Mackie 1642-VLZ4 Owners Manual - Page 15

Owner's Manual Level set (PFL) taps the channel signal before the fader. If you have a channel's fader set way below "U" (unity gain), solo won't know that and will send a unity gain signal to the control room, headphones, and meter display. That may result in a startling level boost at these outputs, depending on the p­ osition of the solo [46] level knob. In a nutshell, soloed channels are sent to the source [42] mix, that ultimately feeds your control room, headphones and meter display. Whenever solo is engaged, all source selections (main mix, 1-2, 3-4, and tape) are defeated, to allow the soloed ­channel to do just that - solo! 28. -20 (Solo) LED An LED that does two completely different things! This saves space, but requires some explanation. 30. Mute Engaging this switch provides the same results as turning the channel's fader all the way down: Any channel assignment to L-R, 1-2 or 3-4 will be interrupted. All the post aux sends will be silenced, as will the d­ irect out signals on channels 1 through 8, and the OL (mute) LED will glow. The pre aux sends, channel insert send, and solo (in level set (PFL) mode) will ­continue to function during mute. Depending on the audio content in a channel, engaging its mute switch may cause a slight popping sound. This is not a problem within the mixer, and it can be avoided: Simply engage the low cut [34] switch on each channel (unless its low frequency content is vitally important, such as a kick drum or bass guitar). Low cut eliminates subsonic debris, which causes the pop, and its effect is usually transparent. First, the "-20" part: Often referred to as "signal activity," this LED will flicker in time with the signal present in that channel. It's handy for confirming that a channel is indeed active, and may also lend a clue as to what the signal is. For instance, a kick drum will cause the LED to pulse in time with the drum, and a synth pad will cause it to glow a bit more steadily. Now for the "solo" part: When a channel's solo [27] switch is engaged, this LED will glow steadily. It will also be brighter than it would be as a -20 indicator. In conjunction with the rude solo light [47], you can find a rogue solo switch very quickly. 29. OL (Mute) LED Another LED that does two different things! First, the "OL" part: "OL" means overload, or clip. You don't want that to happen. Ever. Clipping can happen to any mixer - it's the point where the signal's voltage tries to exceed the supply voltages that power the circuitry. This OL LED will come on just before clipping, so if you see it, take immediate action: Perform the level-setting procedure. If that doesn't help, check for excessive use of EQ boost or fader gain. Like the -20 LED, it will flicker in time with that channel's signal. Now for the "mute" part. Assuming your levels are set correctly, the OL LED will never come on as a result of clipping. That's pretty boring. So, to liven things up, this LED will glow steadily when that channel's mute switch is engaged. Here is a quick reference to these LEDs: 31. Pan Pan adjusts the amount of channel signal sent to the left versus the right outputs. Pan determines the fate of the L/R assignment, subgroups 1-2 and 3-4, and the solo [27] (in AFL mode). With the pan knob hard left, the channel signal will feed the left main mix, subgroup 1, subgroup 3 and left (AFL) solo mode (assuming their assignment switches are engaged). With the knob hard right, the channel signal feeds the right main mix, subgroup 2, subgroup 4 and right (AFL) solo mode. With the pan knob set somewhere in-between left and right, the signal will be divided between the left and right buses. The pan knob behaves a little differently for the stereo channel strips. Since there is a left and right input on these channels, the pan knob controls the relative balance between the left and right sides, just like the balance control on your stereo system at home. Stereo Sources Use channels 9-16 to connect stereo sound sources. If you must use the mono channel strips (1-8) for stereo sources, follow this standard convention: Always plug the left signal into an "odd" channel (1, 3, 5, etc.) and the right signal into the adjacent "even" channel (2, 4, 6, etc.). Then pan the odd channel hard left and the even channel hard right. Name -20 (SOLO) OL (MUTE) Color green red Flickering signal present channel clipping Glowing channel soloed channel muted Owner's Manual 15