Mackie 1604-VLZ PRO Supplementary Manual - About Bouncing Tracks

73

Compact Mixer Reference Guide

APPLICATIONS: CHAPTER 2

About Bouncing Tracks

If you like to build up a lot of layers in your record-

ing, a quintuple-tracked guitar lead, for example, 

when using an 8-track recorder, you’ll have to do a 

lot of track bouncing. What this means is that you 

record several parts (which could be fi ve passes of 

the guitar solo, a four-part background vocal, or the 

whole drum kit) on individual tracks, then, while 

you still have one or two unused tracks, mix those 

parts down to one or two tracks, and record that mix 

on the open tracks. Now, you can re-use the original 

tracks to record more parts. Using this technique, 

you can make your eight tracks seem like a lot more 

than eight parts. 

Double Bussing

One thing that can make bouncing easier is having 

the fl exibility to send any channel or mix of channels 

to any recorder track. Using direct outputs requires 

patching or moving cables, but as long as you don’t 

need to record on more than four tracks at a time, 

you can make the four SUB outputs do double duty 

by splitting each one out to two recorder tracks. 

In the Double Bussing Hookup Diagram, each of 

the four SUB OUTs feed a pair of tracks. SUB 1 goes 

to Tracks 1 and 5, SUB 2 goes to Tracks 2 and 6, etc. 

The way to do this is to buy or build Y-adapters or 

Y-cables, which have one input and two outputs. (A 

Y-cable is NOT the same as an Insert cable) Once 

you’ve connected the recorder in this manner, you’ll 

be able to route any input to any track by using the 

ASSIGN buttons and PAN knobs.

Some recorders and some multitrack 

recording software allows you to “double 

bus” right at the recorder’s input. The 

Alesis ADAT® and Mackie SDR24/96 are examples. 

On these recorders, you need only connect the SUB 

OUTs to recorder inputs 1-4 and a button on the 

recorder takes care of the other four inputs. The 

1642-VLZ PRO has a double set of jacks on the SUB 

outputs, so no adapters are required.

Recording The One-Person Band

Here’s an example of how you’d record using 

a double-bussed setup. Let’s say you’ll begin the 

project by playing rhythm guitar along with the drum 

machine, then add a bass track, a keyboard, sing the 

lead vocal, add lead guitar and keyboard solos, then 

fi nally put on some background vocals. That’s more 

than 8 tracks, isn’t it? 

What we’ll do is record the rhythm section, then 

bounce that to two tracks, and record lead parts over 

the original rhythm tracks. Here’s how this works. 

Pass 1

We’re still using Channels 9-16 for our recorder 

returns, so assign them to L-R. We’ll be using the SUB 

outputs, so bring the SUB faders up to Unity gain.

Now, let’s assign some inputs to tape tracks. 

Channel

Source

Assign

Pan

Track

7

Drum L

1-2

L

1

8

Drum R

1-2

R

2

3

Guitar

3-4

L

3

4

Bass

3-4

R

4

Put tracks 1, 2 and 3 into Record, start the drum 

machine, and record the rhythm guitar along with 

the drums. Adjust the faders on Channels 9-10 

(drums) and 11 (guitar) for a comfortable mix. It’s 

OK to turn the guitar up too loud at this point if it 

helps you to play well. 

Oh, and don’t forget to program a count-off in the 

drum machine so you’ll know when to start. You can 

chop it off when you mix or edit the mixed song.

You might run through the song a few 

times until you’re happy with the rhythm 

guitar recording. Once you have it down, 

don’t forget to take Tracks 1, 2, and 3 out of Record 

Ready or you’ll erase ‘em quicker than you can say 

“Oops!”

Pass 2

Once the guitar part’s solid, rewind, put Track 4 

into Record, and play the bass while listening to the 

guitar and drums. Since the bass channel is assigned 

to recorder track 4, it’ll show up for monitoring on 

Channel 12. Adjust the Channel 9-12 mix so that you 

can play comfortably and hear what you’re doing.

Pass 3

This is a good time to add a keyboard part to the 

rhythm section before buttoning it up. Let’s make it 

a mono track since we don’t want it to clutter up the 

mix.

Hey! We’ve just made a production deci-

sion and we’ve just started tracking! This 

is one of the things you’ll need to do when 

bouncing. Might as well get used to it. There’s no 

reason why you couldn’t record the background keys