EQ, Pan, Mute, and Faders (Mixer Fundamentals)

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This is video 3 of 8 in this series. Check out the full playlist!

In the last part of this series, we learned about the preamp section. Now, we cover the EQ, pan/mute and fader sections, and discuss some tips on setting the gain, which is the first step in getting a balanced mix.

After the Preamp Section, the signal goes through the EQ. We all know what EQ does in general, but professional EQ is pretty powerful.

EQ divides the range of human hearing into a number of frequency bands, like lows, mids, and highs. And we can control each of these bands separately by making boosts or cuts, with a narrow or wide bandwidth, and adjusting the center frequency to where it sounds best. Some channel strip EQs are three band, but many consoles have four bands, with both a low-mid and high-mid band, giving us more options to shape the sound.

Making these EQ decisions is something every engineer does a little differently, and a lot of it comes down to personal preference. However, these settings can drastically alter the sound — so be careful about using too much EQ, especially when boosting. It's almost always better to cut frequencies in live sound rather than boost them.

After the EQ, our signal passes through the Pan/Mute section. For FOH, where the audience is, pan affects how much goes to the left or right of the main speakers, and for monitors, it affects how much is sent to the left or right of a stereo monitor mix, which is great for in-ear-monitors. The mute button, like it sounds, just stops the audio from going on to the fader, and also mutes other outputs like Auxes.

We also have the solo/PFL, which stands for pre-fader listen, and this does a couple really important things. It sends the signal to the headphones, so we can hear what it sounds like, and it also shows the level on the meter. This way, we can make sure we have a clean signal, and also set the Gain, which I talk about more in a minute.

Finally, we hit the fader, which controls how much gets sent to the outputs. To determine exactly where the signal goes, the fader is assigned to specific outputs, like groups or directly to the main left-right mix.

In the last video I said that the Gain knob is the most important knob on the console. If we properly set the Gain for each channel, it's much, much easier to get a good mix.

Some digital consoles have an LED on each channel so you can easily get a sense of the gain. You can see this one is flashing blue, so it's pretty low, this one's green, which is better, and this one is orange, which is hotter but not clipping. But instead of just relying on these LEDs, using the PFL — which shows the level on the meter — is way more precise. So, we can solo this channel, then adjust the gain so it's about 0db, or just starting to hit the orange. And if I do that with the other channels too, I'm in a really good place to start, and turning up all three channels, so the faders are at 0dB, or unity, we can hear that things are pretty balanced right off the bat.

When we're mixing, as really solid rule of thumb, we want the faders to all be about Unity, or 0dB, and then use the gain knobs to make general adjustments and get the mix in a good place. This means If the vocals do need to be on top of the mix, it's good to add a little extra gain instead of just trying to push the fader, or if something is too loud, you can fix it by reducing the gain. Just keep in mind that whenever you adjust the gain knob, it also affects the aux sends to the monitors.

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[neilkendall]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'If all the faders are at unity and it sounds balanced....'. I mean, setting the faders at unity point is only a starting point and you then adjust the input gain so it's just peaking (a certain colour on the meters, or around -18dbfs, depending on your particular model of mixer). But once you've set the input gain, you will have to move the faders to get a good mix balance - leaving them all at unity is unlikely to result in a well balanced mix because different mics and instruments will have different input levels. Really good channel, though - lots to learn from it.