Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro Owner's Manual - page 19
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live work) where it acts as an extra stereo bus.
To use this as a
MUTE switch, all you have to
do is
not use the
ALT 3–4 outputs. Then, when-
ever you assign a channel to these unused
outputs, you’ll also be disconnecting it from the
MAIN MIX, effectively muting the channel.
To use this as an
ALT 3–4 switch, all you
have to do is connect the
ALT 3–4 outputs to
whatever destination you desire. Two popular
examples:
When doing multitrack recording, use the
ALT 3–4 outputs to feed your multitrack. With
most decks, you can mult the
ALT 3–4 outputs,
using Y-cords or mults, to feed multiple tracks.
So, take
ALT OUTPUT L and send it to tracks
1, 3, 5 and 7, and ALT OUTPUT R and send it
to tracks
2, 4, 6 and 8. Now, tracks that are in
Record or Input modes will hear the
ALT 3–4
signals, and tracks in Playback or Safe modes
will ignore them.
When doing live sound or mixdown, it’s often
handy to control the level of several channels
with one knob. That’s called subgrouping. Sim-
ply assign these channels to the
ALT 3–4 mix,
engage
ALT 3–4 in the SOURCE matrix, and the
signals will appear at the
CONTROL ROOM
and
PHONES outputs. If you want the ALT 3–4
signals to go back into the
MAIN MIX, engage
the
ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX switch , and the
CONTROL ROOM/SUBMIX level control be-
comes the one knob to control the levels of all
channels assigned to
ALT 3–4.
Another way to do the same thing is assign
the channels to the
ALT 3–4 mix, then patch
out of the
ALT OUTPUT L and R back into an
unused stereo channel (
5–6, 7–8, 9–10 or
11–12). If that’s your choice, don’t ever engage
the
MUTE/ALT 3–4 switch on that stereo chan-
nel, or you’ll have every dog in the
neighborhood howling at your feedback loop.
Another benefit of the
ALT 3–4 feature is
that it can act as a “SIP” (Solo-In-Place): just
engage a channel's
MUTE/ALT 3–4 switch and
the
ALT 3–4 switch in the SOURCE matrix
and you’ll get that channel, all by itself, in the
CONTROL ROOM and PHONES.
MUTE/ALT 3–4 is one of those controls that
can bewilder newcomers, so take your time and
play around with it. Once you’ve got it down,
you’ll probably think of a hundred uses for it!
PAN
PAN adjusts the amount of channel signal
sent to the left versus the right outputs. On
mono channels (ch.
1–4 or 5–12 with con-
nections to the
L input only) these controls
act as pan pots. On stereo channels (
5–12)
with stereo connections to
L and R inputs, the
PAN knob works like the balance control on
your home stereo.
PAN determines the fate of the MAIN MIX
(
1–2) and ALT 3–4 mix. With the PAN knob
hard left, the signal will feed either
MAIN OUT
L (bus 1) or ALT OUTPUT L (bus 3), depending
on the position of the
ALT 3–4 switch. With the
knob hard right, the signal feeds
MAIN OUT R
(bus
2) or ALT OUTPUT R (bus 4).
CONSTANT
LOUDNESS ! ! !
The 1202-VLZ PRO’s
PAN controls employ a de-
sign called “Constant
Loudness.” It has nothing to do with living
next to a freeway. As you turn the
PAN knob
from left to right (thereby causing the sound
to move from the left to the center to the
right), the sound will appear to remain at the
same volume (or loudness).
If you have a channel panned hard left (or
right) and reading 0dB, it must dip down
about 4dB on the left (or right) when panned
center. To do otherwise (the way Brand X com-
pact mixers do) would make the sound appear
much louder when panned center.
3-BAND EQ
The 1202-VLZ PRO has 3-
band equalization at carefully
selected points —
LOW
shelving at 80Hz,
MID peaking at 2.5kHz, and HI
shelving at 12kHz. “Shelving” means that the
circuitry boosts or cuts all frequencies past the
specified frequency. For example, rotating the
1202-VLZ PRO’s
LOW EQ knob 15dB to the
right boosts bass starting at 80Hz and continu-
ing down to the lowest note you never heard.
“Peaking” means that certain frequencies form a
“hill” around the center frequency — 2.5kHz in
the case of the
MID EQ.