Lm-3204 owner’s manual 10 22 +2 0 o o u 1 level +2 0 o o u 2 +2 0 o o u 3 level +2 0 o o u 4 stereo aux returns aux return to control room only source alt 3-4 40 30 20 10 7 4 2 0 2 4 7 + – clip phones o o solo +2 0 o o u tape monitor level power lm- 3204 stere o line mixer ,,, , , , , , , , ,,,, , ,...
2 v1.1–10/94 caution avis risk of electric shock do not open risque de choc electrique ne pas ouvrir caution: to reduce the risk of electric shock do not remove cover (or back) no user-serviceable parts inside refer servicing to qualified personnel attention: pour eviter les risques de choc electriq...
3 please! Save the shipping box! Top ten reasons for saving your shipping box: 10. It’s here. 9. It’s yours. 8. It’s paid for. 7. It’s strong and sturdy. 6. It fits your mixer perfectly. 5. You will need it if you ever ship your mixer. 4. We may have to sell you another one if you need to ship your ...
4 section 1: introduction it marks information that is absolutely critical or is unique to the lm-3204. In addition, sections tagged with this icon: include both in-depth information and our own deeply felt but never biased opinions. Note: one of the icons in the manual is actu- ally a scratch-off i...
5 important sensitivity adjustment procedure! So important we put it first, before anything else. To fully achieve the lm-3204 mixer’s impressive headroom and specs, you should always “tune” the input sensitivity for each channel. Follow this procedure for each channel in use 1. Set the control room...
6 section 2: panel layout & function on the left side most of the lm-3204 front panel (four-fifths, precisely) is occupied by the 16 stereo, line level input modules or channel strips . Each strip sports identical features, functions, knobs and buttons, so we’ll take a close look at one and leave it...
7 layout and function to make matters even easier, the crack mackie detent crew have put a little mechanical “pot- hole” or detent at the unity gain point on every rotary control. Adding detents is a precise, tedious and largely thankless job, so think of those guys every now and then as you’re goin...
8 u +30db o o balance l –15 +15 u –12 +12 u 2 +15 o o u –15 +15 u 1 +15 o o u 16 shift -20 ol 4 3 12k stereo mono hi 80 lo 2.5k mid eq solo aux l r 16 channel mute alt 3-4 gain gain will also light that pulsating flambeau, that im- pudent alarm, that ruby pharos guarding the mackie shore, the rude s...
9 eq in keeping with the stereo theme of this entire mixer, the engineers at mackie have decided to provide stereo equalization as well. Just like the stereo gain control, the eq knobs have both left and right eq sections ganged on a single shaft. The lm-3204 eq has three sections, each with a fixed...
10 0dbu (.775 volts rms) at the rear output jacks. The lm-3204’s main outputs are 0dbu=0db meter whether you are using balanced or unbalanced cables. The meters are switched by the same circuits that switch the control room and phones moni- tors. So whatever you are hearing in the monitors is what’s...
11 quick recap: in the up position, the tape monitor switch selects the main left and right bus outputs for the monitor circuits and the meters. In the down position, the tape monitor switch selects the tape inputs for the monitor circuits and the meters. Microphone preamplifiers another mackie bonu...
12 rear-panel connections with the exception of the handy phones out- put jack, all of the connections to the lm-3204 are made on the rear panel of the unit, back in your equipment rack where all the cabling is lurking. Line inputs there are 32 line inputs in the lm-3204, a left- right pair for each...
13 3. As a send-return insert for processing. Use a 1 ⁄ 4 " trs (stereo) plug “y”-ed to two mono (ts) 1 ⁄ 4 " plugs. The tip should be wired to send to the effect’s input, and the ring should be wired as the return from the effect back into the lm-3204. The sleeve is the common ground connection. Se...
14 an insert at left, or check the patching illustra- tion on the back of the lm-3204. Tape out and tape in the lm-3204 provides a number of ways to feed a tape deck, a cassette or dat recorder and to monitor the output of the recorder as well. The main output connections are mentioned earlier, and ...
15 10 22 40 30 20 10 7 4 2 0 2 4 7 + – clip phones o o solo +20 o o u tape monitor level control room outputs this is where you plug in your monitor power amplifier. The left and right control room outputs are line level unbalanced 1 ⁄ 4 " ts jacks, controlled by the control room fader on the front ...
16 section 3: general information grinding distortion. Somewhere between the noise and the clipping is an optimum level for your signal: high enough above the noise floor to render the hiss inaudible, and far enough below the distortion point to allow range for loud peaks of music to pass without cl...
17 but if your music is sounding good, don’t worry if you’re in the yellow a lot or if some parts of the track hardly read at all. You’ll quickly get a feel for what works for you, when you can get away with really smacking the tape or the electronics. Buses more often than not, the goal in a mixing...
18 more punch and more sizzle without making the mix muddy or harsh. The mid eq section is a peaking/dipping equalizer with a bell- shaped response curve. The frequency is centered at 2.5khz and the bandwidth is fixed. The mid eq can cut or boost 12db. Connectors if you’ve used a mackie microseries ...
19 section 4: using the lm-3204 hooked up to a synthesizer, tickle those plastic ivories! On the other hand, you might have to deviate from this approach on certain channels. For example, you don’t want to set the hi-hat cymbal channel at 0db. Use your judgement on this. 5. The channel’s –20db led s...
20 sound engineer feels when you come at her with your 12 output cables. We figure that if you bought an lm-3204 for stage use, you already have an equipment rack just about full of fine electronic musical technol- ogy. So, we designed the lm-3204 to be 19" wide and a mere 5 rack units high. To fit ...
21 note: if you are using turntables and vinyl discs, you must have a stereo phono preampli- fier for each turntable for correct impedance matching, gain and eq response tailoring. Connect the outputs of the phono preamplifi- ers into the lm-3204 line input jacks. The mackie lm-3204 does not have in...
22 r l 1 2 3 4 (mono) l 15 13 11 control room outputs r (mono) l r r l alt 3/4 outputs l r l r expander in r l main inserts r l main/tape outputs stereo aux returns 1 2 3 4 aux sends l r l stereo mono r 16 14 12 use only with lm-3204e expanders. Stereo digital delay stereo digital delay limiter ster...
23 9 7 5 3 1 stereo balanced or unbalanced line inputs (mono) l r l r channel inserts 1 3 2 1 mic preamp output mic in r l tape inputs 2 1 mic preamp gain 10 db 50 db gain gain phantom power +48v 2 4 10 8 6 4 2 10 db 50 db live 2trk recording drum machine 2 drum machine 1 keyboard, or other line lev...
24 r l 1 2 3 4 (mono) l 15 13 11 control room outputs r (mono) l r r l alt 3/4 outputs l r l r expander in r l main inserts r l main/tape outputs stereo aux returns 1 2 3 4 aux sends l r l stereo mono r 16 14 12 use only with lm-3204e expanders. Stereo digital delay stereo compressor cassette deck p...
25 9 7 5 3 1 stereo balanced or unbalanced line inputs (mono) l r l r channel inserts 1 3 2 1 mic preamp output mic in r l tape inputs 2 1 mic preamp gain 10 db 50 db gain gain phantom power +48v 2 4 10 8 6 4 2 10 db 50 db nightclub act w/2trk recording guitar pre-amp bass guitar pre-amp drum machin...
26 r l 1 2 3 4 (mono) l 15 13 11 control room outputs r (mono) l r r l alt 3/4 outputs l r l r expander in r l main inserts r l main/tape outputs stereo aux returns 1 2 3 4 aux sends l r l stereo mono r 16 14 12 use only with lm-3204e expanders. Stereo digital delay stereo digital delay limiter ster...
27 9 7 5 3 1 stereo balanced or unbalanced line inputs (mono) l r l r channel inserts 1 3 2 1 mic preamp output mic in r l tape inputs 2 1 mic preamp gain 10 db 50 db gain gain phantom power +48v 2 4 10 8 6 4 2 10 db 50 db stereo submixer drum machine 2 drum machine 1 keyboard, or other line level i...
28 r l 1 2 3 4 (mono) l 15 13 11 control room outputs r (mono) l r r l alt 3/4 outputs l r l r expander in r l main inserts r l main/tape outputs stereo aux returns 1 2 3 4 aux sends l r l stereo mono r 16 14 12 use only with lm-3204e expanders. Stereo stereo digital delay stereo compressor reverb 2...
29 9 7 5 3 1 stereo balanced or unbalanced line inputs (mono) l r l r channel inserts 1 3 2 1 mic preamp output mic in r l tape inputs 2 1 mic preamp gain 10 db 50 db gain gain phantom power +48v 2 4 10 8 6 4 2 10 db 50 db multitrack recording and mixing keyboard, or other line level input keyboard,...
30 appendix a: connections • stereo headphones, and rarely, stereo microphones and stereo line connections. When wired for stereo, a 1 ⁄ 4 " trs jack or plug is connected tip to left, ring to right and sleeve to ground (earth). Mackie mixers do not directly accept 1-plug-type stereo microphones. The...
31 1 ⁄ 4 " ts phone plugs and jacks “ts” stands for tip-sleeve, the two connections available on a “mono” 1 ⁄ 4 " phone jack or plug (fig- ure c). Ts jacks and plugs are used in many different applications, always unbalanced. The tip is connected to the audio signal and the sleeve to ground (earth)....
32 trs send/receive insert jacks the insert jacks on both the lm-3204 input channels 1-4 and on the left and right main buses are the three-conductor, trs type 1 ⁄ 4 " phone. They are unbalanced, but have both the mixer output (send) and the mixer input (re- turn) signals in one connector (see figur...
33 appendix b: options, add-ons and extra stuff lm-3204e stereo line expander nobody ever has enough inputs. And when 16 stereo line inputs are finally too few, you, a proud mackie lm-3204 owner, don’t even need to think about a new mixer. For less than the price of another lm-3204, you can get an l...
34 appendix c: specifications: tech stuff lm-3204 owner’s manual specs noise (20hz to 20khz bandwidth, line inputs to main l/r outputs, all channels assigned) : master fader down, ch. Gains down –104.2dbu master fader @ unity, ch. Gains down –86.6dbu master fader @ unity, ch. Gains @ unity –84.0dbu ...
35 7/94 lm-3204 line mixer ©1994 mackie designs inc. Dimensions also apply to lm-3204e expander. Lm-3204 weight 21 lbs. 19.00" 5 rack spaces (5u) 17.50" 9.66" 8.73" 8.65" 9.66" .75 appendix.
36 + - + - left (mono) line in balance bal/unbal inputs + - right line in • • • • • • • • • • • • • l r l r main 1-2 alt 3-4 insert (ch’s 1-4) • • mute/ alt 3-4 • • • • • • • • • • level level solo aux 1/3 aux 2/4 control stereo channel 1 of 16 clip led -20 led • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ...
37 appendix l r l r l r aux 1 aux 3 aux 4 aux 2 solo control • • • • • • • • • • 10 clip 7 4 2 0 -2 -4 -7 -10 -20 -30 -40 r l meter left main out right main out l • • • • • • • • • • • ∑ • • ∑ l main insert r main insert + - + - • • • • • • • ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ • • solo level solo relay driver l fader r fader ...
38 appendix d: service please! Save the shipping box! Yes, we know that it’s slightly larger than the suitcase you’re living out of, but you will need the entire carton and internal foam if your mixer ever needs service at some time in the future. If your kids make the box into a gerbil pal- ace and...
39 4. Write the ra number plainly on the outside of the shipping carton in big print (those huge stinky sign markers work well for this). 5. Ship the product in its original shipping carton, freight prepaid to: mackie designs 20205 144th avenue n.E. Woodinville, wa 98072 u.S.A. A free t-shirt offer ...
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