mixing console questions

S

skullfisher

New member
hey this is my first real time behind a mixing console and I have a two questions:

1) I've got a kick drum going into channel 12, a snare into channel 13. I want to bus them to channel 8. how do I do this? do I send them to a subgroup? if so, how do I get the subgoup to become the input at channel 8?

2) can anyone recommend a website or book that explains common mixing technique in simple terms?

thanks!!!
 
Why do you want to bus them as channel 8?
Shen you send it to a subgrop then you already have a volume control there.

If you absolutely want to do that, you take the sub out and patch it into the channel 8 in. :)
 
can anyone recommend a website or book that explains common mixing technique in simple terms?
Click to expand...
Not wanting to sound snarky or anything but, your on that website right now.

As for books, the owner's manual of the mixer would be the true reference for your model of mixer.

Cheers! :)
 
regebro said:
Why do you want to bus them as channel 8?
Shen you send it to a subgrop then you already have a volume control there.

If you absolutely want to do that, you take the sub out and patch it into the channel 8 in. :)
Click to expand...

channel 8 on my mixer is patched into channel 8 on my otari. because otari uses the pin-3-hot-type xlr cables, I've had to run the i/o of the otari into a patchbay, which is normalled so that the first 8 channels of the mixer goes directly to the otari. the last 8 channels on the mixer are patched for playback only.

this is the first time I've actually used a physcial (read: non-DAW!) mixing board so I'm still trying to figure out the basics.

what I would do in pro (s)tools is assign the outputs of the drum tracks to a bus, say bus 1. then I would I assign the input of a channel fader, say channel 8, to bus 1. its very simple and intuitive, but I want to know how to do these things in the real world on a real mixing console!

so I have to actually patch a cable from the direct out of the subgroup to the input of the channel I want to go to? there's so way to send signal from one channel to another? it seems strange to have a mixing board with so many routing options, yet I still have to patch one channel to another.

I bought my console used and it didn't come with a manual. however, I just downloaded a .pdf, I'll start reading it! I have an old manual for a mackie 1604 that I've been referring to for basic stuff. I also have the yamaha sound reinforcement handbook and modern recording techniques, but there's not much there as far as basing mixing walk-throughs.

thanks everyone for you response.
 
We need to clarify the use of preposition. You say channel 8 on the mixer goes TO channel 8 on the Otari. That makes no sense. Channel 8 on your mixer is an INPUT. It should come FROM the Otari. :) Unless you are< talking about a direct out, but then you are patching the output of bus 1 into an output on channel 8, so that makes even less sense...

what I would do in pro (s)tools is assign the outputs of the drum tracks to a bus, say bus 1. then I would I assign the input of a channel fader, say channel 8, to bus 1. its very simple and intuitive
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Simple and intuitive? That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Which probably explains why I don't like DAWs. ;)

but I want to know how to do these things in the real world on a real mixing console!
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With cables. ;)

Your problem is that you are asking how to perform a solution instead of asking for a solution. :) What is the problem? What are you trying to do, and why? It sounds to me that you want to record what comes out of bus 1 to channel 8 on your Otari. But if you do, channel 8 on the mixer has nothing to do with it, so I'm confused...
 
regebro said:
We need to clarify the use of preposition. You say channel 8 on the mixer goes TO channel 8 on the Otari. That makes no sense. Channel 8 on your mixer is an INPUT. It should come FROM the Otari. :) Unless you are< talking about a direct out, but then you are patching the output of bus 1 into an output on channel 8, so that makes even less sense...
Click to expand...

sorry, I don't seem to be making myself clear:

I am referring to a direct out on channel 8. I have my rig set up so that whatever mic I input into channel 8, the direct out is fed to channel 8 of the tape machine; just to make life easier! ( for example, channel 1 on the mixer outputs directly to channel 1 of the otari, channel 2 on the mixer goes straight to channel 2 of the otari, and so on)

this is great, if I'm only recording one mic per channel. my question is: how do I squish multiple mics into a single track on the tape machine?

does that make any more sense?

:confused:
 
Yes, very clear. And the answer is: You take the direct out from the bus instead.

If having it permanently connected like that is impractical for any reason (for example, if your tape has more channels than you have busses) you need to make things go through a patchbay.

Or, as mentioned before, you can patch a cable from the bus out to channel 8. That works too, but it's an unusual approach I think. But hey, if it works for you, go for it!
 
Ok let me take a stab at it.
Your mixer is a 4 buss model. Unplug the output of channel 8 on your mixer and pug it into the output of one of the buss outputs (sub group)1-4 and BAM! your done.
Then all you have to do is push the buss button 1 2 3 or 4 on the mic channels and it will send all of those mics to channel 8 on your recorder.

Your mixer has balanced outputs on the busses and on the channel direct outs so there is no need to use a patch bay. You just need the proper cords for this. 1/4 tip ring sleeve by xlr female I believe should set you right up.
I hope this works! Good luck
 
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thanks all! I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow. so, to reiterate:

instead of running the drum channels (multiple mics) to the stereo bus, I bus it to subgroup 1-2. since I'm going to group them to a single mono channel, should I pan everything hard left? then take the direct out of subgroup 1 (the mono, left channel) to channel 8 of the tape machine...?

sorry, I just want to make sure I understand the concept before I jump in.
 
sorry, I feel like such a dolt.

I tried taking a direct out from the group but the sound quality was so low and thin sounding (as compared to the test recordings I did of kick and oh on two separate tracks) that I decided to try and get the best drum sound with one mic on one track.

ugh.

I have this nice mixing console and I can't even figure out how to dump mulitiple mics onto one channel and still have it sound good!
 
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