am I an idiot? My first mixer.....

[bob bass]

I just bought my first mixing board....a behringer 2442. It has a lot of buttons and knobs and a massive instruction booklet that I only vaguely understand. I am confused most by the whole aux-send/bus set up, as I've never used one and the manual assumes that this is not my first mixer....

Does anybody out there in the hallowed halls of fiber optics have any leads on site that might explain mixers to a beginner such as myself.....?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Bob

 

[rayc]

Probably the worst thing I found about Behri gear is the lack of instruction & the amount of assumption.
Sorry, I can't help.

 

[mixsit]

.I don't know how good or bad the manual might be but as with any new subject it'll start making more and more sense as you read it.
If it doesn't have a signal flow diagram in particular, I'd recommend going to the Mackie site and download which ever one looks like yours. (It's probably damned near the same knowing 'B and Company' ) They do this real well (instruction and explanation), and that diagram will explain a lot.

 

[LemonTree]

aux sends are much the same on all mixers.

You want to take aux 1 out and plug it into your outboard effect, the returns from the effec device go back into the aux returns (1 lets say). The AUX master 1 knob will determin the master level going to your outboard device. The aux 1 knob on each channel on the board will determin how much signal you are sending throu the AUX 1 buss to the effect device and the AUX 1 return knob will determin the master volme of the effect coming back into the board.

That was the simple version, AUX 1 & 2 on most (cheap) boards are set up to go to a cue mix or a headphone amp. It'l all be in te manual, you just need to dig for it. Good luck

 

[jeffmaher]

No...you're not an idiot.

Set up your stuff. Determine what you want to do. Try stuff on the board..learn what buttons rout signals to where. Use it. And , at every opportunity, ask questions of people who know about that stuff, and can giude you. Then read the manual every now and again..and it'll start to make sense.

The boards are capable of lots of things...many of which you won't need right off.

The Mackie manuals are really good.

When you need a specific application, post the "how?' question. One bite at a time!

[I have the same problem understanding the 600+ page Sonar manual. People write and sell books to explain it...which are just as profoundly mysterious...courage!]

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Aux sends are nothing more than auxillary mix outputs seperate from the main master mix busses. They allow you to create auxiliary "mixes" - via their own gain controls on the individual channel strips - that can be seperate and different than the main mix. These auxilliary mixes can then be sent out the "side" of the mixer seperately to serve different fuctions than the main mix.

Common exampls for use of aux busses include:

- Creating seperate monitor mixes for stage monitors or artist's headphones that are different than the main mix for the recording or audience.

- Creating submixes to be sent to a common signal processor such as a reverb or compressor when you want to apply the exact same effect to more than one mixer channel. In such cases the return signal from the fx device comes bac in either through a dedicated aux return, or by bringing it back in through a spare mixer channel strip input.

G.