8-Bus PA Applications

8/13/2019 8-Bus PA Applications

1/4131Compact Mixer Reference Guide

APPLICATIONS: CHAPTER 18

8-Bus PA Applications

LEFT

RIGHT

MAINBALOUTPUTS

+28dBUMAXOUT

R

3

LINEIN

LINEIN

DIRECT

OUT

INSERT

MIC

LINE

EXTRA INPUTS!

Returns 1-24 can be usedextra line level inputswhen FLIP is in UP posiand MIX B to L/R MIX bu

is down

Stereo compressor

StageMonitors

Power Amplifiers

Digital Delay

Microphones

Keyboard or other line level input

DAT Recorder

Reverb 1

Reverb 2

Keyboard or other line level i

Keyboard or other line level in

PowerAmplifier

PA Cabinets

Headphones

EQ orother processor

EQ or Processor

Mono Compressor

Noise Gate

SUBM

ASTERINSERTS

PHANTOM

AUX

SEND

S

MAIN

INSERT

AUXRETURNS

C/R

OUT

2-TRACKINPUT

MAIN

MIX

EXTERNALINPUT

STUDIO

OUTPUT

MIX-B

OUTPUT

PHONES

TAPERETURNS1-8

TAPERETURNS9

-16

TAPERE

TURNS17-24

DIRECT

OUT

INSERT

MIC

LINE

LINEIN

DIRECT

OUT

INSERTBA

L/UNBAL

MIC

LINE

LINEIN

DIRECT

OUT

INSERTBA

L/UNBAL

MIC

LINE


2/4132 Compact Mixer Reference Guide


The Mackie 8-Bus series was designed from the

ground up to funct ion both as a mult i t rack record ing

console and for sound reinforceme nt a ppl icat ions.

Wel l discuss re cording appl icat ions at the end of this

sect ion. In SR service, i t can han dle front-of-house,

monitors, both simultaneously, as well as providing

an indepe nde nt s tere o recording mix along with the

stand ard SR chores . In genera l , the MAIN L/R bus wil l

be u sed for th e h ouse m ix, and AUX Sends will be feed

monitors and effect processors as needed.

If youve had e xper ienc e with live soun d

mixing, you unde rstan d the importa nce of

the pre-fader solo funct ion to he ar wha ts

coming into a chan nel before you put i t into the m ix

for th e whole audien ce to he ar. The solos on the 8-Bus

are post-fader as it com es from th e fact ory. If youll

be usin g yours pr imar ily for live soun d app lications,

you might consider ma king the P FL Solo modificat ion

described in th e 8-Bus owners ma nua l .

SetupWe str ongly suggest t ha t you go over th e 8-Bus

controls in th e Anatomy sect ion of this book. There

are some u nique te rms an d funct ions that wel l be

discussing here. You shou ld be fam iliar with t hem .

Inputs

Normally inputs will be com ing from mics or direct

boxes, with a n occasional l ine-level source such as

a ke yboard or a gui tar proce ssor. To use th e Mic and

Line inpu ts , be sure the FLIP but ton a t the t op of the

chan nel s t r ip is in the MIC/LINE posi t ion ( up) . And

while youre t he re, dont forget to ad just t he TRIM,

fol lowing th e now famous Level-Set t ing P rocedu re.

Main Outputs

Refer to the hookup diagram on t he pre vious page.

The MAIN outputs are conne cted t o the front-of-

house speakers th rough the m ain power ampl ifiers .

You might ch oose to put a graphic equ al izer a nd/or

compre ssor/ limiter in-l ine betwee n the m ixer and the

am plifier for more contr ol over the h ouse mix.

Monitors

Any of th e AUX SENDs are suita ble for feeding th e

stage monitors . Juggle those outp uts betwee n your

monitor m ix and effects requirem ent s . Since the AUX

1 and AUX 2 output s are ba lanced and different ial ,

the yre bet ter sui ted for th e typical ly long cable ru n

between the h ouse mixing posi t ion and th e s tage

( where the power ampl ifiers a re usual ly loca ted) than

the oth er AUX outpu ts , which are imp edan ce

balanced , fine for connec t ing to balance d-inpu t uni ts

in the e ffects ra ck. For monitor mixing, switch t he

AUX 1-2 sen ds to pre -fade r by pressing th eir assoc i-

a ted PRE but t on .

Effects

Weve shown t wo reverbs a nd a digital delay, an d

ju st to p rove th a t t h e res n o fix ed re la t ion sh ip be -tween sends a nd re tur ns, weve fed Reverb 1 from

Sends 5 and re tur ned i ts outpu t to Aux Return 2. Re-

verb 2 gets i ts feed from Send 3 and i t retu rns th rough

Aux Retu rn 1.

The res a good reason for this, of cour se. Sen ds 3

and 5 share the sam e knob , wi th the SHIFT bu t ton

select ing whethe r th e ch ann el s ignal is sent to AUX

3 or AUX 5. The refore, th e th ird kn ob down always

cont ro ls the Send to a reverb , and t he SHIFT bu t ton

selects which of the two reverbs gets use d for that

chan nel . Set one uni t up for a short , bright reverbprogram an d the oth er for a longer, darke r program.

Use the SHIFT but ton t o select which reverb program

is appropriate for a par t icular cha nne ls source, and

the third SEND knob wil l control tha t ch ann els re-

verb level . No nee d to reme mber to turn on e knob for

the b r igh t reverb and ano ther for the dark reverb .

The d elay is fed from AUX Send 4 and i ts output is

retu rne d to a chan nel Line In put . This al lows EQ to

be app l ied t o the delayed s ignal , and a lso allows more

flexibi li ty in assignm ent of the delay output .

For exam ple, you could sen d vocals to the delay,and ass ign the de lay re tu rn ch annel to the sam e sub-

group a s the vocals. This way, the vocal de lay effect

will follow the subgrou p fade r.

Another rea son to re tu rn the de lay to a

chann el i s so tha t i t s ou tpu t cou ld be sen t

to one of the re verbs by tur ning up the

AUX 3/5 Send on th e delay chan nel . Send t he vocal to

the d elay ( tur n up i ts AUX 4 knob) , then ad d reverb

to the d elay channe l to get a p re-delay on the vocal

reverb. Send a keyboard ch ann el direct ly to the sam e

reverb for a non-delayed reverb effect .

You can crea te feedback ar ound th e

delay by tur ning up i ts own send ( AUX 4)

on i ts retu rn cha nne l . This is somet imes a

desirable effect ( for repea ted dec aying delays) , but

when the ga in around the feedback path becomes

great er t ha n u nity, i tll take off an d HOWL! Be very

careful when feeding a processor s ignal back on i tself .


3/4133Compact Mixer Reference Guide


Mo Inputs

You th ought th at 32 input s would be plenty when

you bought the con sole, but then the k eyboard

player won th e lot tery and showed up at th e gig with

three n ew samplers with e igh t separa te ou tpu t s

each , which of course you can t t r ust h im to m ix.

We sl ipped in some e xtra input s that you can use t o

cover your self nicely. Here a re a n um ber of possibili-

ties:

Mix-B

Connect those sampler ou tpu t s to the

TAPE RETURN inpu ts. Now you h ave 32

( or as many as your mixer has channe l s)

more inpu ts to th e s te reo mix. You can

adjust t hem using the MIX-B PAN and

LEVEL controls.

Assign MIX-B to th e L/R

MIX by pre ssing the but ton in t he MIX-B

MONITOR sect ion just a bove t he me ters .

The MIX B LEVEL kn ob above t he MIX

B ASSIGN but t on is the Master for this

extra m ix.

You ca n e ven ap ply EQ to the se MIX-B inp ut s

by spl it t ing the chan nel EQ. See page 40 for m ore

details.

AUX Returns

Unuse d AUX RETURNs can be u sed for add itional

line inpu ts. All AUX RETURNs can be rou te d to th eMAIN L/R mix, and in add ition, AUX 1 an d 2 ca n be

assigned to subgroups.

Submaster Inserts

In a pinch, you ca n u se th e SUB INSERT RETURNs

as extra l ine input s . Insert a plug to the first cl ick

only, or use a h omem ade cable with a TRS plug wired

as an u nbalanc ed conne ct ion with th e s ignal going to

the r ing ra ther than the t ip .

Buy Something Mackie

Expand your Mixer with t he Mackie 24E 24-chan -

nel Expan der Console. I t s no longer ma de, but ca n

be found on the used m arke t i f you look aroun d. I t

adds 24 more ful l input ch ann els . Bet te r yet , buy

several.

Making a Simultaneous Recording

Youre a ll set u p, rea dy to go, whe n t he ban ds

man ager comes up t o you with a DAT mach ine and

says, The produ cer wan ts us to send him a re cording

of ton ights gig, an d you s ay, OK, Ill pa tc h it in to

the house m ix, and he says, No, we nee d a se para te

rec ording m ix so we can get all th e stu ff youll have

turned down in the house because th i s band p lays

so LOUD. You roll your eyes an d go, You shou ld

real ly get a remote t ruc k, he rol ls his eyes and goes,

Heres the t ape. Make i t hap pen a nd we m ight h ire

you ne xt t ime.

Mix-B To The Rescue

Piece of cake . Use MIX-B! Just plug the s tereo

recorder inputs int o the MIX B OUTPUT jacks. Select

CHANNEL as the MIX-B inp ut by pressing all the

MIX-B SOURCE but tons d own. This sends a ll the

chan nel s ignals to th e MIX-B.

L/R Mix is still your hou se m ix, the AUX buses a re

for effects an d s tage monitor m ixes, and MIX-B pro-

vides an indep end ent m ix for the s te reo recording.

Mixing the Recording

Use th e MIX B LEVEL an d PAN cont rols for your

rec ording m ix. Youll probably want to lea ve th e

SPLIT EQ but tons in the norma l (u p) posi t ion. This

appl ies the ch ann el EQ to both the main L/R signal

an d t o MIX-B.

If you want to have indepe nde nt contr ol of the

recording and h ouse equ al izat ion, use the EQ SPLIT

button . This divides the ch ann el EQ into two sec-

tions, with the Hi and Low shelving sect ions going to

MIX B and the m iddle param etric sect ions rema iningin the m ain s ignal pa th .

Effects in the Recording

If you want to use effects in your re cording mix,

youl l nee d to retur n th em t hrough ch ann el Line In-

pu ts r ath er th an AUX RETURNs. The MIX B LEVEL

on those chann el s becomes the ef fec t re tu rn fo r the

rec ording m ix. Since MIX B SOURCE is pre-fader

( unless youve made the MIX-B Source modificat ion

shown in th e owner s ma nua l) , youl l have indepen -

den t control of the e ffect ret urn level in th e house,

monitor, and re cording mixes.

Monitoring the Recording Mix

Select MIX-B as the source for one of the Phone s

outpu t s . Wi th the recorder ou tpu t connected to

th e E XTERNAL INPUT jacks, pre ss th e E XTERNAL

Phones se lec t bu t ton to che ck the p layback .

+15OO

U

MIX-B

SOURCE

FLIPSW

CHANNEL

PAN

LEVEL

SPLIT EQ

HI/LOEQTOMIX-B

MONITOR

L R

ASSIGN TOL/R MIX

MIX-BLEVEL

+15OO

U


4/4134 Compact Mixer Reference Guide


Meters for Recording

I t s t ru e, there are n o met ers on t he MIX-B buses.

The u l t imate reference i s the m eters on the recorder.

If you ca nt see the recorder from where youre s i t -

t ing, the re are a c ouple of patch es to get mete ring of

the r ecord level :

Since youre not using th e CONTROL RM or

STUDIO outpu ts , you can u se the monitorsect ion for m eter ing. Simply engage the Mix-B

Switch ( only) in th e MONITOR SOURCE sec-

t ion to sen d MIX B to th e MAIN met ers .

If you have two free subma ster buses, patch

the MIX-B outpu ts into a pair of submaster

insert retu rns. Push the 1/4" plug only halfway

( to the firs t c li ck) in to the Inser t Jack . Se t the

subma ster faders to -6dB to compen sate for

the insert p oint gain difference. Now those two

subma ster me ters wil l display the MIX-B lev-

els . Feed th e re corder from t he SUBMASTER

OUTPUTS and you ha ve a copy of your r ecor d

level mete rs on the con sole.

If you have the opt ional met er bridge fit-

ted an d you have two extra inpu ts , patch

the outpu t of MIX-B into the ope n cha nne ls

( ei ther Line In or Tape In , depe nding on how

you have set t he global source switch on th e

me ter bridge) , and set the levels at u ni ty. You

can n ow feed th e recorder f rom the t wo chan-

ne ls DIRECT OUTPUTs an d wat ch t hose two

chan nel met ers to monitor the recording level .

Make sure al l the bus an d AUX assign switche s

and controls are off for the chan nels youre

using for MIX-B m onitorin g so you dont a c-

cidenta l ly assign your recording m ix back into

the house or monitor m ix. A bonus with th is

conne ct ion is that you can add a l i t t le overa l l

EQ or compression to the re cording via the

chann el inser t s .

You may want to keep the extra circui t ry out

of your re cordin g signal pat h. If so, just m ult

the MIX-B outpu ts to both your re corder a nd

to the patch point for me tering. Use a pa ir ofY-cables.

Making a Simultaneous Multitrack Recording

You can ma ke th is s imple or you can ma ke i t too

complicated. The s imple way is to patch each chan -

nel INSERT Output to i ts own t ra ck. That way, mix-

ing the m ult i t rack recording wil l be just l ike m ixing

the show. Insert a TS plug h alfway into t he INSERT

ja ck ( t o th e fir st click) t o ge t a cle an d ir ect ou t pu t

from each c han nel youre sen ding to the record er.

Since the DIRECT outpu ts come after

th e EQ and fad er, its really pre ferab le

to take th e recording s ignal from farth er

upstre am. Chance s are when you mix in the con trol

room, youll want differe nt E Q settings th an wh at you

were u sing for the house mix, and i t s difficul t to u n-

do equalization once its applied.

If youre a lread y using the INSERTs for

signal p rocessors , you ca n get creat ive

using Y-cables to split the signal at th e

INSERT Outpu t . You could in t heory pass th e ch an-

nel s ignal thr ough the re corder, retu rning i t to the

chan nel from t he recorder s outpu t , but t his is r isky.

If for some rea son the re corder goes bonkers mid-

show, you could lose th at ch ann el in the h ouse mix

unt i l you discover th e problem an d re-patch. In the

mea nt ime , the a udienc e, who doesnt care a hoot

about t he recording, wil l be s taring at you, and tha tsnot a good fee ling.

8-Bus PA Applications

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