Mackie SR244 / SR324 Owner's Manual - Page 19

the blend of the frequencies in the midrange, where most of the fundamental frequencies and most of the stronger harmonics lie. Be subtle with midrange EQ. A small boost or dip is often all you'll need; too much will completely change the sound. Of course, if what you want is to completely change the sound, go for it. Since the MID EQ on the SR24•4 is variable across a range of frequencies, you must decide which area you would like to adjust. Here's an idea: set the peak or dip to maximum (±15dB) and sweep the frequency knob across its range. What you will hear may not be pleasant, but it will often show you what tones you hate (so dip them) or love (so boost them, but perhaps not this much). Try combinations of EQ on different inputs. A small boost at the particular frequency on one instrument combined with a small dip in the same area on a second instrument can greatly help blend the mix (similar to volume adjustments). LOW EQ The LOW section [11] is a fixed 80Hz shelv- ing EQ with ±15dB of equalization available. It's a fine bass control, with the same range as the LO EQ in the Mackie 8•Bus console. +15 A low fre- +10 quency shelving +5 equalizer will 0 add or remove -5 bass in a -10 smooth, musi- -15 cal fashion. 20Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz 20kHz Good for work- ing on bass drum and bass guitar, fattening up (or thinning out) a piano or contouring an entire mix. LO CUT The LO CUT switch [12] inserts an 18dB/ octave low-cut (high-pass) filter with a cut-off frequency of 75Hz into the signal path. +15 A low-cut +10 filter is handy +5 to get rid of 0 room rumble, -5 traffic noise, -10 wind noise, -15 P-popping and 20Hz 100Hz 1kHz other un- 10kHz 20kHz wanted very-low-frequency sounds. It also saves amplifier power, which might be useful if you don't have a 100,000-watt quint-ampli- fied PA system. LO CUT can also be combined with LO EQ boosts to produce interesting bass curves, as shown above. It is highly recommended that this switch be engaged for closely held vocal micro- phones, especially in a live SR situation. It will minimize the bassy "proximity effect" of many cardioid microphones, and also reduce han- dling noise and breath noise. AUX SENDS The auxiliary (aux) sends tap off the channel signal to an aux send bus in order to route it to one or more auxiliary devices. Aux sends are generally used to provide mixes for stage monitors, headphone cueing duties, and for effects sends. Aux send settings do not directly affect the signal routed to the main and submix buses. (See Aux Returns.) The SR24•4 has six mono AUX Send controls (routed to six Aux Send buses) on every channel strip. NOTE: All of the SR24•4 AUX sends have a very wide range of gain. The first half of the control's rotation reaches from the off position to unity gain ("U"). This first half of the control's range corresponds to the full range of most non-Mackie mixers. The second half of the control's rotation provides you with even more gain, from unity to +15dB. For example, when you want a sound very "wet" (mostly reverb), this extra gain allows you to bring the channel fader down (and the AUX send way up) so that the sound is composed of predominantly reverb with just a touch of "dry" signal. Layout and Function 17