M-Audio Delta 44 specs

Some line mixers have a number of effect or auxiliary sends for each channel. These sends will have their own individual level control and will receive the signal either pre fader or post fader, i.e. either independent or dependent on that channel’s fader level. It is possible to use these “aux sends” to send a signal to the recording device. A pre fader send is certainly preferable, since this will allow for a recording level that is separate from the monitoring level.

The bottom line here is that you can not use the ‘main output’ of your mixer to send a signal to the recording device, and then take the outputs of that recording device back into the mixer (whose signal also goes to the main out). This creates a feedback loop, bad for your eardrums and bad for your equipment.

One modern console design gets around that by offering an “alt out,” which is an alternate stereo buss or output. When selecting ‘alt out’ on a channel, it mutes that channel to the stereo buss and redirects it to the alt out buss. This could be viewed as a 2-buss system, and can be used effectively for recording purposes.

In our Typical Setup 1 and 2 in the previous section, we used pre-amps to handle the recording. A line mixer that simply received the outputs from the Delta 44 and mixed them to stereo could handle the monitoring needs. Hopefully, the information here will give you some insight into how to use the gear that you own, or what to look for if you are seeking additional equipment to facilitate your hard disk recording.