Mackie 24.8Bus Owner's Manual - Page 38

RECORDING reindeer bells with the snare signal. The Mackie 8•Bus consoles can't give you the infinite number of channels you dream of, but you can very easily double the number of inputs by using the MIX-B buses. If you are mixing off tape as we set it up a few pages ago, you have engaged the FLIP switch to put the tape returns into the main channel fader and EQ. The FLIP switch also switches the Line Input to the MIX-B circuitry, and that provides your extra inputs. You can get an AUX Send for the extras using the SOURCE switch in the AUX Send 3/4/5/6 area, and you can SPLIT the EQ if you need to. Check over in the MIX-B/MONITOR section above the Sub meters and you'll see the MIX-B TO L/R MIX ASSIGN button, which will bring all your MIX-B inputs back into the main mix. Voila! Twice as many inputs! Monitoring and Levels Check your speakers and amplifiers to be sure that they're balanced left-to-right and mounted symmetrically to your mixing position. A 2dB shift in monitor balance will produce a 2dB shift in the opposite direction in your mix. Also, check your speaker polarity (sometimes inaccurately called phase). This is a basic thing we all know about, but it's amazing the times we've found studio speakers (especially nearfield monitors, which are often plugged and unplugged regularly) connected with opposing polarity. You should train your ears to notice outof-polarity conditions instantly. It's easy to hear (to us it sounds like a combination of not hearing enough bass and feeling like our eyes are slightly crossed), and getting polarity right will save you much grief in mixing. Remember that you need to mix so that your music or program sounds good on anybody's system. Be sure you have some real-world monitor speakers in addition to the monitors you like so well, and check back and forth frequently. See Section 2 ("Studio Output"), for details on how to use two sets of control room monitors. Check at different monitoring levels, too. A mix that sounds great loud will not necessarily sound good at low volume. Listen at a barely audible level from time to time. You should still be able to hear the essential pieces of your mix. Also, check your stereo mixes in mono regularly during your mix. Much television and radio is still heard in mono, and your mix has to sound its best both ways. Take a hint from the film mixers and set your dialog or lead vocals to about 85dB/c at the mixing position. This is a moderate, normal volume; not quiet but definitely not thundering. If you have a sound pressure meter available you can take a measurement to get a feel for how loud 85dB is. If you don't, run down to Radio Shack and say: "I want #33-2050 or #32-2055. Here's $34.99 or $49.99 plus applicable taxes." Every set of self-respecting ears should own one. This monitoring volume will keep you honest, and keep your mixes balanced for playback. Sure, listen at very low levels, too, and crank it from time to time to remember why you're in this line of work, but stay at the moderate 85dB/c setting most of the time. You will save your hearing and also make better mixes. A Word About Automation There is an optional MIDI automated mixing capability that will be available for the Mackie 8•Bus Series Consoles, so we won't talk about automated mixing here. That's in the manual that comes with the automation components. For those of you without automation, there is hope. Billions and billions of great mixes have been done on non-automated consoles. Here are a few tips: • Use subgroups, discussed earlier. • "Mult" tracks that need drastic EQ or reverb changes to two channels, and alternate between them with the MUTE switches. (Multing means connecting one output to two or more inputs by simply paralleling the connections. Some patch bays have paralleled mult strips available. You can also make mult boxes or just use "Y" adapters. Note: Never mult two or more outputs into one input. That's what mixers are for. Only mult one output into two or more inputs. See Appendix A: Connections.) • Enlist several sets of hands. • And last, most terrifying, but most powerful and effective: edit between sections of your mix. It would be wise to make two passes of your mix before you chop up your only one. If you've been wildly editing mixes for years and years, you know what we're talking about. If not, learn to do it. Whether you do it digitally or you use a razor blade, you can fix that tiny detail in an otherwise perfect mix; you can mix a complicated track in sections rather than like a marathon; you can go from 200 instruments to a single whispered vocal and back again in a heartbeat; you can even fix a mix weeks later without losing the original magic-you just remix the one chorus that needs fixing and cut it in. 36