.

[calaverasgrandes]

there were those magnets around for a while that would read Kick, Lead, Saxophone, Cowbell etc.
On my old ramsa it had small black oblong rectangles on each strip. When you ran the artist tape across those it made it easy to draw divisions between non-grouped tracks.
These days I use a qwerty keyboard and a mouse to label my mixer.

[Snarl 12/8]

These days I use a qwerty keyboard and a mouse to label my mixer.

Yeah, I tried to find a screen on my DA7 that would allow me to label my tracks that way, but I couldn't find it. Still, something physical on the surface would be cool. I'm still going to have to do that in my DAW.

[Judas Jetski]

3M makes a bright green tape for use in spray-painting cars. It's designed to come off without leaving residue. Sharpie really stands out on that bright green surface. I get it at the local car parts store. It's not the cheapest thing ever, but it suits my purposes. About $6 a roll, I think.

[cgarges]

there were those magnets around for a while that would read Kick, Lead, Saxophone, Cowbell etc.

I was gonna mention those. I worked in one studio that had some of them around, but I never found out where they came from. I'd love to have some of those to stick on outboard gear during tracking sessions. Anyone know where to get those things?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[vvv]

Hmmm, just don't stick 'em on any reels ...

[Snarl 12/8]

I dunno why, but even though I record to disk exclusively now, I still get scared at the idea of slinging magnets around my studio. I always think about where I'm going when I carry speakers around and set them down and stuff. Especially my EV12L's with the 15lb magnets. The idea of magnets on my mixer makes me cringe. Even though I know it's [probably] irrational.