Hi All,
Just joined the MixPre team and was wondering about the line option as I've not seen any mention of it in the thread
I've got a 722 and use the line input almost all the time as I record mainly heavy rock show.
Is the line in on the MP the same as the 722?
I'm pretty sure the limiters in the 722 (I don't use them) only work on the mic in. Is that the same with the MP
I still haven't managed to understand what the Faders on the MP do. Do they control the LR mix levels?
If yes would I be able to run the separate channels low and the mix high (controlled by the fader)? or the other way round so I've got a kind of safety track going on
hope that makes sense
Duncan
I do not own a 722, but can answer most of your questions.
First off, when you mention going line in to your 722, is that with an external preamp? It would seem to me that you would not have enough power to get a detailed signal using mics with the line in and no preamp, but I have not really looked at this closely so I may be totally off base with that assumption.
As for the MP6 which is what I am familiar with (and this likely holds true for the MP3 and MP10), I would think you could go mic in even at a heavy rock show, as it seems you have a Gain range from very quiet and low for loud signals, to very high and strong for quiet signals, so that is something you might want to try out. The limiters do work with line in as well as mic in. They are analog limiters, and while I never use the limiters on any of my other decks, I do keep them active on the MP as I can only see it helping in a major screw-up, which generally is just at the very start of a show. They are not artificial sounding at all when they kick in.
As for faders, to give a very non technical idea, the easiest explanation is this:
Think of "Gain" as the incoming volume for your recording. Any adjustments up or down (stronger or weaker hence louder or softer) will be captured on the recording.
Think of the "Faders" as the volume you would output when playing a recording. You can raise and lower the faders all you want and it will in no way affect the recording. If you remember that the MP series are mixers as well as recorders, you might be sending a mix of your tracks to another storage device or editor, and the volume or loudness of each track is what the faders control.
So your idea of making a lower volume track would not work in this case unless you only were recording 2 channels. The MixTrack can be designated in a number of ways, but if you have multiple channels in on left and right, you cannot block their going to the mix. However you may want to play with those limiters, because you may be surprised at their effectiveness.
I hope this helps.