Mackie 1402VLZ4 Owner's Manual

1402VLZ4

Another way to do the same thing is assign the  

channels to the alt 3–4 mix, then patch out of the  
alt 3–4 output back into an unused stereo channel line
input. If that’s your choice, don’t ever engage the mute/
alt 3–4 switch on that stereo channel, or you’ll have
every dog in the neighborhood howling at your feedback
loop.

Another benefit of the ALT 3–4 feature is that it  

can act as a “AFL” (After-Fader-Listen): just engage  
a channel's mute/alt 3–4 switch and the alt 3–4 switch
in the source matrix and you’ll get that channel, all  
by itself, in the control room and phones.

Mute/alt 3–4 is one of those controls that can  

bewilder newcomers, so take your time and play  
around with it. Once you’ve got it down, you’ll  
probably think of a hundred uses for it!

Pan adjusts the amount of

channel signal sent to the left
versus the right outputs. On
mono channels (ch. 1–6 or 7–14
with connections to the L input
only) these controls act as pan
pots. On stereo channels (7–14)
with stereo connections to L and
R inputs, the pan knob works like
the balance control on your home
stereo.

Pan determines the fate of  

the main mix and alt 3–4 mix.
With the pan knob hard left,  
the signal will feed either main
out L (bus 1) or alt output L  
(bus 3), depending on the  
position of the alt 3–4 switch.
With the knob hard right, the
signal feeds main out R (bus 2)
or alt output R (bus 4).

The 1402VLZ4’s pan controls employ a design called

“Constant Loudness.” It has nothing to do with living
next to a freeway. As you turn the pan knob from left
to right (thereby causing the sound to move from the
left to the center to the right), the sound will appear to
remain at the same volume (or loudness).

If you have a channel panned hard left (or right) and

reading 0 dB, it must dip down about 4 dB on the left
(or right) when panned center. To do otherwise (the
way Brand X compact mixers do) would make the sound
appear much louder when panned center.

The 1402VLZ4 has 3-band equalization at carefully

selected points — low shelving at 80 Hz, mid peaking
at 2.5 kHz, and hi shelving at 12 kHz. “Shelving” means
that the circuitry boosts or cuts all frequencies past the
specified frequency. For example, rotating the low EQ
knob 15 dB to the right boosts bass starting at 80 Hz and
continuing down to the lowest note you never heard.
“Peaking” means that certain frequencies form a “hill”
around the center frequency — 2.5 kHz in the case of
the mid EQ.

This control gives you

up to 15 dB boost or cut
below 80 Hz. The circuit is
flat (no boost or cut) at the
center detent position. This
frequency represents the
punch in bass drums, bass
guitar, fat synth patches,
and some really serious
male singers.

Used in conjunction with

the low cut [3] switch,
you can boost the low EQ
without injecting a ton of
subsonic debris into the
mix.

Short for “midrange,”  

this knob provides 15 dB  
of boost or cut, centered  
at 2.5 kHz, also flat at the
center detent. Midrange
EQ is often thought of as
the most dynamic, because
the frequencies that define
any particular sound are almost always found in this
range. You can create many interesting and useful EQ
changes by turning this knob down as well as up.