Example – getting it to work:
Now you know the basic controls of the mixer in theory. The best way to learn it is learning by doing, but since this is only an instruction the next best thing is to have an example so that you get the sense of when to do what. In this example it’s only one person singing with an electrical guitar, in other words a two channel mix.
Let’s start with the gear. We need two stands and two microphones, one of each for vocals and guitar. We also need two XLR cables of course.
Start with sound checking the guitar. Put the microphone on the stand and put the stand in an appropriate place. (The microphone should be standing by the 12th fret facing the resonating hole.) Connect it to channel 1s’ XLR jack, then press PFL and adjust the input gain. Make sure the person is playing the same thing he/she is supposed to play at the concert. When the level reaches around 0 dB, press PFL again to go back to the regular mode. Unmute the channel and move the fader towards the Unity position. Now you should hear the guitar playing through the speakers. (Assuming that you also adjusted the main fader)
Now it’s time to sound check the vocal microphone. Ask the artist to sing or speak (or sound) like he/she will do later. Do the same procedure as the guitar and maybe add a little reverb. The yellow pot.
Now you know almost everything about getting the café mixer to work and it’s time to move on and focus on making it sound good. In the next booklet (Mixing), you will find a little more advanced stuff.
Trouble shooting
It doesn’t work, what do I do?
• Check the lead. It might be broken. If it is; label it and put it in the “Broken Things Box”
• What kind of microphones are you using? Make sure you have the phantom power on if they are condenser type (almost all of The Forest’s mics are dynamic)
• Check all mute buttons and volume faders.
• Did you switch on the power on the DI-box? No more battery? It may need phantom power.
• Check the level of the signal by pressing the PFL button. Play and turn the gain until it is around the 0 limit.
Feedback
It feeds back, what do I do?
• Undo what you just did.
• Turn down the volume level of the channel that is feeding back
• Cut the highest frequencies.
• Turn the microphone that is feeding back AWAY from monitor/PA/amps