Mackie LM-3204 Owner's Manual page 7

To make matters even easier, the crack Mackie
Detent Crew have put a little mechanical "pot-
hole" or detent at the Unity Gain point on every
rotary control. Adding detents is a precise, tedious
and largely thankless job, so think of those guys
every now and then as you're going about your
glamorous and exciting lives mixing and recording
and performing, while they work late into the
night in rainy Woodinville with their little bags of
punches and elf-sized ball-peen hammers.
THE LEDs
Above the Gain knob are two LED (light-emit-
ting diode) indicator lights to help you monitor
the signal levels within each input module.
–20 LED
The green LED is marked –20. It will light
whenever there is a signal level of –20dBu (at
1kHz) or above at the input jacks of that chan-
nel strip. In practice, this LED will flicker or
light almost constantly when there is activity in
that channel, and it basically serves as a conve-
nient indicator for you — a way of figuring out
who's singing now or what's plugged into where.
Whether it lights rarely or is on all the time
is not really important; it's just a porch light to
10 11 12
U U U
3 3 3
1 1 1
+15 O O +15 O O +15
STEREO STEREO STEREO
U U U
4 4 4
2 2 2
O +15 O O +15 O O +15
SHIFT MONO SHIFT MONO SHIFT MONO
UX AUX AUX
HI HI HI
U U U
12k 12k 12k
15 +15 –15 +15 –15 +15
U MID U MID U MID
2.5k 2.5k 2.5k
+12 –12 +12 –12 +12
U LO U LO U LO
80 80 80
+15 –15 +15 –15 +15
EQ EQ EQ
R L L R L L R
ALANCE BALANCE BALANCE
TE MUTE MUTE
3-4 ALT 3-4 ALT 3-4 ALT 3-4
LO SOLO SOLO
OL OL OL
ANNEL CHANNEL CHANNEL
-20 -20 -20
10 11 12
U U U
+30dB +30dB +30dB
O O O O
GAIN GAIN GAIN
13 14 15
U U U
3 3 3
1 1
O O +15 O O +15 O O +15
STEREO STEREO
U U U
4 4 4
2 2
O O +15 O O +15 O O +15
SHIFT MONO SHIFT MONO SHIFT
AUX AUX AUX
HI HI HI
U U U
12k 12k 12k
–15 +15 –15 +15 –15 +15
U MID U MID U MID
2.5k 2.5k 2.5k
–12 +12 –12 +12 –12 +12
U LO U LO U LO
80 80 80
–15 +15 –15 +15 –15 +15
EQ EQ EQ
L L R L L R L L R
BALANCE BALANCE BALANCE
MUTE MUTE MUTE
ALT 3-4 ALT 3-4
SOLO SOLO SOLO
OL OL OL
CHANNEL CHANNEL CHANNEL
-20 -20 -20
13 14 15
U U U
+30dB +30dB +30dB
O O O O O O
GAIN GAIN GAIN
show you somebody's home. We designed it to
be ultra-responsive, so, with a little practice,
you can probably tell what's on the channel (or
at least the difference between the kick drum
channel and a keyboard channel). However, it's
not the way to determine levels. There is a
much more accurate way to measure your in-
put strip levels: see the section on Setting
Levels in Solo further down the pike here.
source (one plug into the left MONO jack), the
–20 LED will reflect that signal. However, if you
have a stereo source with no signal happening
on the right side, the –20 LED will be as unre-
sponsive as a hybernating hippo on Sominex
OL LED
The red LED is marked OL, and that stands
for OverLoad. The channel strip OverLoad cir-
cuits constantly check at two critical points in
the input module: after the line input' s first gain
amplifier and after the EQ and gain circuits. If
either circuit is driven too hard (into overload),
16
U U
3
SOURCE
1
1
ALT 3-4
O O +15 O O +20
STEREO
U U
4
AUX RETURN
2 2
TO CONTROL
O O +15 +20
O O
ROOM ONLY
MONO SHIFT
LEVEL
AUX
STEREO AUX RETURNS
HI
U
12k
LM-3204 STEREO LINE MIXER
–15 +15
+ 22 CLIP
10
U MID
2.5k
7
4
–12 +12
2
0
U LO
80
2
4
7
–15 +15
EQ
10
20
30
–
40
L L R
BALANCE
MUTE
ALT 3-4 dB
10
5
SOLO
U
OL
5
10
CHANNEL
-20
16
15
20
U
30
40
O O
+30dB
O O
GAIN LEFT RIGHT CONTROL R M
Note: The –20 LED shows
signal activity on the right
side of each channel. If you
had a stereo source (two
cords, two plugs) or a mono
™
U
3
O O +20
U
4
O O +20
LEVEL
POWER
U
O O +20
SOLO
O O
LEVEL
PHONES
TAPE
MONITOR
dB
10
5
U
5
10
15
20
30
40
O O
LAYOUT
AND
FUNCTION
16
U
3
1
+15
O O
STEREO
U
4
2
+15
O O
MONO SHIFT
AUX
HI
U
12k
.
–15 +15
U
MID
2.5k
–12 +12
U LO
80
GAIN
–15 +15
EQ
L R
L
BALANCE
MUTE
ALT 3-4
SOLO
OL
CHANNEL
-20
16
U
+30dB
O O
GAIN
7