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Need help understanding FX send and return (DL1608)

C

Cteam

Guest
Jun 17, 2012
30
5
#1
New to live sound here guys, so bear with me. I have a Mackie DL1608, but I think this is a generic effects question. On the DL1608 you can set the effects "send" fader for each channel (reverb and delay).
Is this equivalent to setting the wet/dry mix for each channel. In addition, there is a "send" master fader. Does this increase the wet/dry mix for all channels selected. The mixer also all returns the total effects as a fader. My confusion is to increase the effects (I've done this through experimentation), you can either increase the individual channel effects, master effects, or return level. What's the proper procedure?
 
#2
short answer, go to the little gear icon, then "help"; there you'll find the entire 200+ page reference guide.

medium answer, let go of "wet/dry mix", that's not the right way to think of it. the effects sound is just one more sound that you mix into the rest of the sounds the mixer is handling.

longer answer, it is indeed a little screwy to get your head around, but the idea is the same as an analog mixer with an aux send going to a rackmount effects unit, then that unit's output sent back to a channel on the board.

the delay mixer page (down on the right, below A6 and REV) is what sends signal from each channel into the imaginary "delay unit".

the signal comes back out of the "delay unit" for you to hear in the LR mixer page and in each of the 6 monitor aux mixer pages on that last channel after 16 and reverb.

so you bring 'em all up, individual send, master send, and the return fader on a mixer page, to hear delay on what you want to hear it on. as long as you're not blasting one thing and having to barely crack something else open to keep from getting too much, it's fine, put all the stages in the middle somewhere.
 
#3
Thanks walterw. That helps some. I'm still having problems getting my head wrapped around the master send. As an example, if I have 3 vocalist on delay and I have the delay channel fader maxed on one of them and I want to add more, would I turn up the delay master send and turn down the individual faders on the other two vocalist to maintain the same effect on the two vocalist?
 
#4
you shouldn't have any of the delay controls "maxed out"!

delay channel send fader up some, delay master send fader up some, delay return fader up some, you should be able to get way too much delay in the sound.

but yeah, if you wanted more delay on one singer than on others, you'd have their delay send fader up more than the others, maybe closer to "0" while the others were backed off some.

i like the idea of having the main LR mix delay return level fader sit at "0" with the delay where i want it overall (so i can adjust that delay up or down easily along with the rest of the channels), so i'll set the delay send master fader to where that ends up being the right level.

again, if the send is up a little and the return down a little or vice versa, i don't think that matters, it's not like we're fighting background hiss or worried about clipping or getting enough gain, it's all digital "pretend" anyway.
 

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