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Mixer wiring clarifcation

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r.G View Drop Down
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    Posted: 09 May 2016 at 6:36pm
Hello,

As I can't afford a preamp at the moment, I'm looking for a mixer for a project I will start soon. The sound sources I'll be using are a turntable, a siren and a delay, also it should have one or two mic channels.

From the mixer straight to the LMS, then to the seperate amps.

Now I've got a few questions:

1) How many channels will I need? (1-2x microphone/mono and 3 stereo for turntable, siren, delay?)
2) As I see it, the only way to control the ways directly is via amp gain? To control each way (sub, kick, mid, top) individually on the mixer, I'd need to split the signals with a LMS into different channels of the mixer, then the complete signal back into another LMS with the same options, then to the amps, correct?
3) How do you set up amp and mixer gain when using only one LMS? Set mixer gain of the channels so that peaks hardly hits 0 (as I've seen in some tutorials)? But what about master? And amp gain probably "to taste" since I need to use that to control the volume?
4) I haven't quite gotten my head around the mixer wiring. Are those wiring chains correct? 
- Turntable -> some phono preamp -> stereo ch1 mixer
- Siren -> stereo ch2
- FX send -> Delay -> stereo ch3
- Mic -> Mic pre -> Mic ch1
=> MainOut -> LMS

Please correct if I've got something wrong here :)

Before I start to spend money on the project, I want to make sure I don't mess up the basics. Big smile

Any help is appreciated 


Edited by r.G - 09 May 2016 at 6:54pm
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Conanski View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Conanski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 May 2016 at 3:02am
Originally posted by r.G r.G wrote:

The sound sources I'll be using are a turntable, a siren and a delay, also it should have one or two mic channels.
The microphones, turntable and siren are sources but a delay is an "effect" that modifies another source and it is generally installed in a loop or insert circuit.

Originally posted by r.G r.G wrote:

1) How many channels will I need? (1-2x microphone/mono and 3 stereo for turntable, siren, delay?)
to utilize all these you need a mixer with at least 4 inputs(2 mono 2 stereo) and 1 effects loop.

Originally posted by r.G r.G wrote:

2) As I see it, the only way to control the ways directly is via amp gain? To control each way (sub, kick, mid, top) individually on the mixer, I'd need to split the signals with a LMS into different channels of the mixer, then the complete signal back into another LMS with the same options, then to the amps, correct?
No.. you're way overthinking this. The level of each output from the LMS can be controlled inside the LMS so system balance is achieved there, amp gains at max eliminates the possibility of someone "accidentally" cranking something up and damaging drivers and allows the LMS limiters to be set accurately.

Originally posted by r.G r.G wrote:

3) How do you set up amp and mixer gain when using only one LMS? Set mixer gain of the channels so that peaks hardly hits 0 (as I've seen in some tutorials)? But what about master?
Same thing.. master set so the meters peak at 0dB for example, then same thing at input meters of LMS, then same thing at at least the low frequency output meters of LMS... mids and highs are often set a little lower to balance but that depends on amps and drivers used.

Originally posted by r.G r.G wrote:

And amp gain probably "to taste" since I need to use that to control the volume?
Balancing the system on the amp gains is viable in a home setting where you want to minimize hiss from the system, but you still want to set it up for the maximum SPL you will ever want to achieve and use the master fader to control overall system volume on the fly. 


Originally posted by r.G r.G wrote:

4) I haven't quite gotten my head around the mixer wiring. Are those wiring chains correct? 
- Turntable -> some phono preamp -> stereo ch1 mixer
- Siren -> stereo ch2
- FX send -> Delay -> stereo ch3
- Mic -> Mic pre -> Mic ch1
=> MainOut -> LMS
 
For the most part that is correct, but any decent mixer will have RIAA(phono) and mic preamps built in, and if it has an FX send it probabaly has an FX return too so you won't need to use up an input to get the wet(processed) mix back into the mains.



Edited by Conanski - 10 May 2016 at 3:12am
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r.G View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote r.G Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 May 2016 at 12:53pm
Great, thank you for your help!
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