1
C
ongratulations and thank you for purchasing the MXL
®
Mic Mate
™
Pro. This device is designed to minimize your
setup for recording and allow for professional quality
recording on-the-go. The latest advances in digital technology,
along with years of research, have enabled MXL
®
’s engineering
team to produce the audio quality normally found in expensive,
high-end multi-channel computer interfaces within the small
body of the Mic Mate
™
Pro. We used feedback from our
customers to include the features you wanted in the Mic Mate
™
Pro. This expanded upon the already popular Mic Mate
™
series
by adding a variable gain knob (with plenty of gain), headphone
jack for direct zero-latency monitoring, and a volume control for
the headphone output.
Please review the follow material to get started with
Mic Mate
™
Pro and ensure the best sound quality possible.
10
With everything setup, and your software application running, snap your fingers in front of the grill, looking
for a signal on your software’s VU meters. Never “tap” on the grill to test for a signal present as this could
cause peaking if the microphone gain is set too high.
With the signal present, simply position the microphone to best capture the performance. Begin testing
the sound source with the microphone and watch the software VU meters for clipping. Clipping is usually
represented by a red bar in your software and should be avoided at all times for a recording free of poor
sounding digital distortion. Use the gain control knob on the Mic Mate
™
Pro to set the input level to best
capture the sound source without clipping.
Recording Tips
While it is important to record at a loud enough volume to hear the performance over any background
noise, keep in mind that with multitrack recording, each track will eventually be added together
(summed) into a final Left and Right stereo mix. Since this summing increases the level of the final
signal, tracks should be recorded with a fair amount of space between your maximum signal level and
the OdB clipping level (this is called headroom). In addition, this will greatly benefit the use of any
effects or other signal processing you wish to add later.
If you would like to listen to computer playback while recording or practicing, use the volume
control in the computer in combination with the headphone volume on the Mic Mate
™
Pro to create a
balance between computer playback and the live microphone input. The live microphone is mixed to
the headphones before any digital conversion to provide the highest audio quality without sound delay
(latency), often associated with computer recording. While there is no right or wrong way to record a
performance, you can find our Getting the Best Results with Your MXL
®
Microphone Recording Guide
at www.mxlmics.com to help you with the basic techniques. Remember, recording is a creative process,
so experimentation is the key for the best results.