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Manley Mastering Backbone Owner's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Manley Mastering Backbone

  • Page 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE FRONT PANEL and SIGNAL FLOW Input Selection Input/Output Level Trims Inserts 1-3 (SUM-DIFFERENCE processing) Inserts 4, 5 (swap!) Inserts 6-8 Mix/Fade Knob THE BACK PANEL THE GUTZ Top Board Bottom Board INTERNAL TRIMS SOME THOUGHTS FROM OUR LAB TROUBLESHOOTING SPECIFICATIONS WARRANTY...
  • Page 3 INTRODUCTION THANK YOU!… …for purchasing the Manley Laboratories Mastering Insert Switcher. This product is the culmination of many custom Manley mastering consoles and mastering processors. It all started back around 1990 when the only option for mastering houses was to commission custom pieces needed for their art. Sev- eral of the top mastering engineers approached us and requested audiophile grade consoles and special mastering versions of our compressors and EQs.

  • Page 4: The Front Panel

    THE FRONT PANEL A. Input selector switches: Choose which of the three inputs to run through the Backbone. This switch also determines what input comes out of the “SEL INPUT” XLR on the back panel. B. Left-Right Reverse: Allows you to swap left and right channels. Gains: When lit, bypasses all active electronics for the input and output gains.

  • Page 5: Input Selection

    SIGNAL FLOW The signal-flow through the console is simple enough to describe and mostly follows the front panel left-to-right layout. Three pairs of XLRs on the back panel are balanced line inputs associated with the client‘s source format. These could typically be a superb DAC (or two) and an analog tape machine. INPUT SELECTION Next come a pair of XLRs that are direct outputs of the chosen input. Typically these outputs would feed a pair of monitor control box inputs and are used for comparing the raw tracks that were brought in versus the effect of the mastering process. Mastering engineers may use this as a “confidence check”...
  • Page 6 Generally the INPUT and OUTPUT LEVELS are meant to correct for any losses or unintentional gains from the source machines or in any of the outboard processing gear. However, these controls really open a lot of possibilities in terms of driving gear hotter or softer especially when one considers combining that concept with setting up outboard gain settings away from a standard unity gain setting.
  • Page 7 INSERTS 4 & 5…SWAP! INSERT 4 and INSERT 5 are also special. You can reverse the order of these two using the but- ton below marked SWAP. With the button pushed, Insert 5 precedes Insert 4. Whatever processors you choose for these inserts, verify that with both units NOT bypassed and “flat” (e.g. zero compression), that there are no unwanted effects related to the patch order, including other processors potentially in the chain (especially Inserts 3 and 6 which are nearest 4 &...
  • Page 8 OUTPUT LEVEL SWITCHES Right after the FADER/MIX stage is the final active stage, which are the OUTPUT LEVEL switch- es. Like the INPUT LEVEL switches, you have 24 ½ dB steps filling a -5.5 dB to +6dB range. And this stage together with the INPUT LEVEL controls can be bypassed/engaged with the button marked GAINS. Now, it’s time for an... *IMPORTANT PARAGRAPH* Note that both the FADER/MIX and OUTPUT LEVEL controls precede INSERT 8. This way you can patch your final limiter in 8 and semi-permanently set thresholds and gains, and use the OUTPUT LEVEL controls as a very hand way to set how hard the signal is feeding the limiter and thusly how many dB it is typically limiting.

  • Page 9: The Back Panel

    THE BACK PANEL *Note: The panel shown is for the Sub-D connections option. For the other configuration, connec- tors F, G and H are replaced with a pair of 56-pin ELCO connectors. A. Power Switch: Where the IEC power cable is inserted, the fuse is placed, and the power is switched off and on.

  • Page 10: Back Panel

    BACK PANEL As previously described, you have 3 Input XLRs per side followed by an Output XLR that reflects the chosen input. These are factory set-up as AC coupled (the inputs are protected by capacitors, which may prevent some clicks or pops when switching), which implies the signal has to flow through capaci- tors. If these capacitors are unwanted, there are jumpers (no soldering required) to bypass them and provide DC coupled inputs (similar jumpers exist for the outputs). The diagram describing the jumper locations is on page ???.
  • Page 11 THE GUTZ GUTZ There is a 4-deck sandwich arrangement of printed circuit boards that make up the active electron- ics that process audio. Two long boards are so-called motherboards that hold 5 small PCBs each. There are separate motherboards for left and right, and the left is the top board, while the bottom takes care of the right.
  • Page 12 GUTZ cont’d: TOP WIRES...
  • Page 13 GUTZ cont’d: BOTTOM WIRES...
  • Page 14 INTERNAL TRIMS...
  • Page 15 SOME THOUGHTS FROM OUR LAB GEAR SEQUENCE Another interesting quality of much analog gear is the optimum sequence of gear. While there is some validity to ideas of “EQ before compression” or “EQ after compression”, the practical reality is trickier. For example, Box #1 may seem to sound best only if it drives into another box that does not have a transformer input –...
  • Page 16 “WIDTH” cont’d... So we’ve all heard some “big” sounds before that result from mid-side tweaks. But did you know this? Let’s say you increase the width by just 1 dB (which is pretty subtle). What begins with maybe 100 dB dB of separation between left and right diminishes quickly. Now a sound that was panned hard left will also be on the right side but out-of-phase and down about -20 dB.
  • Page 17 MORE ON THE MIX/FADE KNOB Traditionally, mastering engineers used a mix function when cross-fades between two analog tape machines were used to segue between songs. Now that is much easier done in the workstation. But in recent years, with the availability of convolution reverb programs and sizable libraries of impulse responses (IRs) on the internet, some mastering engineers are finding that a touch of convolution reverb helps gel dryer mixes.

  • Page 18: Mains Connections

    Note: This unit has been factory wired for your country. If you plan to take the unit to countries with a different mains voltage you will need to send the Backbone to Manley Labs for the correct wiring conversion - or use AC voltage converters.

  • Page 19: Warranty

    Factory original packaging can be ordered from Manley Labs. Customer will be charged for new factory original packaging if customer fails to ship product to Manley Labs in the original factory packag- ing. After repair, the product will then be returned to customer via prepaid, insured freight, method and carrier to be determined solely by Manley Laboratories.

  • Page 20: Warranty Registration

    WARRANTY REGISTRATION We ask, grovel and beg that you please fill out this registration form and send the bottom half to: MANLEY LABORATORIES REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT 13880 MAGNOLIA AVE. CHINO, CA 91710 USA OR you may FAX this form in to: +1 (909) 628-2482 OR you may fill in the online warranty registration form found in the Tech Support section of our website (www.manleylabs.com) OR you can be really diligent and register your warranty three times to see if we get confused! Registration entitles you to product support, full warranty benefits, and notice of product enhancements and upgrades, even though it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get them (just kidding!) You MUST complete and return the following to validate your warranty and registration.

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