Mackie SR244 / SR324 Owner's Manual - Page 7

5

SOUND

REINFORCEMENT: THE

FIVE-MINUTE MIXER

First, do the

60-Second

Exercise

on the previous

page. This will assure you that your mixer works

and has no hum or buzz coming in on the wiring.

Now reset your stopwatch and begin.

1.

Make sure all the faders and controls and

switches are still normalled. Basically, this

means all controls and faders off, all

switches up. Leave the

SOLO

master and

the

PHONES/C-R LEVEL

controls where

they were set in the 60-Second Exercise.

2.

Connect the outputs of the

RIGHT MAIN

MIX

and the

LEFT MAIN MIX

to the inputs

of your main house amplifier;

— or —

if you have a monaural main house amplifier,

connect the

MONO MAIN MIX

output to

the amp.

3.

Connect the speakers to the amplifier, turn

on the mixer and the amp and go listen to one

of the speakers. You should not hear buzz,

hum, a radio station or an ultimatum from

orbiting space aliens. If you do hear anything

more than a little pristine hiss or white noise,

you have a wiring or grounding problem.

Sorry; go directly to

Appendices A–D

. Do not

collect $200.

4.

Now we need something to listen to while we

proceed. Here are two choices: the microphone

you plugged into input channel strip 1 for the

60-Second Exercise, or some source of music

like a cassette deck or a CD player.

Let’s pretend you have a CD player: plug the

outputs of the CD player into the SR24•4

inputs labeled 23 and 24 (or 32•4 inputs 31

and 32). Put in a CD and press Play. Turn the

23–24

TRIM

knob up until you see the green

“–20” LED flicker. You can listen to the CD in

your headphones and see the signal on the

main meters by pushing the channel

SOLO

switch. OK? Now depress

SOLO

.

For the rest of this section, when we ask you to

turn up your sound source, or mute it or

something, you can use either the microphone

in your SR24•4’s channel strip 1 or the CD or

cassette player in channel strip 23–24 (31–32

on the 32•4), whichever you’ve chosen. We

think you should use the tape or CD and that

you put on some music you really love and

which will always remind you of what a

positive experience you had on your first day

with your SR24•4. Meanwhile…

5.

Push the SR24•4 channel strip fader that

has the CD input up to the “U” mark. Engage

the

L/R

button on the channel strip.

6.

Now push up the

MAIN MIX

fader slowly.

Depending upon the gain of your house

amplifier, it could be really loud. You should

hear your source coming clearly through the

main house speakers. OK? Now pull down the

MAIN MIX

fader.

7.

Next, if you have stage monitors, connect the

input of your stage monitor

amplifier

to

AUX

SEND 1

on the back of the SR24•4. Connect

the monitor speakers to the amplifier, turn the

amp on and listen for the dreaded hum or

buzz. If it’s quiet and clean, move on. If not, it’s

time for

Appendices A–D

.

8.

Turn the

AUX 1

control on the channel strip

to the “U” mark.

9.

Now turn up the

AUX SEND MASTER

control slowly. Depending upon the gain of

your monitor amplifier, it could be really loud.

You should hear your source coming clearly

through the stage monitor speakers. OK? Now

turn down

AUX SEND MASTER 1

.

If you want to use a second set of stage

monitors with a different monitor mix, repeat

the previous steps with the second system

using AUX SEND 2.

10.

If you want to use an auxiliary effect such as

a reverb unit, patch

AUX SEND 5

into the

input of the reverb. Connect the outputs of

the reverb to

STEREO AUX RETURN 1

L

and

R

.

11.

Set

AUX SEND MASTER 5

and

STEREO

AUX RETURN 1

to “U” and then turn up the

source channel strip’s

AUX 5

until you hear

the amount of reverb you like.

12.

Stop your stopwatch and note time, repeat

steps 1–11 until you break the 30-second

mark.

Making

Sound Come

Out Right

Now

Mackie SR244 / SR324 Owner's Manual - Page 7

Sound, Reinforcement: The, Five-minute Mixer

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