Mackie Onyx 1220i Quick Start Guide - Page 8

Microphones Connect your microphones to the female XLR connectors on mono channels 1-4. The microphone preamps feature our Onyx design, with super high fidelity and headroom. Professional ribbon, dynamic, and condenser mics all sound excellent through these inputs. Microphone-level signals are passed through these splendid microphone preamplifiers to become line-level signals. 48V PHANTOM POWER Press the 48V phantom power switch if your microphones need it. Most modern professional condenser mics require 48V phantom power, which lets the mixer send low-current DC voltage to the mic's electronics through the same wires that carry audio. Never plug single-ended (unbalanced) microphones, or ribbon mics into the mic input jacks if phantom power is on. Do not plug instrument outputs into the mic XLR input jacks with phantom power on, unless you are certain it is safe to do so. LOW CUT Mono channels 1-4 each have a low-cut switch (often referred to as a high-pass filter) that cuts bass frequencies below 75 Hz. This will reduce the thumps and bangs due to stage noise and rumble, and mic handling. We recommend that you use low-cut on every microphone application except kick drum, bass guitar, or bassy synth patches. INSERTS Channels 1-4 have insert jacks on the rear panel. These allow you to send the mic and line signals out to an external device, and back in again on the same connector. For example, vocals benefit from having an external vocal compressor. These compress the level of the signals when they reach a certain threshold, and help prevent overloading. SETTING THE MICROPHONE GAIN The gain controls allow you to set your input signals to an optimum level: not so hot that the mixer is overloaded, and not so low that the signal is lost in noise. For a signal entering the XLR mic inputs, the adjustment range is from 0 to 60 dB. Use the following procedure for setting the gain just right: 1. Press the solo switch at the bottom of the channel your microphone is connected to. The rude solo light will flash to remind you that what you are listening to in the control room and headphones, and shown on the main right meter is the soloed channel. 2. Sing/talk/shout/scream into the microphone at typical loudness levels. 3. Adjust the channel gain control until the right main meter level is hovering around the 0 dB mark (labeled "level set"). 4. Now that the gain is set correctly, disengage solo. 5. During a performance, if you notice that the OL (overload) LED comes on next to the channel fader, carefully decrease the gain until OL no longer comes on. Using the low cut switch also allows you to add some bass EQ to your vocals without boosting the really-low lows. EQUALIZATION Mono channels 1-4 have a 3-band EQ, with shelving- XLR Mic low, shelving-high and peaking-mid. The frequency of Inputs the mid can be adjusted from 100 Hz to 8 kHz. Low Cut This loving attention to detail in the mid EQ section is 48V ideal for vocal equalization, so you might consider using Gain channels 1 to 4 for your main vocal microphones. EQ POWER FIREWIRE MAIN OUT BALANCED R L MAIN OUTPUT LEVEL +4dB MIC AUX SEND 1 ( PRE-FADER / PRE EQ TIP SEND / RING RETURN ) CHANNEL INSERT 4 3 2 1 BAL/UNBAL 2 AUX RETURN R2 L BAL/UNBAL R 1 L Inserts 1 ONYX MIC PRE 2 ONYX MIC PRE 3 ONYX MIC PRE 4 ONYX MIC PRE CTRL - RM OUT BAL/UNBAL MAIN OUT BAL/UNBAL ALT 3-4 OUT BAL/UNBAL L R L R L/3 R/4 LINE IN 5-6 LINE IN 7-8 LINE IN 9-10 LINE IN 11-12 TAPE L IN OUT R 1 LINE BAL/UNBAL LINE HI-Z 48V 2 LINE BAL/UNBAL LINE HI-Z 3 LINE BAL/UNBAL 75Hz 18dB/OCT 4 LINE BAL/UNBAL 75Hz 18dB/OCT 48V 48V 48V L (MONO) BAL/UNBAL R L (MONO) BAL/UNBAL R L (MONO) BAL/UNBAL R L (MONO) BAL/UNBAL R PREMIUM ANALOG MIXER w/ PERKINS EQ & FIREWIRE 30 U 20 40 GAIN U 60 -20dB +40dB 30 U 20 40 GAIN U 60 -20dB +40dB 30 U 20 40 GAIN U 60 -20dB +40dB 30 U 20 40 GAIN U 60 -20dB +40dB U GAIN -20dB +20dB U GAIN -20dB +20dB U GAIN -20dB +20dB U GAIN -20dB +20dB SEND PRE POST U EQ -15 +15 1k HIGH 12kHz SEND PRE POST U EQ -15 +15 1k HIGH 12kHz SEND PRE POST U EQ -15 +15 1k HIGH 12kHz SEND PRE POST U EQ -15 +15 1k HIGH 12kHz SEND PRE POST U EQ HIGH 12kHz -15 +15 SEND PRE POST U EQ HIGH 12kHz -15 +15 SEND PRE POST U EQ HIGH 12kHz -15 +15 SEND INPUT LINE U FW 1-2 HIGH 12kHz -15 +15 FREQ 100 8k U MID -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX FREQ 100 8k U MID -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX FREQ 100 8k U MID -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX FREQ 100 8k U MID -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX U MID 2.5kHz -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX U MID 2.5kHz -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX U MID 2.5kHz -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX U MID 2.5kHz -15 +15 U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 AUX CTRL ROOM/PHONES SOURCE MAIN MIX TAPE FW 1-2 ALT 3-4 ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX OO MAX CONTROL ROOM OO MAX PHONES 0dB=0dBu LR 20 CLIP 15 10 6 3 0 2 LEVEL 4 SET 7 10 20 30 RUDE SOLO AUX MASTER SEND RETURN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX 2 MAX PAN OO OO 1 MAX PRE POST 2 MAX PAN PRE POST OO OO 1 +15 RTN TO AUX1 2 +15 OO OO 1 +10 2 +10 L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R POWER Level Set 8 Onyx 1220i Solo MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 MUTE ALT 3/4 dB dB dB dB dB dB dB dB MIC dB 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 U U U U U U U U U OL OL OL OL OL OL OL OL 5 - 20 5 - 20 5 - 20 5 - 20 5 - 20 5 - 20 5 - 20 5 - 20 OO MAX LEVEL 5 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 DESTINATION 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 40 50 40 50 40 50 40 50 40 50 40 50 40 50 40 50 PHONES AUX 1-2 40 50 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO SOLO 1 SOLO 2 SOLO 3 SOLO 4 SOLO SOLO SOLO SOLO 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12 TALKBACK TALKBACK MAIN MIX