- I can't remember how to send a signal to an
effects device.
- Find the Effects (Aux) Send number of your device in the studio patchbook (Aux Send #1, 2, 3, etc.). Some mixers label them as Effects Sends, Aux Sends, Echo Sends, or Foldback.
- On the INPUT CHANNELS you wish to send signal from, turn up the Effects (Aux) Send sub-master about half-way for starters. On some boards, 12 O'Clock is off, turning to the left is pre-fader, to the right is post-fader (seeMixing Console Basics).
- Find the EFFECTS (AUX) SEND Masters, usually a group of knobs on the right side of the mixing console. Turn the Master for your device up, again about half-way for starters.
- Turn up faders for Effects Device return to the board. Some studios use the Effects Returns, some, like the CECM studios, use additional board INPUT CHANNELS. Find them in the Patchbook.
- Turn INPUT knob on Effects Device up about half-way and select desired effect.
- Send some signal to the board channels and listen for your effect. If you hear nothing, or not the desired effect from the effects device, procede below.
- No sound from effects device.
- Is it getting signal? Check the meter on the front of the effects device--it should be registering some signal. If not, double-check the INPUT CHANNEL send and the EFFECTS (AUX) SEND MASTER. Make sure neither is muted.
- Check the Effect. On some models, the RECALL button must be pressed before an Effect takes effect (so to speak). Some effects may be very subtle and not noticable.
- I get a painful sqeal out of the speakers when I
turn up the Effects Return faders.
- Chances are you have created a feedback loop. Make certain the Effects (Aux) Send sub-masters for a particular device are TURNED DOWN on the Effects Return INPUT CHANNELS. Otherwise you are rerouting any returning signal back into the device. A little deliberate feedback is OK for enhancing delays and pitch shifts with delay, but will produce painful results with reverb. Most effects devices now come with ample feedback parameters on-board.
- If you have a live mike in the room being routed to the studio monitor speakers, you may have given the signal a new path to feedback from through the effects device. Turn down the studio monitor level (usually the CR knob on the mixer).
- I hear a great deal of hiss from the effects
channels.
- Effects are very sensitive to level. Some are also very noisy. Chances are, you need to send more signal to the device so the Effects Returns can be lowered. Increase either the sub-master on the channels, the Effects Send Masters, or the Inpu t know on the device itself until the peaks of your sound just hit the red of the Effects Device Input meter.
- I hear a great deal of distortion from the Effect
Return.
- Again, effect's Input Levels are very sensitive. Try turning down the amount of signal from the input channel sends, the Effects Send Master, or the Effects device itself. You may just need to readjust all three, in case you are overloading one particular stage.
- I can't remember how to send the return from one
effects device into another effects device.
- You can route any returning effect into another device for a second effect simply by turning up the Effects (Aux) Send knob corresponding to the second device on the Input Channel of the first device. For example, if I had an SPX90 on Aux Send 1, and a Lexicon PCM70 on Aux Send 2 I would turn up the Aux Send 2 knobs on the SPX 90 return channels to send my SPX return to the Lexicon. Again, I would check that both Aux Send Masters were up as well. This can get rather convoluted, since you can th en take the Lexicon return and send it back to the SPX by turn Aux Send 1 up on the Lexicon return channels. This works best with time-shifted (i.e. delayed) patches.
This document prepared
by Prof. Jeffrey Hass, Indiana University School of
Music, Center for Electronic and Computer Music, last
modified 9/10/01.
Email any comments, suggestions, requests for new
documents, or corrections to cecm@indiana.edu
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