Mackie SR24•4 Owner's Manual page 7

SOUND
REINFORCEMENT: THE
FIVE-MINUTE MIXER
First, do the 60-Second
Exercise on the previous
page. This will assure you that your mixer works
and has no hum or buzz coming in on the wiring.
Now reset your stopwatch and begin.
1. Make sure all the faders and controls and
switches are still normalled. Basically, this
means all controls and faders off, all
switches up. Leave the SOLO master and
the PHONES/C-R LEVEL controls where
they were set in the 60-Second Exercise.
2. Connect the outputs of the RIGHT MAIN
MIX and the LEFT MAIN MIX to the inputs
of your main house amplifier;
— or —
if you have a monaural main house amplifier,
connect the MONO MAIN MIX output to
the amp.
3. Connect the speakers to the amplifier, turn
on the mixer and the amp and go listen to one
of the speakers. You should not hear buzz,
hum, a radio station or an ultimatum from
orbiting space aliens. If you do hear anything
more than a little pristine hiss or white noise,
you have a wiring or grounding problem.
Sorry; go directly to Appendices A–D. Do not
collect $200.
4. Now we need something to listen to while we
proceed. Here are two choices: the microphone
you plugged into input channel strip 1 for the
60-Second Exercise, or some source of music
like a cassette deck or a CD player.
Let's pretend you have a CD player: plug the
outputs of the CD player into the SR24•4
inputs labeled 23 and 24 (or 32•4 inputs 31
and 32). Put in a CD and press Play. Turn the
23–24 TRIM knob up until you see the green
"–20" LED flicker. You can listen to the CD in
your headphones and see the signal on the
main meters by pushing the channel SOLO
switch. OK? Now depress SOLO.
For the rest of this section, when we ask you to
turn up your sound source, or mute it or
something, you can use either the microphone
in your SR24•4's channel strip 1 or the CD or
cassette player in channel strip 23–24 (31–32
on the 32•4), whichever you've chosen. We
think you should use the tape or CD and that
you put on some music you really love and
which will always remind you of what a
positive experience you had on your first day
with your SR24•4. Meanwhile...
5. Push the SR24•4 channel strip fader that
has the CD input up to the "U" mark. Engage
the L/R button on the channel strip.
6. Now push up the MAIN MIX fader slowly.
Depending upon the gain of your house
amplifier, it could be really loud. You should
hear your source coming clearly through the
main house speakers. OK? Now pull down the
MAIN MIX fader.
7. Next, if you have stage monitors, connect the
input of your stage monitor amplifier to AUX
SEND 1 on the back of the SR24•4. Connect
the monitor speakers to the amplifier, turn the
amp on and listen for the dreaded hum or
buzz. If it's quiet and clean, move on. If not, it's
time for Appendices A–D.
8. Turn the AUX 1 control on the channel strip
to the "U" mark.
9. Now turn up the AUX SEND MASTER
control slowly. Depending upon the gain of
your monitor amplifier, it could be really loud.
You should hear your source coming clearly
through the stage monitor speakers. OK? Now
turn down AUX SEND MASTER 1.
If you want to use a second set of stage
monitors with a different monitor mix, repeat
the previous steps with the second system
using AUX SEND 2.
10. If you want to use an auxiliary effect such as
a reverb unit, patch AUX SEND 5 into the
input of the reverb. Connect the outputs of
the reverb to STEREO AUX RETURN 1
L and R.
11. Set AUX SEND MASTER 5 and STEREO
AUX RETURN 1 to "U" and then turn up the
source channel strip's AUX 5 until you hear
the amount of reverb you like.
12.Stop your stopwatch and note time, repeat
steps 1–11 until you break the 30-second
mark.
Making
Sound Come
Out Right
Now
5