Mixing Desk

The OB Mixing Desk, Behringer X1832USB.

This looks like a fearsome beast compared with the Studio mixer but has properties which make it better as outside broadcast equipment.

Inputs

The top row labelled ‘MIC’ is where XLR mics are connected. The middle row labelled ‘LINE IN’ is the optional high level input on each channel and these are not normally used as we usually have 2 wired mics and up to 4 radio mics. The row of push-button switches labelled ‘LOW CUT’ cuts the bass content to remove wind and ‘pop’ noise and for vocal mics should all be pressed into the active (down) position. The bottom row of rotary controls labelled ‘GAIN’ set the sensitivity of each channel and their adjustment will be covered later.

Compresser & EQ

All of these controls should be set to their mid-position initially and only adjusted to suit any OB specific conditions. Most of the controls have an obvious mid-position setting (mechanical detent). The top row of controls labelled ‘COMP’ may be altered most often according to the OB being done.

FX, Pan & Mute

The orange topped FX2 row of controls are not used. The black-topped row of controls labelled ‘PAN’ distribute the audio between the stereo left and right outputs of the main bus. It depends on the OB type as to how these are set. The bottom row of black square latching push-buttons labelled ‘MUTE’ which are not easy to see, do exactly that when latched down. No audio from that channel can be heard and a warning LED (yellow) indicates that the channel is muted.

Faders

The two LED’s are self-evident. The yellow one indicates mute is operational on that channel. The red ‘CLIP’ LED indicates the input is clipping, and that the ‘GAIN’ should be corrected as soon as possible.

There are three latching push-buttons: SOLO puts audio of that channel into the headphone monitoring circuit exclusively along with other channels that may also be set to SOLO but does not disturb the main mix. Note that the 'CLIP' led lights up when 'SOLO' is active so do not be alarmed. SUB when latched down, directs controlled audio of that channel to the SUBordinate stereo bus. MAIN - when latched down, directs controlled audio of that channel to the MAIN stereo bus and this is the broadcast audio. MAIN and SUB should NOT be selected together. Most channels will be set to MAIN. The sliding control function should be obvious but for trimming purposes during setting up, it should be set at the ‘0dB’ mark some way down from maximum. This is different from the studio mixer desk!

Line-Ins & Headphones

The remaining ‘LINE IN’ numbered jacks, also labelled ‘L&R’ are the inputs for 4 stereo sources with 2 fixed gain levels selected by latching pushbuttons. CD or computer audio goes to up to 3 of the channels. The fourth is reserved for return audio from the studio The ‘EQ’ section (not shown but like the mic channels) of the stereo channels should be set to central position as per the microphone channels. There are no ‘COMP’ controls for these channels. Headphones should be plugged into ‘PHONES’.

Main Output Fader & Monitoring

The ‘SOURCE’ panel sets what can be heard on the headphones. The red button should be set ‘up’ and both of the black buttons ‘down’ to allow both ‘MAIN’ and ‘SUB’ audio to be heard. There is a volume control for the ‘PHONES’ output.

Audio levels to the +4 yellow LEDs can be tolerated although this may not always be the case. The microphone channel ‘GAIN’ controls should be set to achieve this as well as the preset gains of the stereo channels. The red ‘CLIP’ LED should never be reached.

Adjustments must be done to correct that occurrence. The ‘POWER’ LED is self-evident. The ‘+48V’ LED indicates that the condenser microphone supply voltage is active on the 6 microphone channels. The switch for this is on the rear panel near the main power switch and IEC power socket. This ‘PHANTOM’ power should only be active if the microphones require it.

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