How to use FX Send and Return - Part 1 - Allen & Heath QU series

hi folks only has to do an explanation on the effects send and return signal path just so we get an idea of what it looks like and someone had a very good suggestion let's go back to our analog days find out what send and return means to so this is just a little alesis unit before we had digital boards with effects built into it we wanted reverb we had to use this like an external unit again this is just a little reverb they come in all just kind of flavors but the idea is that we have to take a signal from the board and we have to send it into this unit this unit has both an input and an output hope you can see that there and so we take a signal from the board and we send it into this reverb unit once we have the reverb now we have to take the output and we have to return that back into the board all right so that's the where the term send and return comes from we have this first of all send a signal to it and then once we have the excuse me once we have the effects of replied then we have to take the output and return it back into the board to where we're going ok so that's where the concept of send and return comes from and again from the board Center reverb from the reverb return to wherever we want it in that process the other thing is different nowadays of course is that this little unit and many others are actually built into the QSC bore now put that down and so now we have those effects built in on this particular I'm using a cue 16 on cue 16 I have two effects layers for FX 1 and FX 2 so let's do a bit of an example here in order to send first of all we need two components every time we send we need two components so first of all we have to have some microphone levels channel levels so I'll get some microphones where I'll just bring some of those up there and then the second component descending is the master and this is exactly the same as if I was sending information to my left and right if I go to left and right I have to have both channel signal and a master signal if I just turn up some channels I'm not going to hear those microphones and left and right likewise if I just turn up the send master send I'm not going to hear those microphones in left and right so in order to send a signal anywhere it's two things I need microphone 10 or channel levels plus the master level I need both and that would be to send in this case to send to my left and right output so effects are exactly the same same way so let's shut that down there for a minute let's go to effects once we've got effects one and again I can bring all these down I'm just doing example so yeah yeah well let's do that so effects one start with I'm going to let's do an example I've got two singers they happen to be on channels nine and eleven so the first thing I have to do in effects one layer is I've got to give a level for the channels and then the second thing is I have to send a master so I need channel level and a master level so that's my send and I'm now sending that into effects one now up in the screen of course you can set up your effects so every one I'm using the default reverb for FX one because that's not bad from my basic usin it'll do for today's example so if X 1 I have channel levels and effects one so that's now putting a signal into the effects engine again it's internal to the board like that little alesis unit I just showed you and which was external this happens to be internal but now we've got to return that signal now that we put signal into the effects engine the FX engine is creating the reverb now we've got to return that into the board all right so we do that on every output as we choose by simply selecting the output in this case I'll go to left and right so I want some of that reverb in my left and right well first thing I have to do is go to the upper layer select upper layer again if I select the lower layer all my sliders are controlling my channels if I go to upper layer then my sliders are controlling here I've got first three our stereos and these are my 4 FX returns so in this case I've got FX 1 as my return so depending on what I how much effects I want I'm gonna bring that should had that shutdown - just for this example let's just shut all this down I'll make sure they shut them okay so in left right in order to bring my reverb into left right I go to my upper layer FX 1 return and I can put in as much of that reverb as I want to go to my left and right this is the FX return so this is the return process now one of the nice things about the digital board is I can return it in multiple places and adjust a level so again if I go back to my channels for FX 1 I've sent two microphones and a send into FX 1 now I want to go back to left and right again looking at the layers so here's my effect on return so this is the return alright that I'm showing or bringing back in I'm returning that back into left and right so this is gonna put effects and left and right typically those two singers on microphones 9 and 11 are going to you know maybe they want that reverb in their monitors now let's assume that in my example those two singers on microphones 9 and 11 each have a floor wedge monitor in front of them and they are two separate mixes all right so let's say a channel 9 is in mix 1 so now I can go to mix 1 and bring up the effects return in mix one that puts that reverb into mix 1 then I go to mix - that's the second singers monitor wedge and again on my upper layer effects one return I can return that signal into mix two and I can do so now I've returned that in three different places in my left right again upper layer FX one return let's say I want just a little bit in front of house okay in mixed number one which is the singer who happens to be singing on on my left they also want just a little bit of reverb that's great in mix - that's the singer on the other side well they want a whole lot of reverb I can push that reverb way up there not a problem this is the effects return only returning into mix two again look at mix one is still down here look at left and right that's the level that I'm bringing the FX one return so I can have that level independent on every mix somebody asked well how do I have the in-ear monitor be different without affecting front-of-house well let's let's do that let's say we got a third singer who's listening to in-ear monitors on mix nine and ten so a mix nine and ten again upper layer FX one returned this would be the reverb in mix nine and ten and that's completely independent oh I can put a way way up there that's completely independent of left and right which doesn't change completely independent of mix one again FX return didn't change completely independent of mix two in effects return it's also quite high maybe we don't want to quite that high and again mix nine and ten there we go so again three components to the FX signal channel number one you've got to have channel signal so I go back to the FX send noise my channels I've got to send channels and I have to have a master level now to be honest with you typically in my scenario I would just simply use I would set the channels at unity and the send level also at unity then I would mix using the returns because that's where you want different amounts of the reverb in this case the river being the effect you want different amounts at the returner so again once we've got once we're sending into effects one now we can return it in left and right I can return it I've got to look at the upper layer and fx1 return that's the amount of reverb coming back into left and right mix one upper layer FX one return there's the amount of reverb coming in to mix one mix two upper layer FX one there's the amount of reverb coming in to FX 2 or to mix two and nine and ten upper layer FX one return there's the amount of reverb coming in to mix nine and ten for those in years all right hopefully that makes sense thank you

Channel: Sound Advice with Rob

Views: 8,275

Keywords:

Id: KswT_gfQDPE

Length: 9min 50sec (590 seconds)

Published: Fri May 01 2020