Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (
More info?)
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I'm sick too. Ok, climbing into
the Wayback Machine...
Hassan Ansari wrote:
> Okay, how do I get the Mackie out of the way if I'm using its RCA outs
> to go into my soundcard?
The easiest way, and one which allows you to avoid building a patch panel,
is go to Radio Shack and get the 4-pushbutton input A/V switch box with the
3 RCAs per input, and connect it between the Mackie and Eureka and the
RCA-ins on your sound card. While you're there, also get an XLR
Female-to1/4" Male transformer adapter to convert the XLR-out on your Eureka
to unbalanced 1/4". Then use a 1/4" female-to-RCA male to connect the
Eureka to one of the inputs on the switch box. You can have the Eureka on
Input A and the Mackie on Input B and easily punch between them as needed.
I'll probably get flamed for telling you to use Radio Shack transformers,
but they're cheap and they work. While you're at Radio Shack, make sure you
have whatever adaptors and cables needed to make it work, probably at least
a couple more RCA-RCAs. Radio Shack stuff isn't the best, but it's
convenient and if you get a bad cable you can take it back.
> Okay, I turned the attack and release knobs all the way to the left
> because that's where is says "fast". I don't know what you mean by 10db
> and 4:1..hopefully not 10db of gain on the compressor...cuz that kills
> the sound....4:1...I have no clue what knob to touch and where to put
> it.
You got the attack and release right. Put the ratio knob on 4:1. Set the
VU meter to gain reduction. Then while singing into the mic, adjust the
threshold knob until the meter kicks back to around -10dB on the loud parts.
I also suggest you push in the "soft knee" button for smoother compressor
action.
> Okay, I put thresh knob to number 6.
No, you have to use the meter, ignore the markings on the threshold knob for
now.
> Some knobs honestly make so little of a difference to my ears
> (and my friends' ears) that I don't really know where to put them.
The EQ control marked "Q" is the bandwidth control. It adjusts the width of
the response peak or dip and can come in handy after a lot of practice. But
for now, just leave them all set on 2, the mid position, as the other
controls will have much more impact at this point.
The effect of the "soft knee" button is somewhat subtle until you know what
you're listening for. Just know for now that you'll get a smoother sound
with it engaged. The "saturate" knob is useless marketing bull, and make
sure it is always on 0 for a clean sound. The "impedance" knob should be
all the way to the right unless you're using a ribbon mic. You can play
with the effect of input impedance later as it is also rather subtle.
So lets make sure you've got this thing set up for good gain structure.
We'll move left to right across the front panel.
First put the impedance knob all the way to the right and the saturate knob
all the way to the left. Now you can set the input gain on the preamp.
While singing loudly, increase the gain knob until the 0 dB LED blinks. The
clip LED should never blink, it is a true warning light.
Now get some initial settings on the compressor. A starting point. Push in
the "GR to Meter" button at the far right so that the meter will switch to
gain reduction mode. Compression is the automatic reduction of gain. Set
the side chain high pass knob all the way to the left to take it out of the
circuit for now. Set the attack and release all the way to fast. Engage
the "soft knee" button. Set the ratio control to 4:1. Now, while singing,
adjust the threshold knob until the meter is kicking back to about -10 dB on
the loud parts. This will make the overall volume lower, so you may have
to turn up the compressor output "gain" knob some to compensate.
Now set the EQ. My usual preference would be to have the compressor before
the EQ, so leave the EQ>Comp button out. Turn all the Q controls to 2. Set
the low freq to 80 for future use, but set the low gain to 0, no boost or
cut. Set the mid freq to 2.8kHz and the mid gain to +4 dB. Sorry I didn't
know the mids only went up to 2.8k before. Just go with it for now. Now
set the high freq to 12kHz and the high gain to +6. These settings will
sound VERY bright in your headphones, but will make the vocal sit better in
the mix. And remember, we're just creating a starting point right now. You
can play with variations later to get a feel for what's going on.
Now the Master output gain (level). You can leave the "GR to Meter" button
engaged, as you need to adjust the output gain while looking at the meter in
Audition, not on the Eureka. While singing loudly, adjust the output gain
so that the meter in Audition hits up to about -10 to -6 dB, and never hits
0 dB. That'll give you a good playback level, but with some margin of error
for the loudest parts. Some of the guys will be more conservative and tell
you to set it even lower; I'm just telling you what I like.
Now you're set to a good starting place. The input preamp won't hiss or
distort, the compressor will be quite obviously riding gain on your voice,
and the EQ will be very bright to match the clarity of your backing tracks.
Try recording a full song with these settings and see how the vocal now sits
in the mix more clearly. Then try changing one knob at a time and listen to
the effect that knob has. That's the way to learn.
Somebody mentioned getting Bobby Owsinski's book, and that's a good idea.
The more your read and experiment, the more will gel in your mind about
what's going on with your controls. It also pays to read the Eureka manual
more than once; it should be regular bathroom literature until you know it
inside out. At Results Video, we called that the Christian Science Reading
Room due to the number of epiphanies causing guys to call Jesus' name in
exclamation. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. ;-)
Mike Rivers is a little sensitive about people dissing Mackie, as he's done
a lot of good work for those guys and they do make good gear. I've used a
lot of Mackie gear myself, and still use an 8-bus to monitor and for non-mic
inputs. Having the switchbox to select between the Mackie and the Eureka
just helps keep your soundcard input path as clean as possible. If you had
a bunch of separate components you really would need a patch panel instead,
but the switchbox is really, really convenient. I've also used one as a
SMPTE sync router to sync my workstation to various video sources, but
that's not something for you to bother with unless you're doing audio for
video.
Happy Editing.
Jeff Jasper
Jeff Jasper Productions, West Funroe, La.
/www.abnoticrecords.com/mackie.mp3
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