Yamaha EMX512SC Owner's Manual - Page 17

BASIC Making the Most of Your Mixer has an incredibly powerful low end that can benefit from a bit of low-frequency roll-off to let other instruments-notably drums and bass-do their jobs more effectively. Naturally you won't want to do this if the piano is playing solo. The reverse applies to kick drums and bass guitars: you can often roll off the high end to create more space in the mix without compromising the character of the instruments. You'll have to use your ears, though, because each instrument is different and sometimes you'll want the "snap" of a bass guitar, for example, to come through. Boost with Caution If you're trying to create special or unusual effects, go ahead and boost away as much as you like. But if you're just trying to achieve a good-sounding mix, boost only in very small increments. A tiny boost in the midrange can give vocals more presence, or a touch of high boost can give certain instruments more "air." Listen, and if things don't sound clear and clean try using cut to remove frequencies that are cluttering up the mix rather than trying to boost the mix into clarity. One of the biggest problems with too much boost is that it adds gain to the signal, increasing noise and potentially overloading the subsequent circuitry. Ambience Your mixes can be further refined by adding ambience effects such as reverb or delay. On the EMX mixers these effects are built in. The internal DSP (Digital Signal Processor) can be used to add reverb or delay to individual channels in the same way as external effects processors, with the extra connections required by, or the loss in sound quality often LOW Boost MID Boost LOW Flat MID Flat HIGH Boost HIGH Flat Signal Level (dB) LOW Cut MID Cut Frequency (Hz) HIGH Cut caused by external processing. (Refer to page 22). You need to be careful not to overdo effects, however, because going to far can undermine the clarity and quality of your mix. Use your ambience effects just enough to create the required feeling of depth, but no more than is necessary to keep your sound clean. Reverb and Delay Time A variety of reverb and delay effect programs are provided, and nearly all of then have a reverb/delay time parameter than can be adjusted via the panel PARAMETER control. Small adjustments to the reverb/ delay time can actually have a significant effect on the sound. The optimum reverb time for a piece of music will depend on the music's demo and density, but as a general rule longer reverb times are good for ballads, while shorter reverb times are more suited to up-tempo tunes. Delay times can be adjusted to create a wide variety of "grooves", and you need to select the time that best suits the music. When adding delay to a vocal, for example, try setting the delay time to dotted eighth notes corresponding to the tune's tempo. Reverb Tone Different reverb programs will have different "reverb tone" due to differences in the reverb time of the high or low frequencies, or differences in the overall frequency response of the reverb sound. Always be careful not apply too much reverb, particularly in the high frequencies. In addition to resulting in unnatural sound, excessive high-frequency reverb can interfere with the high frequencies in other parts of the mix. If you can hear more reverb than direct sound in the upper frequency range, try selecting a different effect program. It's always a good idea to choose a reverb program that gives you the depth you want without detracting from the clarity of the mix. Reverb Level It's amazing how quickly your ears can lose perspective and fool you into believing that a totally washed-out mix sounds perfectly fine. To avoid falling into this trap start with reverb level all EMX512SC/EMX312SC/EMX212S 17