clipping and distortion

[George]

Right, I think we're nearly there. What we need are cables:
1) Mics to mixer. Two of XLR-XLR. Channels 1 and 2, individual control of each mic.
2) Laptop to mixer. 1/8" jack to two 1.4" jack. Connected to both line sockets on channels 5/6 ( only because I like to separate them physically from the mics. Less chance of twiddling the wrong one ).
3) Mixer to amp. Either two of Jack to Jack or one of Jack to XLR

There's very little difference in performance, and I've only linked to these ones to demonstrate the connectors needed. Also, don't forget that each channel on your mixer has two gain ( volume ) controls. The top ones ( red ) are usually regarded as " trim " controls, to get the bottom ones into the sweet spot, of around centre. Anything maxed out, or barely above zero is hard to adjust.

hi ive got the correct leads now ive put up pictures hopefully im on the right track

[Excalibur]

I've been out for a meal with family, I've had a small sherry or two, and there's no way on God's green earth that I am going to try to organise/catalogue/delete/understand those pictures.

I think a couple of them show the setup we have advised.

Do not, repeat not, repeat not bridge the amp. There should be a switch somewhere on the back, set it to STEREO. Blimey, we've just got you two cables to allow this, and you bypass them with this switch.

HDMI is now the preferred method for monitors, I'll let someone else explain that, I can manage it usually, but more by good luck than intent. You need to set VDJ to VIDEO, there will be an option to activate the monitor, and extend the screen. That leaves you with controls on the laptop, and words on the monitor. Later releases of VDJ make this easier.

The purpose of the white knobs on the mixer is to balance individual channels. Leave the master alone, once you've got it somewhere in range. Julian and Gavin have both given you the way to do it.

[rth_discos]

All set up and everything seems great i only have to turn master volume up a touch and it’s loud shall I use the channel volume to say 12 o’clock then adjust it with master volume up and down to get comfortable sound quality like not to heavy don’t want the place shaking

How far round is a "touch"?

The best way to describe the position of a gain control is by describing it as the hour on a clock it'd be sat at.

Channel volumes (the ones at the bottom of each channel) shouldn't need to go above 12 o clock. 12 o'clock from memory is "0db" on that mixer. I've had that mixer myself before, and it's a good, solid little mixer for this sort of work.

[DJ Jules]

Back the amp volumes off, probably back to 12 o'clock. If you do that you'll find the master volume on the mixer is less sensitive and gives you more control.

Other than that, everything looks like it's set about right. As long as you're not seeing any clip lights on the mixer you should be on the right track and it ought to be sounding better?

Julian

[Excalibur]

Back the amp volumes off, probably back to 12 o'clock. If you do that you'll find the master volume on the mixer is less sensitive and gives you more control.

Gavin is correct about using o'clock, helpful. Julian, well while I fully appreciate what he's saying, and why he's saying it, I'm a man who in his days of using amps, had more success with turning them flat out, and then backing them off a touch, somebody's going to confuse you more by using the word " headroom " soon, I just know it.

Other than that, everything looks like it's set about right. As long as you're not seeing any clip lights on the mixer you should be on the right track and it ought to be sounding better?

Julian

Billy Ocean was in his youth a brilliant sound engineer, and brought out a treatise on that very subject.

[George]

I've been out for a meal with family, I've had a small sherry or two, and there's no way on God's green earth that I am going to try to organise/catalogue/delete/understand those pictures.

I think a couple of them show the setup we have advised.

Do not, repeat not, repeat not bridge the amp. There should be a switch somewhere on the back, set it to STEREO. Blimey, we've just got you two cables to allow this, and you bypass them with this switch.

HDMI is now the preferred method for monitors, I'll let someone else explain that, I can manage it usually, but more by good luck than intent. You need to set VDJ to VIDEO, there will be an option to activate the monitor, and extend the screen. That leaves you with controls on the laptop, and words on the monitor. Later releases of VDJ make this easier.

The purpose of the white knobs on the mixer is to balance individual channels. Leave the master alone, once you've got it somewhere in range. Julian and Gavin have both given you the way to do it.

Hi yes I’ve set it to stereo was just asking for help on the settings no idea what the bridge was

[George]

How far round is a "touch"?

The best way to describe the position of a gain control is by describing it as the hour on a clock it'd be sat at.

Channel volumes (the ones at the bottom of each channel) shouldn't need to go above 12 o clock. 12 o'clock from memory is "0db" on that mixer. I've had that mixer myself before, and it's a good, solid little mixer for this sort of work.

Like say to 8 o’clock

[George]

Back the amp volumes off, probably back to 12 o'clock. If you do that you'll find the master volume on the mixer is less sensitive and gives you more control.

Other than that, everything looks like it's set about right. As long as you're not seeing any clip lights on the mixer you should be on the right track and it ought to be sounding better?

Julian

It sounds well better now can’t believe the difference it has made even walking around with the mics on sounds good couldn’t do it before had to stay near the receiver to get any sound from it

[rth_discos]

Like say to 8 o’clock

In which case, Julian is right - you can back off the amps a little bit. Otherwise, the slightest knock of that master volume and you could really be whacking it up loud lol!

You probably want to find a sweet spot where about 12 o'clock on the mixer main output is your desired output volume, but whatever happens, those LEDs on the right of the mixer shouldn't be going too far up - you want to leave yourself a bit of headroom.

But glad it made a big difference. It should negate the need to look at investing in more equipment for a while.

[George]

Hi thanks for all your help and advice I’ve had it all up and running on Friday night it sounds great now thanks to everyone who helped me get this sorted hopefully we can have some good singing in the pub from now on 👍