The sixteen channel strips look alike and function identically. So if you learn one, you have learned them all. The only difference is that the eight on the left have DIRECT OUT [5] jacks and the eight on the right don’t. We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.
“U” LIKE UNITY GAIN
Mackie mixers have a “U” symbol on almost every level control. This “U” stands for “unity gain,” meaning no change in signal level. Once you have performed the Level-Setting Procedure , you can set every control at “U” and your signals will travel through the mixer at optimal levels. What’s more, all the labels on our controls are measured in decibels (dB), so you’ll know what you’re doing level-wise if you choose to change a control’s settings.
25. CHANNEL FADER
The fader is almost the last control in a channel’s signal path. It’s placed after the EQ [32] and MUTE [30] controls (post-EQ /post-MUTE) and before the PAN [31]con- trol (pre-PAN). The “U” mark, about three- quarters of the way up, indicates unity gain, meaning no increase or decrease of signal level. All the way up provides an additional 10 dB, should you need to boost a section of a song. If you find that the overall level is too quiet or too loud with a fader near unity, you’ll want to confirm the setting by performing the Level-Setting Procedure on page 3.
26 | | | | | | | | | A Clean Fade |
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| | | | | | | | | Faders are not rocket science — they |
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25 | | | | | | | | | operate by dragging a metal pin (the |
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| | | | | | | | wiper) across a carbon-based strip (the |
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| | | | | | | | | track). It is possible for airborne crud to |
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| | | | | | | | | land on the track. Should that happen, you |
| | | | | | | | | may hear scratchy noises or signal drop- |
| | | | | | | | | outs as the wiper stumbles over the crud. |
| Do all you can to keep airborne crud out of your |
| profession. Use air-conditioned rooms whenever pos- |
| sible, avoid smoking near the mixer, keep food and drink |
| away from the mixer, and for pity’s sake, never put the |
| mixer in your kitchen! We also recommend “exercising” |
| the faders — give them a few full-travel excursions |
| once a week or so, and that will help scare the crud |
| away. Do not use spray cleaners, rather use compressed |
| air, or a vacuum with brush attachment. |
26. ASSIGN (1–2, 3–4, L–R)
Alongside each channel fader are four buttons, labeled SOLO, 1–2, 3–4 and L–R. The latter three are collectively referred to as channel assignment switches. 1, 3 and L are the left sides of these stereo pairs, and 2, 4 and R are the right sides. Used in conjunction with the channel’s PAN [31] knob, these switches determine the destination of a channel’s signal: With PAN set at the center detent, the left and right sides receive equal signal levels. To feed only one side or the other, just turn the PAN knob accordingly.
If you’re doing a mixdown to a 2-track, simply engage the L–R switch on each channel that you want to hear, and they’ll be sent to the main mix. If you want to create a subgroup of certain channels, engage either the 1–2 or 3–4 switches instead of the L–R, and they’ll be sent to the appropriate subgroup faders. From there, the subgroups can be sent back to the main mix, allowing you to use the subgroup faders as a master control for those channels.
If you’re printing new tracks or bouncing existing ones, you’ll also use the 1–2 and 3–4 switches, but not the L–R switch. Here, you don’t want the subgroups sent back into the main mix, but sent out, via the SUB OUTS [8] jacks, to your multitrack inputs. However, if you’re printing tracks via the DIRECT OUT [5] jacks, all the channel assignment switches should be disengaged (up).
The 1604-VLZ3 is what we call a “true 4-bus mixer.” Each channel can be assigned or unassigned to any of the subgroups without affecting the other subgroups or settings within the channel, and each subgroup has its own master fader and dedicated output. In fact, since there are 4 subgroups and the main L/R mix, it’s actually a true 6-bus mixer. We could have named it the 1606- VLZ3. Darn!
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