Direct Out; Recording; Aux Send Outputs - Mackie 1642-VLZ Pro Owner's Manual

DIRECT OUT (on rear panel)
Found only on channels 1–8, these
deliver the signal from the very end of the
channel path; post-TRIM, post-EQ, post-LOW
CUT, post-fader and post-MUTE. You can use
these for recording, making the 1642-VLZ PRO
perfect for an 8-track studio.

RECORDING

When recording, you use the first two chan-
nels 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 as-
signed to the output section. Instead, they're
patched from the channel's DIRECT OUT jacks
to any of your 8 multitrack inputs. This allows
recording of two tracks at a time. By recon-
necting 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 inputs on the 1642-VLZ PRO (multi-
track out 1 to LINE input 3, 2 to 4, 3 to 5, etc.).
Aha! That's why it says "TRACK 1" next to chan-
nel 3's fader, "TRACK 2" next to channel 4, and
so forth. These channels (3–12) will be as-
signed to the mixer's output section, delivering
the signals to their ultimate destination, which
may be your mixdown 2-track, your control
room system, or your headphones.
But let's not forget that the 1642-VLZ PRO is
a 4-bus mixer. These buses lead to the SUB
OUTS
, and are designed to accomplish the
task of getting channels to the multitrack with-
out 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. (Hot tip: To feed an 8-
track deck with 4 sub outputs, the 1642-VLZ
PRO has double busing, which simply means
that bus 1 feeds SUB OUT 1 and SUB OUT 5,
bus 2 feeds SUB OUT 2 and SUB OUT 6, bus 3
feeds SUB OUT 3 and SUB OUT 7, and bus 4
feeds SUB OUT 4 and SUB OUT 8. Patch the 8
SUB OUTs to the inputs of the 8-track deck.
Tracks in record mode will accept the signal,
and tracks in safe mode will ignore the signal.)
12
The advantages: You can assign any channel
1 / " jacks
4
to any track, without repatching. You can as-
sign multiple channels to one track and control
the overall level of that subgroup
bounce tracks without this feature.
By returning the outputs of the effects pro-
cessors to 13/14 (EFX A) and 15/16 (EFX B),
you can choose to record or Monitor with ef-
fects.
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 sig-
nals (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 mul-
titrack 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 inline monitoring, and requires a mixing
console dedicated to that, like the Mackie
8•Bus. Each of its channels is actually two chan-
nels: one carrying the mic/line sound source and
the other carrying the multitrack output.

AUX SEND OUTPUTS

1
These / " jacks usually patch to the inputs
4
of your parallel effects devices
puts of your stage monitor amps. To learn how
signals are routed to these outputs, see the Aux
discussion on page 25.
. You can't
or to the in-