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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
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APPLICATIONS: CHAPTER 18
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 .
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APPLICATIONS: CHAPTER 18
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
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APPLICATIONS: CHAPTER 18
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.
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