Mackie 1604-VLS PRO Owner'S Manual Download

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CHANNEL STRIP DESCRIPTION

A Clean Fade

Faders are not rocket

science — they operate by
dragging a metal pin (the
wiper) across a carbon-based

strip (the track). It is possible for airborne
crud to land on the track. Should that happen,
you may hear scratchy noises or signal drop-
outs as the wiper stumbles over the crud. Do
all you can to keep airborne crud out of your
profession. Use air conditioned rooms when-
ever possible, avoid smoking near the mixer,
keep food and drink away from the mixer, and
for pity’s sake, never put the mixer in your
kitchen! We also recommend “exercising” the
faders — give them a few full-travel excur-
sions once a week or so, and that will help
scare the crud away. We do

not

recommend

spray cleaners.

ASSIGN (1–2, 3–4, L–R)

Alongside each channel fader are four but-

tons, labeled

SOLO

1–2

3–4

and

L–R

. The

latter three are collectively referred to as chan-
nel assignment switches.

and

are the left

sides of these stereo pairs, and

and

are

the right sides. Used in conjunction with the
channel’s

PAN

knob , these switches deter-

mine the destination of a channel’s signal:
With the

PAN

knob set at the center detent,

the left and right sides receive equal signal
levels. To feed only one side or the other, just
turn the

PAN

knob accordingly.

If you’re doing a mixdown to a 2-track, sim-

ply engage the

L–R

switch on each channel

that you want to hear, and they’ll be sent to the

MAIN MIX

. If you want to create a subgroup of

certain channels, engage either the

1–2

3–4

switches instead of the

L–R

, and they’ll be sent

to the appropriate subgroup faders

. From

there, the subgroups can be sent back to the

MAIN MIX

, allowing you to use the sub-

group faders as a master control for those
channels.

The sixteen channel strips look alike and

function identically. The only difference is that
the eight on the left have

DIRECT OUT

jacks

and the eight on the right don’t. We’ll start

at the bottom and work our way up.

“U” LIKE UNITY GAIN

Mackie mixers have a “

”

symbol on almost every level
control. This “

” stands for

“unity gain,” meaning no

change in signal level. Once you have per-
formed the

Level-Setting Procedure

, you

can set every control at “U” and your signals
will travel through the mixer at optimal lev-
els. What’s more, all the labels on our controls
are measured in decibels (dB), so you’ll know
what you’re doing level-wise if you choose to
change a control’s settings.

You won’t have to check it here and check it

there, as you would with some other mixers. In
fact, some don’t even have any reference to
actual dB levels at all! Ever seen those “0–10”
fader markings? We call these AUMs (Arbitrary
Units of Measurement), and they mean noth-
ing in the real world. You were smart — you
bought a Mackie.

FADER

The fader is almost the last control in a

channel’s signal path. It’s placed after the

and

MUTE

controls (post-

/post-

MUTE

and

before the

PAN

control (pre-

PAN

). The “

”

mark, about three-quarters of the way up,
indicates unity gain, meaning no increase or
decrease of signal level. All the way up pro-
vides an additional 10dB, should you need to
boost a section of a song. If you find that the
overall level is too quiet or too loud with a
fader near unity, you’ll want to confirm the

TRIM

setting by performing the

Level-Setting

Procedure

PAN

AUX

5/6

SHIFT

PRE

TRIM

SOLO

L - R