Samson PL2404 User Manual download pdf (Page 19)

Busing, Submixing and Channel Muting

As we’ve seen, the PL 2404 uses a system of four buses—pathways through

which signal can be routed. The four PL 2404 bus faders control the overall

level of the signal being output through the four buses. When the “L/R” switches

above each bus fader are pressed in, the signal from that bus is also routed to

the Main and Control Room outputs. In the case, buses 1 and 3 are automatical-

ly routed to the left side of the Main and Control Room outputs and buses 2 and

4 are automatically routed to the right side of the Main and Control Room

outputs. This four-bus system (which can eventually mix down to a single stereo

output) gives you a great deal of flexibility in terms of signal flow.

For example, you may want to connect the PL 2404 to a four-track cassette or

open-reel tape recorder. One good way to do this is to route each of the four

individual bus outputs to a tape input, and to bring each of the four tape outputs

back to individual channels. With this setup, to record onto track 1, you’d route

one or more instrument or microphone channels to bus 1 (via the channel “Mute

3/4” switch); to record onto track 3, you’d route them to bus 3, etc. To connect

the PL 2404 to an eight-track digital recorder (such as the Alesis ADAT™ or

Tascam DA88™ system), simply use signal splitters or patchbay mults to

combine the signal from buses so that bus 1 is routed to tape inputs 1 and 5;

bus 2 to tape inputs 2 and 6; bus 3 to tape inputs 3 and 7; and bus 4 to tape

inputs 4 and 8. See the “Applications” section at the conclusion of this manual

for more information on using the PL 2404 as a recording mixer.

Another important plus is that you can use each bus to set up a submix within

your overall mix. For example, let’s suppose that you’re using the PL 2404 to do

live sound and you have eight microphones on the drum kit—separate mics for

the bass and snare drums as well as for the hi-hat, another mic for each of three

tom-toms, and an overhead pair for picking up cymbals. To get all this signal

into the PL 2404, you’re going to have to use eight mono channels. During a

sound check, you’ll usually start with the drums, working to get the blend of the

eight different drum mics just right. After that’s done, the next step is typically to

start bringing in the other instruments. During the gig, however, you may need

to raise or lower the overall level of the drums, but you surely won’t want to upset

the blend you so carefully set up. This won’t be easy to do if you have to move

eight faders at once! The solution is to use the busing system provided by the

PL 2404—route the eight drum channels to one pair of buses and all other

instruments to the other pair. Now you can adjust the overall level of the entire

drum mix by moving just two bus faders!

You can also use the PL 2404 bus switches to mute particular channels (that is,

remove them temporarily from the overall mix without having to change their

fader position). To do this, keep bus faders 3 and 4 down at their “∞” position

(no signal) and use buses 1 and 2 for your overall mix. Then, to mute a signal,

all you have to do is press that channel’s “Mute 3/4” switch; the signal will be

rerouted to buses 3 and 4 (which are off) and will be removed from the mix you

hear. To restore the signal (that is, unmute it), all you have to do is press that

channel’s “Mute 3/4” switch again—since its fader hasn’t been moved, the sound

will come back at the same level as before.

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BUS OUTPUTS

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Samson PL2404 User Manual Page 19

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