I want to thank you for these series of videos. My wife and I just opened a new venue and I need to come up from zero to becoming a profient sound engineer as quickly as possible. Your videos are very helpful getting me up to speed on the PreSonus mixer.
Thank you so much. So much frustration until I discovered your videos. I watched the effects video and now will go back and watch all of your series. Very well done, you speak clearly and not too fast, good close ups and explain everything well. Presonus should pay you for these - better than the stuff they have.
Great tutorials. Just purchased the 24. The manual now makes a lot more sense thanks to your videos. Thanks for taking the time. I look forward to you posting more!
Having used this board since it came out, the gain structure is backwards in this video. Set main outs to Unity, set channel to Unity, then turn gain up until you it feedback, back off a little and you are done. This allows maximum fader usage for your mix, when using monitors you are better able to add into the monitors w/o feedback, etc. Most importantly in gain structure (look up Dave Rat) is you don't want your input (gain knob) so HOT that you have no fader movement.
Chris Bourassa What you describe is just one way to approach gain staging. The method in this video is equally valid, if not more so. One weakness of the method you describe is that it often requires re-adjusting the input gain stage after you start making adjustments in channel EQ and/or dynamic processing. This in turn affects the send levels to the FX and monitor buses, requiring more work for the person mixing and a less stable mix platform.
@mickster82 If the overall output of the board is too low even when the main output meter is close to clipping that means you either need to turn up the gain knob on the back of the mixer, or you need to turn up the gain knob on your amplifier or powered speakers.
Great vids, man, thank you! We just had this installed where I work and these vids have been a great help in acclimating myself with the new gear. Thank you!
Thanks for these videos. The training you provided was most helpful. Question: I have the 16.4.2 and was exploring the idea of a separate drum mix using an small Mackie analog mixer and then routing it to one of the channels on the studiolive. Would this work? I'm just trying to free up some channels. Guess I should have went with the 24 channel. :)
Hi Derek, I know its been a few years since you did this tutorial, but I only recently bought a 2nd hand presonus 16:4:2 mixer and honestly it's mainly because of your amazing well put together videos I was able to perform 1st night with this desk, I'm completely new to the digital world of mixers, also with in relation to powered speakers namely the RCF 935a's under which I have the Behringer B1500xp's subs, latest gig my mic was constantly whistling when trying to get my vocal above the backing tracks, in this video tutorial you mentioned a very important point on matching the powered tops to the desk, I normally have them set about 12 o clock position but last night this setting certainly did not suit the venue, I brought them to 2 o clock made a difference but still mic was constant feedback when I try to boost the level fader, these RCF's are very powerful but where was I going wrong, as I said I do sing and play with backing tracks but I was forcing myself vocally, my speakers were definately not set right also backing tracks were over dominating, For my tracks from my ipad I'm using 2 channels on the desk and I used a bright piano preset to work from as there's no preset on the desk for tracks, I just used it as a starting point, I hope you will give me some insight as to where I may be going wrong here, also the Eq sheet you put together where will I find this to print off, well done on your super tutorials here, I'll have to bring my desk in house and follow as you go through all your chapters on this super desk, await your reply and thanks
Mate this was a cool video. I have been a sound guy on analogue mixers for years, and in the last few years I have used the Yamaha 01v adding 8 channels via an m-audio profire 2626. I am facing a very tough decision as to whether to change to the 01v96v2 second hand or a Presonus 24.4.2 The presonus generally looks like an amazing unit, but the Yamaha is more industry standard and is upgradeable from is built in 16 channels to 40 channels via Adat preamps. Presonus has 10 aux outs, the yam h
I am confused as to the mixer main level and the speaker main level and how to do the proper gain structuring. I didn't see you change buttons or anything when talking about the speaker level compared to the mixer level. Can you please explain that. Thanks
Been using your series of training videos for a while now, real good thanks. In Gain Structuring how do we use the 'Group' faders? We have a group for vocals and another for instruments. Also as we are borrowing another Church's venue at the moment, the drums are not partitioned and no mics on them. What would you recommend using as the instrument or vocal for setting up our mix from?
When you are setting speaker levels, you mention playing music. Are you talking the band playing music or through an ipod? And if it's an ipod, how do you determine the volume of the ipod to adjust the Main output levels?
Hey man. This is great info. I'm not having success using the PFL function. Can you or someone explain how to use it in a live situation when trying to listen to individual channels. Thanks
It would work, but the downside is you won't be able to apply eq or dynamic processing to your individual drums on the PreSonus which is kind of a big deal. Have you considered buying a second 16.4.2 and linking them? That would be your best solution.
A better way is, after you make your speakers and board clip mark the spot where the amps clip. Turn amps all the way down. Set board output to unity, then turn speakers up till you hit the volume you need, while listening to an ipod. Start with subs. Get the leval you need of punch, then bring up mids then highs to ballance it out
What about your main input level. While you have your whole mix running hit select above your main slider and look at the input level. How do you keep that below red?
Best bet is use the Channel Select LVL meter which is the far left meter from the main L/R meter and don't go past -15dBu's since it;s digital and scaled with dBu's.
..a little. But that's not that big of deal.. The main point I wanted to make is that it's very odd how you do your levels. Ideally, your main would be set to Unity, and then balance your instruments on that. The idea of starting with your loudest instrument is a good one, but usually your loudest instrument, will end up with a lower level because it doesn't need as much amplification, and you really don't want every other source being set above unity. Your loudest instrument will probably be..
@01fichtner The lights blinking is a camera bug on the iPad. You must have had annotations turned off because I made a note to mention it. As far as the phase button, I had someone let me know I was using it wrong in the video where I talked about the high pass filter. I should have read the manual better for that one, but Presonus also shouldn't have put a button directly above the label "High Pass" when the button doesn't have anything to do with the "High Pass". Thanks for the feedback!
Hi. I got your details while on the presonus website. I bought my son a 32:4:2AI mixer for his birthday as he is learning sound engineering at college. We are desperately looking for a demo file that can be opened in capture 2.1 so we can send it to the mixer and learn how it all works. We found the demo songs on the presonus site but nothing will open in capture, how daft ! Would you be willing and kind enough to let my son have one of your songs that you have recorded in capture to allow him/us to learn the mixer ? Please help Regards Simon
..around half way up to unity in an average mix. If any source is going to be at unity, it'll probably be a source that is about 1/2 - 3/4 in terms of how loud it is compared to your other sources (i.e., if you were mixing 20 sources; #1 being your loudest/least amp. required source, and #20 being your quietest/most amp. required source; any instrument that lies on unity would probably be between #10 and #15). :P
Just my 2 cents and some notes for ya.. Personally, I would give more than 1/2 to 2/3 on the meters if they're playing their loudest. Probably more around 3/4, because if you set yourself only at 1/2 when they're at their loudest, you're inevitably going to turn it up when they play a quieter part, which you shouldn't have to do. Of course you need to leave some headroom, but again assuming they're playing their loudest, you won't technically need any more headroom than that, so just give them..
I believe you are not totally accurate. The input meters are dBFS and the Subgroup/Main meters are dBu with the subgroup meters being -60 to +18 dBu and the Main meters being -60 to +24 dBu. If you set your input gains so the input meter is reading 6 LEDS (-18 dBFS) that would equate to a 0 on the subgroups/main meter. If you run the input gain maters 1/2 to 2/3 as you suggested with the faders at Unity, you will quickly OL the subgroups and main meters. Been there, done that until I read up.
@drummerfromoly I made the switch from analog 2 years ago and haven't looked back. When you are ready to get one please give me a call. I'm a gold status Presonus dealer and I'll get you the best price possible. Plus I give free lifetime support on everything I sell, so any questions you have you can call me up and I can train you over the phone, skype or make another training video for you.
I've been dropping back into this guys videos on the 1642 for the last 10 years. A massive thank you! The videos are fantastic
I want to thank you for these series of videos. My wife and I just opened a new venue and I need to come up from zero to becoming a profient sound engineer as quickly as possible. Your videos are very helpful getting me up to speed on the PreSonus mixer.
Thank you so much. So much frustration until I discovered your videos. I watched the effects video and now will go back and watch all of your series. Very well done, you speak clearly and not too fast, good close ups and explain everything well. Presonus should pay you for these - better than the stuff they have.
These are the best set of tutorials on Presonus SL I've seen so far...thank you!
Great tutorials. Just purchased the 24. The manual now makes a lot more sense thanks to your videos. Thanks for taking the time. I look forward to you posting more!
After seeing your tutorials about the Presonus SL, I finally get the hang of my console. Clearly explained, to the point. Thank you.
Thanks for your videos. I learned so much from them. Cheers!!
These are great videos. So much better than reading through the manual
Having used this board since it came out, the gain structure is backwards in this video. Set main outs to Unity, set channel to Unity, then turn gain up until you it feedback, back off a little and you are done. This allows maximum fader usage for your mix, when using monitors you are better able to add into the monitors w/o feedback, etc. Most importantly in gain structure (look up Dave Rat) is you don't want your input (gain knob) so HOT that you have no fader movement.
Chris Bourassa
What you describe is just one way to approach gain staging. The method in this video is equally valid, if not more so.
One weakness of the method you describe is that it often requires re-adjusting the input gain stage after you start making adjustments in channel EQ and/or dynamic processing. This in turn affects the send levels to the FX and monitor buses, requiring more work for the person mixing and a less stable mix platform.
Thanks for doing this. I am moving away from analog, and have been looking at this board. Very helpful.
@pjb213 No problems. Appears the same as any other multi-track audio interface in those programs.
@mickster82 If the overall output of the board is too low even when the main output meter is close to clipping that means you either need to turn up the gain knob on the back of the mixer, or you need to turn up the gain knob on your amplifier or powered speakers.
Excellent videos! Can't wait to watch the rest, thanks for sharing!
This was so informative, I've been looking for information like this! Thank you
Great vids, man, thank you! We just had this installed where I work and these vids have been a great help in acclimating myself with the new gear. Thank you!
Thanks for these videos. The training you provided was most helpful. Question: I have the 16.4.2 and was exploring the idea of a separate drum mix using an small Mackie analog mixer and then routing it to one of the channels on the studiolive. Would this work? I'm just trying to free up some channels. Guess I should have went with the 24 channel. :)
Excellent explained, no need to apologize! :)
Hi Derek, I know its been a few years since you did this tutorial, but I only recently bought a 2nd hand presonus 16:4:2 mixer and honestly it's mainly because of your amazing well put together videos I was able to perform 1st night with this desk, I'm completely new to the digital world of mixers, also with in relation to powered speakers namely the RCF 935a's under which I have the Behringer B1500xp's subs, latest gig my mic was constantly whistling when trying to get my vocal above the backing tracks, in this video tutorial you mentioned a very important point on matching the powered tops to the desk, I normally have them set about 12 o clock position but last night this setting certainly did not suit the venue, I brought them to 2 o clock made a difference but still mic was constant feedback when I try to boost the level fader, these RCF's are very powerful but where was I going wrong, as I said I do sing and play with backing tracks but I was forcing myself vocally, my speakers were definately not set right also backing tracks were over dominating,
For my tracks from my ipad I'm using 2 channels on the desk and I used a bright piano preset to work from as there's no preset on the desk for tracks, I just used it as a starting point, I hope you will give me some insight as to where I may be going wrong here, also the Eq sheet you put together where will I find this to print off, well done on your super tutorials here, I'll have to bring my desk in house and follow as you go through all your chapters on this super desk, await your reply and thanks
Thanks for all the tips and videos! God bless you!
Great series man! Thanks for sharing, I LOVE my 16.4.2
Mate this was a cool video.
I have been a sound guy on analogue mixers for years, and in the last few years I have used the Yamaha 01v adding 8 channels via an m-audio profire 2626.
I am facing a very tough decision as to whether to change to the 01v96v2 second hand or a Presonus 24.4.2
The presonus generally looks like an amazing unit, but the Yamaha is more industry standard and is upgradeable from is built in 16 channels to 40 channels via Adat preamps.
Presonus has 10 aux outs, the yam h
Is it possible to save all these settings once you have all defined? What do you need to do, or if someone moves the faders you lose that?
I am confused as to the mixer main level and the speaker main level and how to do the proper gain structuring. I didn't see you change buttons or anything when talking about the speaker level compared to the mixer level. Can you please explain that. Thanks
Been using your series of training videos for a while now, real good thanks. In Gain Structuring how do we use the 'Group' faders? We have a group for vocals and another for instruments. Also as we are borrowing another Church's venue at the moment, the drums are not partitioned and no mics on them. What would you recommend using as the instrument or vocal for setting up our mix from?
When you are setting speaker levels, you mention playing music. Are you talking the band playing music or through an ipod? And if it's an ipod, how do you determine the volume of the ipod to adjust the Main output levels?
Hey man. This is great info. I'm not having success using the PFL function. Can you or someone explain how to use it in a live situation when trying to listen to individual channels. Thanks
It would work, but the downside is you won't be able to apply eq or dynamic processing to your individual drums on the PreSonus which is kind of a big deal. Have you considered buying a second 16.4.2 and linking them? That would be your best solution.
A better way is, after you make your speakers and board clip mark the spot where the amps clip. Turn amps all the way down. Set board output to unity, then turn speakers up till you hit the volume you need, while listening to an ipod. Start with subs. Get the leval you need of punch, then bring up mids then highs to ballance it out
What about your main input level. While you have your whole mix running hit select above your main slider and look at the input level. How do you keep that below red?
Fantabulous! Thank you!
Best bet is use the Channel Select LVL meter which is the far left meter from the main L/R meter and don't go past -15dBu's since it;s digital and scaled with dBu's.
..a little. But that's not that big of deal.. The main point I wanted to make is that it's very odd how you do your levels. Ideally, your main would be set to Unity, and then balance your instruments on that. The idea of starting with your loudest instrument is a good one, but usually your loudest instrument, will end up with a lower level because it doesn't need as much amplification, and you really don't want every other source being set above unity. Your loudest instrument will probably be..
@01fichtner The lights blinking is a camera bug on the iPad. You must have had annotations turned off because I made a note to mention it. As far as the phase button, I had someone let me know I was using it wrong in the video where I talked about the high pass filter. I should have read the manual better for that one, but Presonus also shouldn't have put a button directly above the label "High Pass" when the button doesn't have anything to do with the "High Pass". Thanks for the feedback!
ALWAYS CONNECT MONITOR SPEAKERS TO YOUR CTR ROOM INPUT SO YOUR MASTER MIX DOESNT GET MESSED UP WHEN YOU WANT TO LOVER THE VOLUME
Hi grat videos, i have a question what do i nedd for connect the presonnus to a Mac or Pc? Help me please =)
Very cool man...very helpful..thanks for taking time to do this
Great Help....better than the presonus videos!
Hi.
I got your details while on the presonus website.
I bought my son a 32:4:2AI mixer for his birthday as he is learning sound engineering at college.
We are desperately looking for a demo file that can be opened in capture 2.1 so we can send it to the mixer and learn how it all works.
We found the demo songs on the presonus site but nothing will open in capture, how daft !
Would you be willing and kind enough to let my son have one of your songs that you have recorded in capture to allow him/us to learn the mixer ?
Please help
Regards
Simon
wonderful job man thank you i love that teaching..God Bless
Thank You for the explanation!
xlint video, clearly explained. thank you!
I just got my mixer.. It seems as though ONLY powered speakers are the option. Am I right?
LadyonKeys No, you can use passive speakers if you want. You just need a separate amplifier if you are using passive speakers.
Got it! Thx for that, I was a bit perplex...smh
I got my mixer 16 .4.2...but my monitors do not work.... can you help me or explain how to connect de amp and the monitors please....
@ivelat Watch training video #2. That's what it talks about.
..around half way up to unity in an average mix. If any source is going to be at unity, it'll probably be a source that is about 1/2 - 3/4 in terms of how loud it is compared to your other sources (i.e., if you were mixing 20 sources; #1 being your loudest/least amp. required source, and #20 being your quietest/most amp. required source; any instrument that lies on unity would probably be between #10 and #15). :P
So helpful! Thank you very much.
Thanks a lot for your help!
Nice job, dude. Thanks for your efforts. :)
Thanks it was very helpful.
Just my 2 cents and some notes for ya.. Personally, I would give more than 1/2 to 2/3 on the meters if they're playing their loudest. Probably more around 3/4, because if you set yourself only at 1/2 when they're at their loudest, you're inevitably going to turn it up when they play a quieter part, which you shouldn't have to do. Of course you need to leave some headroom, but again assuming they're playing their loudest, you won't technically need any more headroom than that, so just give them..
Man you are the best!!!
tru dat 480?
great video dude. thanx
I have problem freezing GR
man, thanks so much for the vids. great help, really appreciated. thats all!!! :)
i was taught that you set the main to u first then you a just each channel on the faders
you do. main out to unity.
I believe you are not totally accurate. The input meters are dBFS and the Subgroup/Main meters are dBu with the subgroup meters being -60 to +18 dBu and the Main meters being -60 to +24 dBu. If you set your input gains so the input meter is reading 6 LEDS (-18 dBFS) that would equate to a 0 on the subgroups/main meter. If you run the input gain maters 1/2 to 2/3 as you suggested with the faders at Unity, you will quickly OL the subgroups and main meters. Been there, done that until I read up.
Thank you!!!!
Last gig i forgot to gain structure. I dont know how it turned out as good as it did. Talking about a brainfart.
@drummerfromoly I made the switch from analog 2 years ago and haven't looked back. When you are ready to get one please give me a call. I'm a gold status Presonus dealer and I'll get you the best price possible. Plus I give free lifetime support on everything I sell, so any questions you have you can call me up and I can train you over the phone, skype or make another training video for you.
alot of ums and ahs and uhh...