How to connect a mixer to an audio interface

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we're talking about a problem that probably many musicians have encountered: how to connect a mixer to an audio interface, for live or studio purposes.

Today there are in commerce several types of mixers with audio interface function, capable of transfereing the data directly to our DAW without passing through an audio interface: some of them can even split every single channel to a separate audio track, while others can export only to a left and right track.

The reality, though, it's that 80% of the mixers around doesn't have an usb out, therefore we will need to plug them somehow to our audio interface in order to record through them.

Why would we need to pass through a mixer?
Simple: to use more microphones than the inputs in our audio interface, for example we can use an 8 track mixer to mic a live drumkit (or a live band, or our rehearsals if we feel fancy), make a relative mix on in and connect the left and right output tracks to our audio interface to record it in our daw.

What we need in our interface it's basically just 2 TRS line level inputs, so we need to go with a regular jack from the 2 MAIN OUT outputs of the mixer (left and right) into the 2 line inputs of the audio interface.

Now we need to take care of the gain staging: before turning on the mixer, set the gain knob on each track to zero and the "main mix" level to unity (12 'o clock).
Once the mixer is on, slowly rise the gain knobs of each track until the recorded levels arrives at around 0db in the output meter, but without clipping.

Now take a look at your DAW and adjust the gain knob in the audio interface to make sure the input level is not too low nor too high. Once you find the optimal level, that is not clipping but that can record everything clearly, the gain staging is done

So far we have talked about connecting a mixer to a 2 input audio interface, but there are mixers that have also separate audio outputs, and audio interfaces with many

Now you're ready to record, enjoy!


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!! 

5 Tips on how to choose a live setlist for your band

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today, following our article about how to create an album setlist, we are checking out some tips on how to build the most effective live setlist possible for our gig.


1) Lenght: as a first aspect we need to take in consideration the lenght. A 30 minutes setlist requires a different strategy than a 60 or a 90minutes one. For a short one we can push a little bit more on the impact side, if we have only 30 minutes it could be an idea to try to leave a strong impression playing only the most effective song we have. From a 60 minutes up setlist instead we need to start taking into consideration other aspects that we will analyze in the next points: fatigue, attention, dynamics, extra musical performances.

2) Fatigue: we are not robots, so playing a long setlist with high energy songs, especially in genres which are highly demanding in terms of physical performance as extreme metal or hardcore can result (especially for touring bands) in a not sustainable result, in the long run. This means we need to keep in mind that every couple of very fast songs for example the drummer might need a slower one to recover some energy, or the singer might need to start the concert with songs that are not extremely demanding in order to let his voice warm up properly before hitting that high pitch note in that song, or he or she might need a quieter song after a very tiring one to give his (or her) vocal cords some rest.

3) Attention: the attention of the audience is fundamental, and to keep the crowd interested in what is happening on stage should be the main task of the band. Usually the band, when it has some experience, knows more or less which songs are more effective (for example they have a particularly catchy hook or beautiful lyrics), which ones are less direct and maybe are enjoyed more when the listener already knows them from the record, and so on.
The band should choose a setlist that can blend together the songs keeping the crowd interested, considering that if you play a song that is very interesting opr known and that keeps the crowd wanting for more, they will probably be more receptive also in the next one, so you can maybe put after that a new song noone knows so they will focus on it. After the song they didn't know and that has forced the audience to focus in order to assimilate it, we could propose another popular one, or maybe a cover (even better if rearranged in our style) to give them back something familiar and raise again their involvement and attention, so that the crowd will be never bored, as it would for example be if our setlist would start with 5 very famous songs and end with 5 songs noone knows.

4) Dynamics: for a record, also live dynamics are fundamental. Starting with 5 very fast songs and ending with 5 very slow ones would make them completely ineffective as the audience would very easily lose interest this way. To know how to connect and cue together fast songs, mid tempos and slow ones is an art, which roots into being empathically able to connect with the audience mood and proposing a setlist that should predict and adapt as much as possible to what the crowd expects. After two fast songs maybe a third one would be uneffective, so a mid tempo could introduce some variation and increase the attention (consider that also the audience is subject to fatigue), after a slow song we could set the fastest one in order to wake up the crowd after the romantic moment.
The main idea should be to create movement, alternancy of moods and rhythms within the setlist, also to leave the audience an idea of a rich, non monotonous performance.

5) Extra musical performances: if you go to a concert of any headlining, high level band that performs a full setlist (for example 90/120 minutes), you will notice that there is not only music.
Most of the times there will be small breaks here and there in which the singer or other band members can talk to the audience, sending some message, or just some funny interaction while the others take a minute of break. This is a good moment to plug your new album or merchandise, to say a message to encourage, to use some props (Alice Cooper, Kiss and Rammstein are masters in this) or to pretend to leave the stage waiting for the encore, before performing the last part of the setlist.
This will add a different dimension to the performance (obviously it depends on the performer's charisma, so use wisely!).

Hope this was helpful, if you have any other suggestion let us know in the comments!


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

How to prepare your band for a live gig (a guide for dummies)

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's article! Today we're doing a small checklist for what to know and remember before playing live.
Obviously this small guide is aimed for the young musicians and emerging bands with little knowledge, just some small advice  to make things easier to the musicians and to the organizers!


1) Tune your instruments!: This may seem obvious but not all beginner musicians do it; they think the guitar is already in tune, or they can tune it by ear if they hear something wrong, or they can tune it between one song and the other using the tuning pedal.
If the string instruments are not in tune, everyone will notice it and the band will automatically sound cheesy.
Tune your guitar at the beginning, and please, please don't make everyone wait 3 minutes between the songs because your guitar can't hold the tuning so you have to retune it every song! :D

2) Share the backline: don't be a dick and agree with the other bands on who brings what, and don't be afraid to share your amplifier, or cabinet, or some part of your drumkit with the other bands.
This will ease the transport of the instrumentation to the location, will make you earn respect and will reduce stage changing times among the bands, which should be as short and smooth as possible, and instead sometimes it turns itself into a long ordeal with the audience that leaves the room.

3) Make a list of the instrumentation before going to the venue: this is linked with the previous point; everyone should have very clear what he's bringing to the venue (e.g. an amplifier, a guitar, 3 jacks, 2 stompboxes, etc...), especially the drummer, because things can "disappear" pretty easily, also because someone can put them into their bag mistaking them for his own stuff.
Having a checklist helps us in remembering everything better.

4) Use a Metronome: not all drummers are born with the perfect sense of tempo in their head, and especially while playing fast, complex songs like a death metal song, it's important for the whole band to rely on a perfectly consistent tempo.
Using a metronome on the ear of the drummer, and if the band is very organized, on the ears of all the other members, can REALLY improve a performance, giving it that tightness that makes the difference between an amateur and a pro.

5) alcohol does not help: don't believe the movie legends that getting on stage drunk will make you play smoother, it is not true! When playing is better to deal with shyness than to have your playing impaired by an alcohol intoxication!


Hope this helps!


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

How to Use Pre-Recorded Backing Tracks Live 3/3

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we're going to see a third and last way of using backing track, with the support of Francesco Ferrini of Fleshgod Apocalypse.

This method it's the most complex and the one which requires more hardware, but it is the most professional we can use in order to manage stage monitoring and use backing tracks.

First off all instruments (microphones, Pods, and so on) goes into a rack with several inputs, and this rack goes into a splitter. One "copy" of the outputs goes to the stage box, and from there to the external mixer, another "copy" goes to the audio interface.

Their interface (a Motu with 8 independent outputs) has a software called Cue Mix, which is a virtual mixer that manages the various inputs and outputs (as almost all audio interface have), and from there they can create a mix for each band member, and each mix will go, through one of the independent ouputs, to the in ear monitor of each band member.
Why do they use CueMix instead of doing everything directly with Cubase?
For 2 reasons:
1) CueMix has no latency, unlike Cubase
2) Because it's a better way to manage the mix that each band member wants in their in-ear monitor.

Then the band has a session of Cubase with the whole setlist, the tempo track with the metronome of each song and the backing tracks; they send the click and backing tracks through the Cubase Sends to each output of the Audio Interface without passing through Cue Mix. 

Why are those relatives mixes from Cubase passing through the Sends and not through the Master Out? Simple: because they want the metronome only in the relative mixes that will go to the in ear monitors of the band member, but only the backing track must pass through the master, and from there to the mixer, the metronome must obviously not be heard by the audience!

Finally, always with the Midi Automations of Cubase, the band controls also the patches of the Pod Hd that they use for guitars, for example to switch automatically at the right time from Rhythm patch to Solo patch, they also control the Co2 Geysers, the Strobo Lights and so on...

...but this is another topic!


Hope this was Helpful!



CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF 3 

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF 3


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

How to Use Pre-Recorded Backing Tracks Live 2/3

Hello and welcome to this week's article!

Last week we have seen how to use a backing track on a live context, but this time we must take a look on HOW to make this backing track, to load on the drummer's mp3 player.

Let's load up on our favourite DAW a project and create a midi track and and some audio one.

The audio tracks should be in mono, since only one channel of the mixer will go to the PA.

We should set the tempo track properly, with the right metronome and checking out for tempo changes inside the same tracks, leaving 8 metronome hits before the actual starting of the song, so that the drummer can hear 4 hits, then give the other band members the other 4, and then start the song.

First we make the tempo track, then we create in the midi track an event, of the lenght of the whole song, and we insert the metronome writing the midi part, with the beats and the accents, using a sound that will be easily recognizable by the drummer, even when playing live.

About the audio tracks, we will have to make a mix with all the things we want to have in the base, for example backing vocals, vocal harmonies, orchestral sections, and so on, and to make sure everything is perfectly on time with the click.

When it's time to export we must keep the audio tracks central so that the sound goes evenly both on the left and right channels, while the click part must be all panned LEFT, so in the mixer we will send the left channel on the drummer's headphones and the right channel on the P.A., and the audience will not hear the click, only the backing track.

My suggestion is to use a limiter to make the final volume even among all songs, and to make sure that all songs not only have the same levels, but also the metronome on the same side!! :)


CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF 3 

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3 OF 3


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

How to Use Pre-Recorded Backing Tracks Live 1/3

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
This time we will talk about LIVE music, and how to integrate pre-recorded music (like orchestral parts, or backing vocals) with a real band, making sure everything is on time.

There are actually 2 methods, today we will see the easiest one, which does not involve the use of a computer, but lets us only have backing tracks in mono.

what we need is:

- an Mp3 Player (or a smartphone put in airplane mode) with the backing tracks inside

- a Y stereo minijack cable (a cable that takes the stereo sound from the mp3 player and splits it into 2 mono sounds, one with the left track and one with the right track).

- 2 adaptors from minijack to normal jack, to connect the aforementioned cable to the mixer

- a mixer, with at least 2 channels, as the one depicted on the first photo

- one jack with a jack connector on one side and an xrl to the other, to connect the mixer to the PA, usually through the channel box.

- a pair of headphones for the drummer

Once we have all these tools ready, we need obviously a backing track on our device, with on the left side the metronome track and the backing track, and on the right side just the backing track (of course you can switch them if you need, the important is that all tracks have the metronome on the same side.
Now we can connect the stereo cable to our mp3 player and send the Left Track (the one with the metronome too) in the first channel of the mixer, and the Right Track (the one without the metronome) in the second channel, as you can see from our Routing Scheme below:

In the 2 channels of our mixer now we must pan the left track full left and the right track full right in order to avoid the metronome to spill from the other track into the channel box.

Now we can connect on the left mono output the drummer's headphones, so that he can choose the song with the mp3 player and adjust the volume of the base with the mixer, and the right mono output of the mixer to the channel box, using the jack with one regular jack connector on one side (the mixer side) and the xrl connector on the other (for the channel box side). If we are connecting into another mixer without passing through a channel box, much probably we can use a regular jack.


CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF 3 

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3 OF 3


Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

HOW TO MIX A LIVE BAND (a guide for dummies) 4/4

Hello and welcome to this last part of our super basic tutorial about how to mix a live band in a small gig!

In the latest part we have seen basically every aspect of a mixer, every aspect but the Aux Sends one, which we are going to analyze today.
The Auxiliary Send (Aux Send) is an additional output of the mixer that lets us do another mix, different by the one that goes into the PA, and that we can use for other purposes, for example to send it to the stage monitors.

The band in the stage plan example on the first part of our article has 3 monitors: one for the drummers and 2 for the other band members, covering the left and the right side of the stage.
in the picture above we have 2 aux sends, but usually 12 channels mixers have 3 of them.
So how do we do our relative mix? If we have the aux pots on each channel at noon, the guys on stage will hear by the monitors basically the same mix that can be heard outside, but usually they will want a different mix, because there are things that they need to hear to play better, and others which are less useful and can be eliminated, plus keep in mind that usually with cheap mixers and monitors it's better to send a maximum of 3 or 4 channels per monitor, to make sure the monitor will reproduce them loud and clear without distorting.


An example of monitor mix, always referring to the band in the first part of this tutorial, could be the following:

Aux 1: Left monitor (as seen from the point of view of the drummer): Vocals, keyboards, snare, kick.

Aux 2: Drummer monitor: Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass

Aux 3: Right monitor: Vocals, the other guitar (or the keyboard), snare, kick

in order to obtain this we will close all aux knobs on the mixer, then open just the Aux 1 pot on Vocal, Keyboard, Snare and Kick, choosing the level according to the volume they need,
then repeat the same procedure with the Aux 2 Pot and the Aux 3, sending only the requested channels to each monitor.
Usually during the soundcheck the sound engineer asks the band to play a part of a song and adjusts the aux sends accordingly, until everyone can hear everything decently.
Once the stage monitors are set in a stable way, the sound engineer can make the last touches to balance everything, keeping in mind that additional modifications will need to be made when the room will be full of people, because the venue responds differently according to the people inside.

Some last suggestion about how to mix a live band:

- If present, the High Pass Filter button is a good way to clean up the low end from unwanted resonating frequences. It can be used basically on each channel, with the exception of Bass and Kick Drum.

- Try to push each sound with the eq slighly towards its place in the mix, for example you can lower a bit the lows on a guitar track and add some grit on the highs, or carve some mids out of toms, remove some highs on a bass track or boost some mids on vocals, but don't exaggerate, and remember that a sligh cut sounds usually better than a sligh boost.



Additional ways to use an Aux Send:

- It can be used to go to external processors, such as a Compressor, or an Fx unit, and then the signal can be routed to the Aux in (sometimes called Aux Return) to be blended with the original one.

- It can be used also to go to a recording machine, like a computer, if there aren't other dedicated outs in the mixer.



Well, the tutorial is over, I hope it was helpful, leave comments below if you have some other tip to share!


CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3 OF 4!



Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

HOW TO MIX A LIVE BAND (a guide for dummies) 3/4

Hello and welcome to the third part of this week's article!

Last week we have seen how to make the gain staging for microphone inputs, today we will talk about the last 2 channels of  our mixer, that we have reserved for "keyboards - d.i.".

If we have a keyboard, it's much likely that it will have a left and right output, so we must connect them to a d.i. box to balance the signal, and from there go into the channel box, this way we will be able to control both left and right channels on the mixer, but if the keyboard player has more outputs, he will need an additional mixer to connect all of them, make a "keyboard submix", and from the stereo output go to the d.i. box, and from them to the channel box and to our mixer.

Since we have only 2 channels for quite a wide array of things left, we need to be creative: if the band has some pre-recorded base we should treat it the same way we could treat keyboards, or if they use both things, we will have to dedicate a single mono channel to keyboards and the other one to the base. The gain staging procedure it's the same explained in the part 2 of this guide, with the addition that usually d.i. boxes have a db attenuation switch, if the signal it's too loud, and a ground/lift switch, to move if there is some hum.

Notice that often the last channels of a mixer also feature a stereo input, which means 2 jack inputs controlled by the same fader; this way is also possible to connect both left and right keyboard channels to our stereo channel.

Obviously if we don't have d.i. instruments, we can still treat the last 2 channels of our mixer as all the others, to control microphoned instruments.

Group channel tracks and Fx tracks: on some mixer there are faders (in this example we're talking about the 2 blue ones at the bottom right of the mixer) that can control a full group of other tracks, so basically we can apply to a live environment the same rules we have seen for group tracks and fx tracks used on a DAW, when mixing (Click here for a dedicated article).
If the mixer has this feature (like this one on the photo, which has 2 group tracks), each one of the 12 channels will have 3 selections, near each fader: Mix, Group1 and Group2.
If we choose Mix, this channel will be routed straight to the stereo mix, so its final volume will be only decided by the Master Fader.
If we choose a Group instead (for example we can send all vocals on Group1 and all guitars on Group2), we will be able to control all the vocal tracks submix with the "Group1" fader and all guitars submix with the "Group2" fader, and obviously both these groups are controlled by the Master Fader, anyway.
Fx Track: this track it's represented in the mixer on our example by the only white fader.
On this track we can choose an effect or a combination of effects (for example Reverb + Delay), and decide the amount of effect to apply, then on the single channels we can choose the amount of signal from the single tracks that should be fed to the Fx track, and with the Fx track fader we can decide how much effected signal should be send to the Master Fader, or to a Group Track, and to the various Aux Sends.

For example I can choose to set the fx control on the vocal track on 5/10. This means that half of the dry signal of the vocal track will be sent into the fx track, and will be effected; then with the fader control of the fx track, I can decide the level of this effected part of the signal to send to the stereo mix, or to a group, or to an auxiliary send.



CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 4 OF 4!



Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

HOW TO MIX A LIVE BAND (a guide for dummies) 2/4

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we proceed with part 2 of our 5 parts article about how to mix a live band.
After we have set up everything on our stage properly, we should have a channel box with 12 numbered xrl jacks, that we should connect to our mixer respecting the numeric order.

Here is my channel list, but you can modify it according to your own taste:

1   kick drum
2   snare drum
3   tom 1
4   tom 2
5   floor tom
6   lead vocals
7   backing vocals
8   guitar 1
9   guitar 1
10 bass guitar 
11 keyboards / d.i. 1
12 keyboards / d.i. 2

If we want to make sure we will find immediately the channel we're looking for we can use also a strip of writable tape to put below all channels, so we can write under each channel what instrument is plugged.
Each channel of the mixer looks the same, and a typical single channel strip it's the one present in the classic Mackie mixers, and it is depicted on the top of this article.
Let's analyze it, starting from top:

- we got the Xlr and normal jack input

- then we have a high pass filter button which takes out everything below 75hz (which is useful, so
we can leave the lowest frequency area only to certain instruments, such as bass and kick drum).

- a Gain knob (that sometimes is called Trim)

- two Aux Controls (which control two stage monitors, and decide how much sound from this channel will be played on monitor 1, which is connected to the Aux 1 out, and to the monitor 2, connected to the Aux 2. On the stage plan of the first part of our article there were 3 monitors, so the mixer must have 3 Auxiliary outs and 3 Auxiliary knobs).

- an Eq section, to control high, mids and lows, which is good to correct some unbalancing in our tone or to make some instrument to pop out more. Often this section is used to tame the lows and make the sound more intelligible.

- an FX knob (that on the photo of the channel strip is absent but that is present on many mixers and that controls how much effect, like delay or reverb, will be sent to the channel)

- a Pan knob, which lets us decide the position of the instrument into the soundstage. Keep in mind that a live environment is different from a studio one, so apply less extreme settings than you would on a record!

- a Mute and a Solo control, to mute the track or to hear it alone.

- the Volume fader, to control the channel's overall volume.

Ok, now we have all jacks plugged in the right channels, and we know all channel controls.
What do we have to do?

We must decide the gain sensibility. With the gain control we decide how high is the level of the incoming signal, then we can apply all the variations we want on each channel (eq, pan etc..) and finally with the volume fader we will increase or decrease the overall channel level to fit that instrument better in the mix.

To set the gain sensibility we must use the Gain Setting Procedure for each channel.
This procedure will make us set the gain knob (the one located on the top of the channel strip) in order to let out mixer "hear" correctly the incoming signal. If we have a PFL BUTTON (pre fader listen) we should turn it on for the gain setting procedure, in order to hear only the gain control, bypassing the volume fader. When you press that button you will see the level of that channel's input on your mixer's meter (which are the green, yellow and red leds located on the right in the mixer).
What we want is to use the gain knob to find a position that lets us avoid the level to hit peak or to be too low: the level of the instrument should be halfway, with occasional peaks in the yellow area. Press only one PFL button at a time, otherwise the meter will show the combination of both channels and you won't know which one is too high or too low.

Once we have done this procedure for all channels, the Gain Setting Procedure is over and we should have each channel's gain set to the optimal level.
Now we can proceed adjusting the Eq, the Pan (and if we can, the Fx, because vocals usually could use some reverb) and the volume of each channel to fit them better in the mix, until we have a stable mix in which each instrument can be heard decently.


CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 4 OF 4!



Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!

HOW TO MIX A LIVE BAND (a guide for dummies) 1/4

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
This is the first part of a tutorial in which we will analyze the bases to mix a live rock/metal band, on a small venue (200-300 peope audience): basically the average small live gig.

The idea of this tutorial came into my mind watching so many gigs in which the bands rented the p.a. system (public address system, which is the system composed by a mixer, microphones, loudspeakers and so on) and tried to set it up without a clue of what they were doing, and not wanting to hire a live sound engineer for the night.
The result is usually a mess: the band doesn't hear itself and plays bad, the audience doesn't understand a thing and eventually everyone gets scorned.

Please note that this is not a super comprehensive guide, and the most expert live engineers will notice something that may diverge from their workflow, but I just wanted to give the bases in the easiest and most understandable way possible, to get a decent sound live.

Ok, let's start with a description of the average cheap p.a. that can be rented and that we will use for our example.

- a cheap 12 channels mixer
- 2 speakers for the audience
- 3 monitors for the stage
- 2 microphones for the vocals
- 5 microphones for the drumset
- 2 microphones for the guitars
- at least a dozen of xrl cables
- a couple of d.i.
- a channel box to gather together all the jacks from the various instruments on the stage to the mixer below.

So in this first part of the guide we will talk about SETTING UP THE STAGE.
Obviously microphoning a live stage is a simplified version of microphoning instruments for the studio (for example a drumset or a guitar amp):
the first thing obviously is to have clear in mind how the disposition of the musicians and the instruments, amps, cabinets, microphones and monitors should be (and the image on the top of this article is a standard stage-plan, with the position of everything on the stage, and for this serie of articles we will use that as "standard disposition").
Of course to set up the stage we will have to position the drumset if possible on the center, moved to the back, the microphones in the part of the stage closest to the audience, and the other amplifiers (and the keyboard) on the sides.
The monitors (in this case 3), should be set in a position in which they can be heard from 2 or 3 musicians, so we can set them like depicted on the stage plan, maybe turned a little towards the singer, if needed. A third monitor should be used only for the drummer, and in our example we have put it on the side of the drumset.

Once we have decided where everything should be, it's time to plug in all the amplifiers, to check out if we have enough electric plugs for everything, and then we can start microphoning everything.
For the drums, we have 5 channels available, and we will use them for:
- kick
- snare
- tom 1
- tom 2
- floor tom
Notice that we are not microphoning the cymbals, because in the small venues they are clearly audible even without microphoning, the bleed on the other drum microphones is sufficient.
Often drum microphones comes in a suitcase with clips to fix them right into the drum shells.

Now we will use 2 microphones for the 2 vocalists, then 2 microphones for the guitar amps.
To find the right position of the microphone towards the speaker, check out our guitar microphoning guide.
For the bass, often we won't have to microphone the amplifier, because many bass amps has a "mixer out" or "d.i." out, which is made to go straight to the mixer, so we will connect it from that out to our channel box.

Finally, the last two channels are reserved to the d.i. boxes, on which we can connect a keyboard (with the left and right outputs), or a computer, or an mp3 player with some pre-recorded base, or some other instrument that we need to amplify, or if we don't need them, we can just leave them alone.

We should write down exactly what xlr jack goes into the channel box (for example channel 1: kick drum, channel 2: snare drum, and so on), so that we will have the perfect control on everything when mixing.


CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 3 OF 4!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 4 OF 4!



Become fan of this blog on Facebook! Share it and contact us to collaborate!!