BOB DIFAZIO: All right. Previous versions of the Mackie 1604 have featured an equalizer that I would probably best refer to as a tone control. This equalizer is slightly more flexible for the following reasons. It has one parametric EQ band.

So, this group of four knobs is actually made up of three different varieties of equalizers. There is a high-shelving equalizer, so this knob here is a cut or boost knob to amplify or attenuate frequencies above 12 kHz, so the shelving equalizer will add gain to all the frequencies above the frequency that you set. Well, Mackie has set this frequency at 12 kHz at that’s an industry standard now. I mean these folks have engineered some of the most popular consoles that there are and 12 kHz is a good frequency as any but sometimes I might want to change it to 7 or 14 or what have you, and I don’t have the ability to do that on this console like I would on a professional recording console.

The mid range parametric equalizer does allow you to select frequencies and how much you’d like to have the cut or boost. So in this case, the frequency that you select forms the center of the curve that you will be creating, and the parametric curve is a bell-shaped curve. So, if I pick 800 Hz, and I decided to boost 800 Hz up, well I am basically boosting the most 800 Hz but also I’m boosting a certain amount of frequencies or a bandwidth around 800 Hz, so some frequencies above and some frequencies below in a bell-shaped curve. A truly flexible parametric equalizer will allow you to affect the shape of this curve and how wide it is, how great of a bandwidth will your equalizer function on, and that’s called the Q, so there’s no Q knob here. The Q would be able to create a narrow bandwidth or a wide bandwidth. This bandwidth is fixed, but what I like about this is that the frequency selector goes all the way from 100 Hz all the way up to 8 kHz, so that is a lot of choices. And I’m going to show you what all these choices sound like here. Here is the high shelving equalizer a 12 kHz.

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

Now, what I can do with the parametric equalizer is I can start it off at 100 Hz, and I’m going to boost up about 10 dB of 100 Hz, and I’m going to what’s called sweep through all the frequencies that can be selected using this frequency selector, all the way from 100 up to 8 kHz. So, you will hear the difference based on where the frequency knob is situated and you’ll be able to tell what particular portions of the frequency respond to like in this like, so here’s a listen to that. So here’s flat...,

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

...and I’m going to boost up 100 Hz.

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

You can really hear that bass. And then I’ll move the frequency selector up slowly from 100 to 200.

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

And finally, a low shelving equalizer that begins at 80 Hz or -- yes indeed, 80 Hz, just like it says on the knob, and you can boost or cut below 80 Hz with this knob.

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

So here’s a substantial amount of 80 Hz and every frequency below.

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

And you also have a filter to cut out below 75 Hz.

[BOB DIFAZIO MIXING DAN AGOSTO’S VIDEO GAME MUSIC PIECE ON ONE CHANNEL IN THE MACKIE 1604]

And I’ll tell you, I like this equalizer a lot better than the old 1604s that’s for sure. It sounds better. I know that it has more headroom, and is more flexible.