Print PDF
Favorite
Email
In this instructable I am going to go through all the control features found on most mixers (mixing consoles, mixing desks, audio consoles, soundboards - they all refer to the same thing). I will start with the absolute basics:
What is a mixer?
A mixer, in its purest and simplest form, combines or meshes an array of inputs into a few controllable outputs (hence the name, MIXer). It is pretty much universal that mixers will have at least a volume control on the output. The vast majority will have volume or "level" controls on each input, or "channel." A great many still will have a variety of controls on each channel, from gains or trims to EQ and aux'es and buses and PFL's and more; don't worry though - I will go through each of these at least briefly.
When a new sound guy looks at a mixer for a large church, per se, he may feel overwhelmed by the oceans of knobs that may or may not be there. But here,I will explain what these knobs do, and you will actually find them to be overwhelmingly simple.
The first thing you need to know is that I will be dealing with moderate to large mixing desks and sound boards, with at least 10 channels (available inputs) or more. These are what you will see if you want to "run sound" for a church or venue or record music of bands, etc.
What is a mixer?
A mixer, in its purest and simplest form, combines or meshes an array of inputs into a few controllable outputs (hence the name, MIXer). It is pretty much universal that mixers will have at least a volume control on the output. The vast majority will have volume or "level" controls on each input, or "channel." A great many still will have a variety of controls on each channel, from gains or trims to EQ and aux'es and buses and PFL's and more; don't worry though - I will go through each of these at least briefly.
When a new sound guy looks at a mixer for a large church, per se, he may feel overwhelmed by the oceans of knobs that may or may not be there. But here,I will explain what these knobs do, and you will actually find them to be overwhelmingly simple.
The first thing you need to know is that I will be dealing with moderate to large mixing desks and sound boards, with at least 10 channels (available inputs) or more. These are what you will see if you want to "run sound" for a church or venue or record music of bands, etc.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Channels
The most important aspect of understanding mixers is understanding the channels. On almost all consoles, the channels are laid out in strips; the signal comes in physically through the back of the device, then passes through that channel's various controls from top to bottom, with the gain or trim at the top and the fader at the bottom. I will go through what each of these steps does in their own, well, steps.
Simply look at one of the black circle inputs (XLR's for microphones and snakes), then follow the column of knobs straight down. This is a channel strip.
Simply look at one of the black circle inputs (XLR's for microphones and snakes), then follow the column of knobs straight down. This is a channel strip.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
I would like a 3-input stereo line input mixer (simple and cheap as I can get away with) to combine an mp3 player, my laptop, and a white noise machine. Thanks, I appreciate any and all suggestions you may have.
http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/behringer-mx400-micromix-compact-line-mixer--34407
http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/behringer-xenyx-502-premium-mixer--31558
http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/behringer-xenyx-802-premium-mixer--31557
Take care,
Earl
So yeah, that desk should be fine! The only thing is that you'll be recording on just two tracks, so everything you record will have to be balanced correctly on recording to give a good sound output. You can kind of cheat with multitrack recording, my recording each track one at a time, and then layering them all together on the PC. This can also be done on Audacity.
Good luck!
I've never come across a piano with XLR. After reconsidering, yeah, a piano might be able to plug in directly. But we (my soundcrew) always use XLR because we don't have jack-jack cables that are over 50feet.
Only acoustic guitars with an element with XLR can be plugged directly in a mixer without a DI. (not very common, mostly only jack)
The Jack from a guitar gives a different impedance and voltage, and it will sound very crappy.
A DI is small pre amp converting it to XLR, using a 9Volt battery or the 48volt from the phantom.
Also, an electric guitar draws his current from the amplifier, and if you plug it in your mixer you might blow out some fuses.
I need some help and I'm hoping someone here can rescue me. I used to play on the circuit for a lot of years and owned all of the bands live sound equipment. When we finally pulled the plug, I stuck it all in a trailer and stored it. I recently was asked to join in with some guys who were just getting started and I offered to break out my PA system. The trouble is that we had a sound engineer back then and I had one hell of a time trying to set the damn thing up last weekend. I managed to get it to function, but it's definitely not set up correctly. I was hoping someone could analyze what I have and tell me what I'm doing wrong.
I have a 32-channel soundcraft, but opted to use my Mackie 1604vlz that was used to mix the drums. I thought it looked a little more user-friendly. I basically hooked things up as follows:
Went from main out on the back of the mixer to the inputs of an Ashley 2-channel crossover and from there to the back of one of my Crown 802 amps. I had tried to put a BBE twin 31 band eq in between the mixer and the crossover, but it didn't work out , so I removed it from the loop. I went out from the amps to a pair of dual 15" with horns and left the 18"s unplugged thinking that I just didn't need them for such small venue.
I went from aux 1 and 2 out to the input channels of a Lexicon MX400 to get some simple reverb and on aux 3 and 4, I went out to a Presonus studio preamp to get use of the compressor, de-esser and other effects for the vocal mics. I went from output on these racks back to aux return on the board. I mic'd an acoustic for the other guy with a SM57 and then a 58 for his vocal and used a 57 for myself.
I also ran a signal from the aux out to a dual 15-band eq and then to a crown 602 to power two stage monitors.
When I tried to push some sound to the mains, I started getting feedback that just seemed to take on a life of its own. It seemed to be coming from the proximity of the 57 and 58 combination and I couldn't get the db levels up very far at all on the board without uncontrollable feedback. I also noticed that I couldn't push the aux out signal gain without creating the same problem and it was as though the volume was being controlled by the auxes rather than the main outs.
I'm definitely not familiar enough with this mackie board to tell if I have it set up correctly or what the problem may be. If there's someone on the forum who can take a shot at getting me headed in the right direction, I'd be grateful. We're supposed to perform again this weekend and I'm all for canceling it unless I get my **** together in a real hurry. You'd think a guy who owned all this equipment and much more than what's mentioned here would know how to run it, but I'm a player and wouldn't even begin to hold myself out as knowing anything about sound reinforcement.
Any help, questions or dialogue would really be appreciated.
Russell
going to use it for teaching purposes.
But, i wish to ask if there are any guides or tutorials which detail the operation of a digital board, as this guide is focused on a analogue board.