Pan; Constant Loudness; 3-Band Eq - Mackie 1202 VLZ Owner's Manual

else useful... like a separate stereo bus?" So
MUTE/ALT 3-4 really serves two functions —
muting (often used during a mixdown or live
show), and signal routing (for multitrack and
live work) where it acts as an extra stereo bus.
To use this as a MUTE switch, all you have to
do is not use the ALT 3-4 outputs. Then, when-
ever you assign a channel to these unused
outputs, you'll also be disconnecting it from the
MAIN MIX, effectively muting the channel.
To use this as an ALT 3-4 switch, all you
have to do is connect the ALT 3-4 outputs to
whatever destination you desire. Two popular
examples:
When doing multitrack recording, use the
ALT 3-4 outputs to feed your multitrack. With
most decks, you can mult the ALT 3-4 outputs,
using Y-cords or mults, to feed multiple tracks.
So, take ALT OUTPUT L and send it to tracks
1, 3, 5 and 7, and ALT OUTPUT R and send it
to tracks 2, 4, 6 and 8. Now, tracks that are in
Record or Input modes will hear the ALT 3-4
signals, and tracks in Playback or Safe modes
will ignore them.
When doing live sound or mixdown, it's often
handy to control the level of several channels
with one knob. That's called subgrouping. Sim-
ply assign these channels to the ALT 3-4 mix,
engage ALT 3-4 in the SOURCE matrix, and the
signals will appear at the CONTROL ROOM
and PHONES outputs. If you want the ALT 3-4
signals to go back into the MAIN MIX, engage
the ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX switch , and the
CONTROL ROOM/PHONES level control be-
comes the one knob to control the levels of all
channels assigned to ALT 3-4.
Another way to do the same thing is assign
the channels to the ALT 3-4 mix, then patch
out of the ALT OUTPUT L and R back into an
unused stereo channel (5–6, 7–8, 9–10 or
11–12). If that's your choice, don't ever engage
the MUTE/ALT 3-4 switch on that stereo chan-
nel, or you'll have every dog in the
neighborhood howling at your feedback loop.
Another benefit of the ALT 3-4 feature is
that it can act as a "SIP" (Solo-In-Place): just
engage a channel's MUTE/ALT 3-4 switch and
the ALT 3-4 switch in the SOURCE matrix
and you'll get that channel, all by itself, in the
CONTROL ROOM and PHONES.
MUTE/ALT 3-4 is one of those controls that
can bewilder newcomers, so take your time and
play around with it. Once you've got it down,
you'll probably think of a hundred uses for it!

PAN

PAN adjusts the amount of channel signal
sent to the left versus the right outputs. On
mono channels (ch. 1–4 or 5–12 with con-
nections to the L input only) these controls
act as pan pots. On stereo channels (5–12)
with stereo connections to L and R inputs, the
PAN knob works like the balance control on
your home stereo.
PAN determines the fate of the MAIN MIX
(1–2) and ALT 3-4 mix. With the PAN knob
hard left, the signal will feed either MAIN OUT
L (bus 1) or ALT OUTPUT L (bus 3), depending
on the position of the ALT 3-4 switch. With the
knob hard right, the signal feeds MAIN OUT R
(bus 2) or ALT OUTPUT R (bus 4).
CONSTANT
LOUDNESS ! ! !
The MS1202-VLZ's PAN
controls employ a design
called "Constant Loud-
ness." It has nothing to do with living next to
a freeway. As you turn the PAN knob from left
to right (thereby causing the sound to move
from the left to the center to the right), the
sound will appear to remain at the same
volume (or loudness).
If you have a channel panned hard left (or
right) and reading 0dB, it must dip down
about 4dB on the left (or right) when panned
center. To do otherwise (the way Brand X com-
pact mixers do) would make the sound appear
much louder when panned center.

3-BAND EQ

The MicroSeries 1202-VLZ
has 3-band equalization at
carefully selected points —
LOW shelving at 80Hz, MID peaking at 2.5kHz,
and HI shelving at 12kHz. "Shelving" means that
the circuitry boosts or cuts all frequencies past
the specified frequency. For example, rotating
the MS1202-VLZ's LOW EQ knob 15dB to the
right boosts bass starting at 80Hz and continu-
ing down to the lowest note you never heard.
"Peaking" means that certain frequencies form a
"hill" around the center frequency — 2.5kHz in
the case of the MID EQ.
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