I have a Soundcraft Spirit M8 mixer that I sometimes use with my home recording
setup (Korg D16). I use the mixer's EQ and individual channel insert features
to add EQ and effects to a SINGLE channel, and then I patch the channel into
the Korg. I find that the mixer's extremely nice EQ controls and the channel
insert make my life MUCH easier in getting a good sound into the Korg D16. OK,
so far so good on getting nice EQ and effects going on a SINGLE channel...but
my problems start whenever I want to try to apply effects to more than one
channel at a time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEFORE YOU READ THE QUESTION BELOW, PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO *NOT* WANT TO USE THE
INTERNAL EFFECTS AVAILABLE ON THE KORG D16...FOR THE MOMENT, I WANT TO USE
*ONLY* OUTBOARD EFFECTS!

NOW HERE'S MY QUESTION: I'm having some confusion over patching effects into
ALL channels at once. I basically need step-by-step guidance on how to do
this! For example, I like to use the Soundcraft as a sub-mix for drum
microphones. I would like to apply compression from my dbx compressor to ALL
channels before they patch into the Korg D16 recorder, but I'm not sure how to
do that!

The Soundcraft has 4 stereo channels, and each of these channels has a BALANCED
aux send and STEREO returns which are supposed to be used to apply an effect to
all channels (there are aux control knobs on ALL channels, mono and
stereo)...but what if I just want to use a MONO effect? My compressor is NOT a
stereo unit and I'm kind of confused how to make it patch into the stereo
send/returns...and I'm wondering if it is even possible because in my
headphones, I hear the effect through ONE side only! I'm currently patching
the effect return into only ONE of the stereo channel returns, which I'm sure
is causing the "lopsided" effect.

AND HERE IS A *BIG TIME* SOURCE OF CONFUSION! READ ON...

One more thing: I once wanted to apply delay from my Alesis Midiverb AND
compression from my dbx compressor to a guitar that had two microphones (one
close, one ambient). I tried using the aux send/return on TWO of the
Soundcraft's stereo channels (one for delay, the other for
compression)...although I got the compressor to work, I could NOT get the delay
to work no matter what I did! I would plug my headphones into the MIXER and
hear the compression AND delay just fine...but when I plugged my headphones
into the KORG D16 RECORDER, I heard only the compression and NO delay at all!

I need someone with more mixer experience than I have to help me!!! PLEASE
HELP! I'M A THOROUGHLY CONFUSED NEWBIE! :-(

In article writes:

I'm having some confusion over patching effects into
ALL channels at once. I basically need step-by-step guidance on how to do
this! For example, I like to use the Soundcraft as a sub-mix for drum
microphones. I would like to apply compression from my dbx compressor to ALL
channels before they patch into the Korg D16 recorder, but I'm not sure how to
do that!

When you want to do this, you need to think about things differently.
You don't patch an effect in line with the channels, you patch the
effect (or in this case, the compressor) in line with A MIX of the
channels, then send that mix to your recorder. However, when you do
this, you no longer will have the ability to mix individual channels
off your recorder. However, if you're actually recording a submix of
your drum mics, this will work out fine.

Instead of using the direct outputs of those channels to go to your
recorder, assign those channels to a bus (or two if you want a stereo
submix), then connect the bus output to your compressor's input, and
finally, connect the compressor's output to the recorder track to
which you want to record the drum mix. It will be compressed. As far
as being able to hear the compression while you're recording, that
will depend on how you're set up for monitoring.

I need someone with more mixer experience than I have to help me!!! PLEASE
HELP! I'M A THOROUGHLY CONFUSED NEWBIE! :-(

No, you just need to study your mixer's block diagrams and learn how
you can mix and route signals through it. Then you won't be confused
any more.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )