Yamaha RM800 - Manual (Page 17)

14 System Examples
RM800 User's Guide
System Examples
Background (in-line vs. split)
Your RM800 is an in-line console, as opposed to a split console. An in-line con­
sole functions as two separate mixing boards on top of each other (a two-sto-
rey console, if you like). One ‘storey’ can be used as full-fledged mixer with an
EQ section, AUX Send controls and a fader to make all necessary adjustments.
The second layer, on the other hand, is identical to a line mixer, with rotary
PAN and LEVEL controls and one effect send. In-line mixers, like your RM800,
allow you to freely select which signal connected to an input module should be
treated by the extensive mixing part, leaving the line mixer part to the other
signal. You can indeed connect one signal source to the MIC/LINE input of a
module and another one to the TAPE IN jack of that module - and have inde­
pendent control over both of them.
Let us call the ‘extensive’ mixer part the input section and the ‘line mixer’ part
the monitor section.
Input section: The signals you send to the multitrack (i.e. the signals you are
recording) should always be optimized: the recording level must be set to the
maximum possible level without causing distortion. Furthermore, you may
wish to use the EQ controls of the RM800 to correct the frequency response of
the signal sources before sending them to the multitrack. All the settings you
make should be carried out with the quality of the recording in mind.
Monitor section: The balance of the signals that are being recorded (i.e. the
input section levels) is usually unusable for monitoring purposes. After all, the
HiHat may be much louder than all other instruments you record at the same
time, so that you instinctively reduce its level. Doing so, however, also means
that the level of the HiHat no longer allows you to achieve the best possible S/N
ratio for the corresponding track, because if you reduce the HiHat’s level on
the RM800, you also reduce the level of the signal being sent to the multitrack.
That is precisely the advantage of an in-line console: it allows you to feed the
outputs of your multitrack machine back to the RM800 and establish a sepa­
rate mix (level and pan) for listening (or monitoring) purposes. Thus, you can
reduce the multitrack return level of the HiHat without affecting the recording
level of that instrument because you are effectively modifying the signal after
it has been recorded: