Pan; Constant Loudness; 3-Band Eq - Mackie 1402-VLZ PRO Owner's Manual

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
CTL ROOM/SUBMIX fader becomes the one
fader to control the levels of all channels as-
signed to ALT 3–4.
Another way to do the same thing is to as-
sign the channels to the ALT 3–4 mix, then
patch out of the ALT OUT LEFT and RIGHT
back into an unused stereo channel (7–8, 9–10
or 11–12 or 13–14). If that's your choice, don't
ever engage the MUTE/ALT 3–4 switch on that
stereo channel, 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 "AFL" (After Fader Listen):
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. 1–6 or 7–14 with connec-
tions to the LEFT input only) these controls act
as pan pots. On stereo channels (7–14) with
stereo connections to LEFT and RIGHT 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
LEFT (bus 1) or ALT LEFT (bus 3), depending
on the position of the ALT 3–4 switch. With the
knob hard right, the signal feeds MAIN RIGHT
(bus 2) or ALT RIGHT (bus 4). You'll soon dis-
cover that maybe we should've called this an
1404-VLZ 2 , since it really is a 4-bus mixer.
CONSTANT
LOUDNESS ! ! !
The 1402-VLZ PRO's PAN
controls employ a design
called "Constant Loudness."
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 1402-VLZ PRO 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
1402-VLZ PRO'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.
LOW EQ
This control gives you up to 15dB boost or
cut at 80Hz. The circuit is flat (no boost or
cut) at the center detent position.
This frequency represents the
punch in bass drums, bass guitar,
fat synth patches, and some really
serious male singers.
Used in conjunction with the
LOW CUT switch
, you can
boost the LOW EQ without inject-
ing a ton of subsonic debris into
the mix.
MID EQ
Short for "midrange," this knob
provides 12dB of boost or cut, cen-
tered at 2.5kHz, also flat at the
center detent. Midrange EQ is
often thought of as the most dy-
namic, because the frequencies
that define any particular sound
are almost always found in this
range. You can create many inter-
esting and useful EQ changes by
turning this knob down as well as
up.
HI EQ
This control gives you up to
15dB boost or cut at 12kHz, and it
is also flat at the detent. Use it to
add sizzle to cymbals, and an over-
all sense of transparency or edge
to keyboards, vocals, guitar and
bacon frying. Turn it down a little
to reduce sibilance, or to hide tape hiss.
+15
+10
+5
0
–5
–10
–15
20 100 1k 10k 20k
Hz Hz Hz Hz
Low EQ
+15
+10
+5
0
–5
–10
–15
20 100 1k 10k 20k
Hz Hz Hz Hz
Low EQ with Low Cut
+15
+10
+5
0
–5
–10
–15
20 100 1k 10k 20k
Hz Hz Hz Hz
Mid EQ
+15
+10
+5
0
–5
–10
–15
20 100 1k 10k 20k
Hz Hz Hz Hz
Hi EQ
19
Hz
Hz
Hz
Hz