Boss gave me a Mackie Mixer and I don't know how to use it

[Moniker]

Hello,

I'm extremely new with home recording. I have an M-Audio Delta 44 and Omni I/O box. Nothing fancy. 2 channels, etc.

I currently got an internship at a fabulous studio in Michigan called Tempermill Studios (http://tempermill.com) and my boss gave me an old mixer that he doesn't use to take home and fool around with. THe mixer has 6 mic pres, and and 16 direct line inputs. it also has 8 Direct Outs, 4 Aux Returns and 6 Aux/Monitor outputs.

here's my question:

He just taught me about bussing in Pro Tools. This is a 4 bus mixer, and he told me to go home and try to figure out to bus tracks over to another on the mixer. I really cannot figure out. What I'd essentially like to do is have a like 2 tracks bus over to Bus 1 and use it basically as an effects send just to get the feel of this thing.

What I currently have going is this:

Mic into Mic Pre 1, I have a direct out in channel 1 going to my Presonus Tube Pre preamp, and that runs back into the Aux Return channel 1 (mono). When I monitor through headphones on the mixer, everything works fine. Now what I want to do is have this run directly to the left input on my Delta. After I get that working, I want to do the same thing with another channel into the right channel on the Delta.

The problem:

I cannot find where in the hell to run the out from the mixer to my i/o. The only place it works is from the Monitor output, which is not what I want to do. Am I doing this correctly? If not, can you help me understand the insanity that is bussing?

 

[metalhead28]

I really have no idea what you are trying to ask here......
You mentioned a chain of things that I cannot quite put together.
Why do you have a mic into a mic pre - then out to an external mic pre - then back to the mixer?
You mentioned wanting to run outputs into your Delta soundcard, but you also said something about setting up an effects send.......

I'm lost.

 

[Moniker]

I really have no idea what you are trying to ask here......
You mentioned a chain of things that I cannot quite put together.
Why do you have a mic into a mic pre - then out to an external mic pre - then back to the mixer?
You mentioned wanting to run outputs into your Delta soundcard, but you also said something about setting up an effects send.......

I'm lost.

sorry, i will try explain myself better.


Here is what I'd like to do (in theory)

Run a mic into the xlr input on channel one.

have channel one bus over to bus 1 which will just work as an effects send in theory. it will have something on it. i dont care what it is. a preamp, a reverb effect, anything. just so i can learn what i'm doing. it's going to go from bus 1 and go where ever it would go if you were bussing channel 1, then it would some how go out of my mixer into the left channel of my delta..... okay, screw it. Look out below!



Newbie post - now with pictures!

^ That's what I'd like to do in theory.

My boss from the studio showed me how to do it using pro tools, and I'd like to see the physical version of what I did so I can better understand what's actually going on, instead of just hitting a bunch of buttons on a keyboard.

Get it?

 

[travelin travis]

First of all, using a preamp in the aux probably ain't a good idea. You will be running the mics thru the mixers preamps, then sending that signal to an outboard preamp which will be returned back to the mixer. It's gonna cause problems like noise, distortion, etc.

Using your scenario but substituting the preamp with a reverb unit:

Mics to mixer channels each assigned to desired seperate buss, aux send to reverb in and aux return to reverb out, buss outs to sound card inputs.

 

[Moniker]

First of all, using a preamp in the aux probably ain't a good idea. You will be running the mics thru the mixers preamps, then sending that signal to an outboard preamp which will be returned back to the mixer. It's gonna cause problems like noise, distortion, etc.

Using your scenario but substituting the preamp with a reverb unit:

Mics to mixer channels each assigned to desired seperate buss, aux send to reverb in and aux return to reverb out, buss outs to sound card inputs.

I only used preamp because that's a unit that I have, so I could work with it for learning.

That's exactly what I want to do (thanks for the tip) but I don't exactly get how to physically buss tracks over to the busses. That part confuses me a lot. I've never worked with a mixer and I just don't get it. On protools it's just a click of a mouse (Not to sound like I'm some pro tools expert, because I don't know that program either, but I did do this in pro tools to learn)

Any help on how I buss something? Or will that be entirely different on every mixer?

 

[travelin travis]

each channel should have a buss assign button. my little yamaha mixer is 4 buss. it has buttons on each channel to switch between 1/2 and 3/4. Those are stereo buss's. I would then use the pan knob on each channel to hard pan the signal to 1 or 2 on the 1/2 stereo buss or 3 or 4 on the 3/4 buss.

What mixer do you have? I will take a look at the manual.

 

[Moniker]

It says cr-1604 on it. It's a little older, but i'm sure it's the same as the newer versions?

Thanks for the help man, I'm sure it's not easy dealing with complete newbs like me. It's much appreciated though.

 

[travelin travis]

ok, it looks like to me, the sub outs are your buss outs. assign each channel to either 1/2 or 3/4 via the buss assign switch on each channel. pan each channel hard right or hard left, depending on wether you want the signal to go to 1 or 2 if assigned to the 1/2 bus or to 3 or 4 if assigned to the 3/4 bus. hook up your sound card inputs to the sub outs.

your mixer also has direct outs on the first 8 channels which you could use in the same way.

 

[travelin travis]

using the direct outs, there is no need to pan each channel.

btw, I just started foolin around with this stuff not too long ago also. no problem helping out newbs here.

here's the link for the manual to your mixer:

http://mackie.com/pdf/archive/cr1604vlz_om.pdf

you want to read and understand how signal flows thru your mixer. after you understand it, it's a breeze and all those knobs, buttons, sliders, ins, and outs make sense.

 

[Moniker]

okay, keep with me. i'm trying to understand.. Here's my question..

How do I assign each channel to either 1/2 or 3/4? is that with the AUX knobs at the top of the mixer?

and when you say Sub out, is there actually a sub out? Or is this called something else?

One set says:
Channel Access Tip=Out Ring=In
For Direct Out, Insert To First Click

Another:
AUX Returns To Master

Other:
Aux/Monitor Outputs

Those are all of the ins and outs that it could be up top.. then there is also:

Stereo AUX returns on the right side. That consists of four volume and four pan knobs as well as 4 buttons, and a AUX SOLO button for the whole group.
I'm sorry if these are stupid questions. Thanks for your help so far.

 

[travelin travis]

aux's can be used as buss's. forget that for now. when looking at the manual for your mixer, I see 4 sub-outs on the back of the mixer. sub means sub-mix, not like subwoofer. the aux's are like detours for your mixer signals.

there should be a 1/2 and 3/4 button on each channel of your mixer. use these for assigning to the desired bus.

 

[travelin travis]

oh shit, I was looking at the cr-1604 vlz model. give me a minute and disregard what i said about the sub outs, for now. your mixer may not have them.

 

[travelin travis]

the "right" link to your manual:

http://www.film-tech.com/warehouse/manuals/MACKIECR1604.pdf

use the alt 3/4 mute buttons to assign channels to the 3/4 buss. The 3/4 buss does'nt have a master fader so set each channel fader to unity, the u mark on the fader position. you will still need to pan left and right like mentioned before. channels are automatically assigned to 1/2 (main) if the alt 3/4 button is'nt depressed.

the first click of the insert on each channel can be used as a direct out from each channels preamp. if you do this, you are taking the signal before it flows to the aux's, eq, buss's.

 

[Moniker]

the "right" link to your manual:

http://www.film-tech.com/warehouse/manuals/MACKIECR1604.pdf

use the alt 3/4 mute buttons to assign channels to the 3/4 buss. The 3/4 buss does'nt have a master fader so set each channel fader to unity, the u mark on the fader position. you will still need to pan left and right like mentioned before. channels are automatically assigned to 1/2 (main) if the alt 3/4 button is'nt depressed.

the first click of the insert on each channel can be used as a direct out from each channels preamp. if you do this, you are taking the signal before it flows to the aux's, eq, buss's.

Oh, that explains the confusion!
Sadly, I'm still lost. I'm so new to this that I just need to get one idea as to what is going on then everything will click into place.

Do you have AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and are you willing to lend me a hand? It'd be a bit faster, and would waste far less of your time. Heh.

If not, I'll continue to ask here.

 

[travelin travis]

travis19773 on yahoo.

 

[Moniker]

Just sent you a message on Yahoo. You're not on, but let me know whenever you are. Thanks so much man

 

[travelin travis]

that's weird, I'm on now.

 

[tubesrawsom]

arent there 2 buttons next to each channel to assighn submix groups 1-2,or 3-4. and if you want to assighn it to say buss 1 pan the track left, buss 2 pan right.

 

[travelin travis]

i think he has a handle on everything now.

we need a sticky about how mixers work. it would save newbs alot of time and frustration.