The Industry Standard 16-Channel Mixer for Live
and Studio Recording
If
you're looking for a compact mixer equally suited for the stage or the
recording studio, then look no further—the Mackie 1604-VLZ Pro
is your mixer. The 1604-VLZ Pro is the top mixer choice of audio professionals
for any application where sound quality, ease of use, and durability
are paramount. Thousands of recordings have been tracked and mixed solely
on it—including some very well known ones. And an astounding number
of 1604-VLZ Pros can be found on stages and in gig-racks, the world
over. With its staggering array of professional features, the Mackie
1604-VLZ Pro is perfectly at home, no matter where you use it; on the
road, on the stage, or in the studio.
Here at Mackie,
we take our compact mixers very seriously and we are proud of the innovation
we've brought to the market place. Mackie mixer preamps are so quiet
and clean, that many of our competitors have tried to copy them—and
with performance specs like ours (under 0.0007% THD from 20Hz-20kHz),
who can blame them. Our highly musical EQ gives you complete control
over tonality and harmonic content. And our ingenious Split-Monitoring
function allows you to record and playback eight tracks without re-patching.
Leave it to the innovative minds at Mackie to produce the 1604-VLZ Pro,
the best-sounding mixer in its class for more than ten years running.
XDR™
MICROPHONE PREAMPS
The VLZ Pro Series features our XDR (Extended Dynamic Range) mic preamps,
which are ultra-quiet and provide tremendous headroom. This means the
16 XDR mic preamps in the 1604-VLZ Pro mixer can handle signal levels
from a whisper, all the way up to a scream, without any added coloration.
Preamps of this quality aren't found on other mixers in this price range;
they often only appear on larger consoles costing thousands of dollars
more.
THREE-BAND
EQUALIZATION WITH SWEEPABLE MIDS
High-quality equalization is a must for any good mixer, that's why we
didn't cut any corners when it came to our 3-band Active EQs—and
why we include them on every channel. Tremendous resources went into
optimizing the center points of the VLZ Pro's EQ. As a result, we fixed
the Lows at 80Hz and the Highs at 12kHz. Midrange compensation is handled
by a peaking control with a two-octave variable frequency center. This
means that the Mids can be swept from a low of 100Hz, all the way up
to 8kHz—with a boost or cut of 15dB. This gives VLZ Pro mixers
practical, useful equalization, providing not only sonic enhancement
and correction, but also the tone-shaping facility to actually improve
the musical nature of the original signal.
PROFESSIONAL
FEATURES
Don't
let its compact size fool you. The Mackie 1604-VLZ Pro mixer is packed
with premium features on every channel; 75Hz Low-Cut filters, four Aux
Sends, inserts, phantom power, constant-loudness Pan controls, OL (overload)
and signal present LEDs, sub and main mix assign switches, and assignable
AFL/PFL Solo switch. You can never have too many output options, so
we provided a Control Room/Phones source matrix, Master Aux section
with EFX to Monitor, tape outputs, a high-volume headphone amplifier,
channels 1-8 direct outs, and balanced XLR and balanced/unbalanced TRS
outputs.
SPLIT-MONITORING
With split monitoring, you can use the first eight channels for your
sound sources: vocal mics, drum mics, etc. From there, the channels
manipulate the sound, but are not assigned to the output section. Instead,
they're patched from the channel's DIRECT OUT jacks to the corresponding
multitrack input (DIRECT OUT 1 to multitrack input 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3,
etc.). The signals will now be recorded or passed directly through the
multitrack, depending on each track's record-ready status.
The outputs of the
multitrack are then patched to the next eight LINE inputs on the 1604-VLZ
PRO (multitrack out 1 to LINE input 9, 2 to 10, 3 to 11, etc.). Aha!
That's why it says "TRACK 1" next to channel 9's fader, "TRACK
2" next to channel 10, and so forth. These channels (9–16)
will be assigned to the mixer's output section, delivering the signals
to their ultimate destination, which could be your mixdown 2-track,
your control room system, or your headphones—making the 1604-VLZ
a truly powerful 8-track recording console.
ROTO-WHAT?
Our
ingenious Rotopod VLZ adds a tremendous amount of diversity to the 1604-VLZ
Pro—it’s like having several different mixers in one! The
optional Rotopod is a finely crafted all-steel fixture that allows the
1604’s patchbay to be rotated to one of three unique positions.
With the Rotopod, you can configure your 1604 for desktop use with the
jack field facing up, or out (standard, right out of the box). For rackmount
installations, the Rotopod makes it easy to access the patchbay from
either the front or rear of the rack. With the Mackie Rotopod, you get
to choose the patchbay position that best suits your needs.
BUILT MACKIE
TOUGH
All VLZ Pro mixers are built tough. Our legendary solid-steel chassis
can take the kind of abuse that would make our competitor's flimsy boxes
run home to mama. And instead of using cheap, unsealed potentiometers,
our co-molded pots offer substantial strain and impact relief at all
critical contact points. By design, our control knobs 'ride' just above
the surface of the chassis, so if something heavy falls onto the mixer,
the impact is transferred from the knobs to the steel chassis—not
to the potentiometers or circuit board. Finally, to eliminate potential
damage to the circuit board, we use a thick, horizontally mounted fiberglass
PC board, braced with a shock-absorbing support structure.
SUPERIOR
SOUND QUALITY
Above all, the 1604-VLZ Pro has superb sound quality, wide dynamic range
and headroom and low noise, so you can create professional quality recordings
and/or broadcast-quality soundtracks. Whether you need a high-quality
16-channel mixer for the stage, the studio, or even the road, you won't
find a better one than the 1604-VLZ Pro. You can buy cheaper—but
do you really want to compromise your creative work?
FEATURES
- Ultra-low noise
mixer with the highest headroom in its class
- 16 precision-engineered
XDR premium studio-grade mic preamps
- 4 subgroups with
Left & Right assigns and direct outs
- 16 line inputs,
16 channel inserts
- 60mm long-wearing,
logarithmic-taper faders
- 6 Aux Sends per
channel with 15dB gain above Unity
- Aux Send 1-2
Master section with level controls, Solo switches and Solo LEDs
- Level, pan; -20dB,
Solo & OL LEDs on each channel
- 4 stereo Aux
Returns, 8 direct outs
- 3-band Active
EQ with sweepable midrange
- 18dB/octave 75Hz
Low-Cut filter on each channel
- Control Room/Phones
outputs with multi-input source matrix
- Balanced 1/4"
inputs & outputs (except inserts)
- Switchable phantom
power for condenser mics
- Several physical
configurations via optional Rotopod VLZ
- Rugged steel
main chassis, sealed rotary controls
- Built-in power
supply, rack mount kit included
