Welcome, James.
Thanks for moving the thread, gecko.
I really like the suggestion above to print out the manual. Do that and study it. Add little tabs to frequently accessed sections. It's really important to get it into your brain and the only way to do that is study the manual and walk through the instructions withbthe console in front of you and try stuff out. And we're here to help, but that help is limited...it's more effective when you are working at it from your end.
First, a question for the OP or anybody that has an M-500 console...it's been awhile since I've had one of these...in the MONITOR SELECT switchrack (the vertical row of switches directly above the group 3 fader), can you have multiple switches latched at the same time or are they like radio buttons where you push one down, and the other one pops up?
- Best pathway to monitor playback and the mix while recording?
Connect the outputs of the tape machine to the 16 TAPE IN jacks. When you do that you can source those TAPE IN jacks using the AUX busses (see the PRE POST TAPE switches by the green AUX buss knobs on the channel strips? Flip one to TAPE and now that AUX buss is listening to the corresponding TAPE IN jack...now raise the corresponding AUX fader(s), and select the corresponding AUX group in the MONITOR SELECT switchrack, raise the STEREO fader and you should be able to hear that TAPE IN jack in the headphones or at the corresponding STEREO out jacks). Alternatively you can use the monitor mixer (the set of 16 level and pan knobs above the group faders)...those have source select switches BUSS | TAPE...flip one of those to TAPE and it is now listening to the corresponding TAPE IN jack...now select MON in the monitor select switchrack, raise the STEREO fader and you should be able to hear that TAPE IN jack in the headphones or at the corresponding STEREO out jacks). And of course you can access the TAPE IN jacks by selecting that source in each channel strip (notice the TAPE IN jack is one of your options for the source of 16 of the channel strips). This is what you would do at mixdown time.
- How to record the sub groups?
Connect the sub out jacks to the recorder inputs. There are two sets of output jacks, on for each group. Connect the first set of group out jacks 1~8 to recorder inputs 1~8, then connect the second set of group out jacks 1~8 to recorder inputs 9~16. Each group out is going to two recorder inputs. You control which of the two tracks the group gets recorded on by using the recorder's record arming switches.
- RCA inputs on the back of the meter bridge?
Those are for using the meters with external equipment. The meters can source either internal signals, or you can hook *anything* up to those jacks, press the EXT switch on the meter bridge and *bam* you are monitoring whatever is plugged into those jacks on the meters. It's quite clever.