new user help, please!

[J.R.Participant]

Hi, Have just purchased a ZED SIXTY 10FX DESK and after my existing basic wharfedale system I am more than a little confused. I want to use the desk for singing to backing tracks through my lap top.

Could anyone give me a basic idiots guide to some suggested settings? I am playing through some new 12 inch Yamaha powered speakers but am not getting such a good sound as my basic Wharfedale powered mixer through my passive speakers. So I am only using the one mic channel and therefore I am assuming this should be an easy setup. I am assuming the echo/reverb effects will come from the effects processor final channel with the yellow fader?

Sorry for this but if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be most appreciated. Kenny

[dcongdonParticipant]

Hi J.R.

Welcome to the A&H family and sorry to hear you are experiencing trouble. I’ll offer what help I can, but just want to acknowledge that this community is directed at the digital mixing products from Allen & Heath (iLive, GLD, QU, and ME). I’m sure plenty of the members can offer assistance with analog systems, but it is not the explicit purpose of this community.

First, just by way of overview, it would be worth watching a video like this one to understand all of the features of your new mixer: https://youtu.be/WBrjN7MCoTQ.

Second, there are many reasons why your new system might not sound as tuned as your Wharfedale PA. Are you using onboard or outboard DSP to manage the speaker system (crossover, GEQ, PEQ, limiter, delay)? Many powered mixers (not sure about your Whafedale mixer) have GEQs or limiters built in. You will need to add these features to the Allen & Heath either with an outboard rack unit or onboard DSP in the speakers. What DSP is built into your powered Yamaha speakers?

Best practice would be to balance the frequency response of your speaker system using an RTA microphone and a spectrum analyzer. Next, make sure you have engaged your HPF on all inputs that should not have low frequency content (vocals, cymbals, some acoustic instruments, etc.). Finally, apply PEQ to properly notch and sculpt your inputs to eliminate competing audio content (i.e. audio sources that overlap in frequency spectrum). I don’t think you can with the ZED FX bus, but when possible I also suggest engaging a HPF and LPF on your FX return to ensure intelligibility of original audio sources.

Thirdly, you are correct that you will use the yellow FX fader on the right to control the return level of your FX bus. The yellow knob/potentiometer on each channel controls the send level (i.e. the amount each channel sends to the FX bus). For example: Turn the yellow FX fader up to unity (“0”). Then adjust the yellow knob/FX send on channel 1 to increase the amount vocal 1 is manipulated by your FX settings.

With only one FX bus, I would suggest a hall or plate reverb or even the 1 delay+reverb as a good starting point. If you want to be more specialized, the doubler on vocals or delay on guitar/keys would also work. Modulation FX like flange or chorus are less common as stand-alone FX. Obviously, these suggestions are completely dependent on preference and genre of music. Here is a link to all of the ZED FX: https://soundcloud.com/allenandheathzed.

Hope these help. Again, this community is not focused on your particular setup, so I might suggest checking out the Gearslutz forum. They may have more resources and topics that address your situation. Here is a link: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/live-sound/.

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