Mackie 1642VLZ4 Musical Toy Instrument User Manual


 
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1642VLZ4
1642VLZ4
5. Direct Outs
Foundonlyonchannels1–8,thesebalanced1/4"
jacksdeliverthesignalfromtheveryendofthechannel
path;post-gain[3],post-EQ[32],post-lowcut[34],
post-fader[25],andpost-mute[30].Usethesefor
recording,makingthe1642VLZ4perfectforan8-track
studio.
Recording
Whenrecording,youusethersttwochannelsfor
yoursoundsources:vocalmics,drummics,keyboard/
synthoutputs,guitareffectsoutputs,thatsortofthing.
Fromthere,thechannelsmanipulatethesound,but
arenotassignedtotheoutputsection.Instead,they’re
patchedfromthechannel’sdirectout[5]jackstoany
ofyour8multitrackinputs.Thisallowsrecordingof
twotracksatatime.Byreconnectingthedirectouts
tothedifferenttapeinputs,youcanrecordtoallof
the8tracks.
Oncethetrackingiscompleted,theoutputsofthe
multitrackarethenpatchedtochannels3-12line[2]
inputsonthe1642VLZ4(multitrackout1tolineinput
3,2to4,3to5,etc.).Thesechannels(3–12)willbe
assignedtothemixer’soutputsection,deliveringthe
signalstotheirultimatedestination,whichmaybea
mixdown2-track,controlroomsystem,orheadphones.
Butlet’snotforgetthatthe1642VLZ4isa4-busmixer.
Thesebusesleadtothesubouts[8],andaredesigned
toaccomplishthetaskofgettingchannelstothe
multitrackwithoutusingthedirectoutputs.
Forexample,achannelisassignedtosubout1.
Subout1’soutputispatchedtomultitrackinput1.
Fromthere,themultitrackoutputgoestothemixer’s
channel3lineinput,aswejustdiscussed.
Double Busing
Howonearthdoyougetfourjackstofeedeight
tracks?Tofeedan8-trackdeckwithonlyfoursubouts,
simplyusefourY-cords:
• SubOut1feedstracks1and5
• SubOut2feedstracks2and6
• SubOut3feedstracks3and7
• SubOut4feedstracks4and8
Tracksinrecordmodewillacceptthesignal,and
tracksinsafemodewillignorethesignal.It’sthateasy.
Thismethodisexactlythesameasthe
double-busingfeaturefoundinothermixers.
Built-indouble-busingisnothingmorethan
Y-cordslivinginsidethemixerinsteadofhangingout
theback.Sonically,thereisnodifference.
Theadvantages:Youcanassignanychanneltoany
track,withoutrepatching.Youcanassignmultiplechan-
nelstoonetrackandcontroltheoveralllevelofthat
subgroup.Youcan’tbouncetrackswithoutthisfeature.
Byreturningtheoutputsoftheeffectsprocessorsto
13/14(EFXA)and15/16(EFXB),youcanchooseto
recordormonitorwitheffects.
Perhapsthebestrecordingmethodisacombination
ofbothapproaches:Usethesuboutstofeed
multichannelsubmixes(likeadrumkit)tosome
ofthetracks,andthedirectoutjackstofeedsingle-
channelsignals(likebassguitar)totheothertracks.
The point is that you never listen directly to the
sourcechannels.Youlistentothemonitorchannels
(3–12)andthey’relisteningtothemultitrackthatis
listeningtothesourcechannels.Themainadvantage
isthatyouwon’tbeforcedtoconstantlyrepatchyour
multitrack—justsetitupandforgetit.You’llalso
knowforcertainthatthesignalsareindeedgettingto
themultitrack,sinceyou’reconstantlylisteningtoit.
Anothermethodofinterfacingamultitrackiscalled
in-linemonitoringwhichrequiresadedicatedmixing
console.Eachofitschannelsisactuallytwochannels:
onecarryingthemic/linesoundsourceandtheother
carryingthemultitrackoutput.
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