Mackie 1604-VLZ3 User Manual

Owner’

s Manual

You’ve just learned about the input channels and how 

the signals get in and out. The signals come in via MIC 
[1] and LINE [2] input jacks, are manipulated by the 
channels, and then sent to the output (master) section. 
Things get a little more complicated, so put on your 
thinking caps, take a deep cleansing breath, take this 
manual, get on a bycycle, ride down to the canal, ponder 
your life and all its unique experiences, then read this 
section.

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This fader controls the levels of  signals sent to the 

MAIN OUT [14] jacks and TAPE OUTPUT [11] RCA 
jacks. All channels and STEREO  RETURNs that are as-
signed to the main mix, not muted and not turned fully 
down will appear at the MAIN OUTs. Before the main 
mix gets to this fader, the signals pass through the MAIN 
INSERT [13].

The main mix signals are off with the fader fully down, 

the “U” marking is unity gain, and fully up provides 10 
dB additional gain. This additional gain will typically 
never be needed, but once again, it’s nice to know it’s 
there. The fader itself is a stereo version of the chan-
nel and subgroup faders — same supersmooth custom 
taper, same dead silence when turned fully down. This is 
the fader to pull down at the end of the song when you 
want “The Great Fade-Out.”

As you might expect, these faders control the levels of 

signals sent to the SUB OUTS [8]. All channels that are 
assigned to subgroups with the ASSIGN [26] switches, 
not muted and not turned fully down will appear at the 
SUB OUTS. Unlike the MAIN OUT [14], the subgroup 
signals do not pass through an insert jack on their way 
to the subgroup faders. That’s no problem — should you 
want to send these signals through a serial effects pro-
cessor, simply patch from the SUB OUTS to the effect’s 
input, and from the effect’s output to whatever the fi nal 
destination is, usually a multitrack recorder.

The subgroup signal is off when its fader is fully down, 

the “U” marking is unity gain, and fully up provides 10 
dB additional gain. Remember that if you’re treating 
two subgroups as a stereo pair, subgroup 1 and 2 for 
example, make sure that both subgroup faders “ride” 
 together, to maintain the left/right balance. 

One popular use of the subgroups is to use them as 

master faders for a group of channels on their way to 
the main mix. Let’s say you’ve got a drum kit hogging up 
seven channels and you’re going to want to fade them 
out at a different rate than the other channels. You don’t 
want to try that with seven hands or seven fi ngers, so 
just un-assign these channels from L–R, reassign them 
to subgroup 1–2,  engage the ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX, 
LEFT on subgroup 1 and the ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX, 
RIGHT on subgroup 2. Now you can ride the entire 
stereo drum mix with two faders — 1 and 2. 

If you engage just one ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX switch 

per subgroup (LEFT or RIGHT), the signal sent to the 
main mix will be the same level as the SUB OUTS [8].