Going On air
You should now switch the studio to “On Air” mode by pressing the “Studio 1” button on the Station Output Selector: This will cause the “On Air” lamps to light in the studio and means that the mixing desk is now LIVE. Anything on the mixer with faders up will now be transmitted.
Basics of the mixing desk
The mixing desk is split into multiple channels, each of which is linked to one or two audio sources. The main controls you will use on each channel of the mixing desk are the On/Off button (bottom), the fader, the Cue/PFL button, and the Trim control (top). The buttons are very sensitive and pressing them too hard may result in them switching on then back off again. If this happens, try pressing more gently and not holding the button down at all.
In general you should pre-fade listen (PFL) to all tracks (and your own microphone) to set the levels correctly. To do this, ensure the fader is down and the On / Off button is “On”. Press the “PFL” button so that it lights up. Use the CD controls, Myriad start controls, or other controls to start the track. Set the levels using the Trim control so that at the loudest part of the track (you will probably have to skip to the middle) makes the meters go up to level 4 and the first amber light just flickers. This is the perfect level for broadcast. Any louder than this and the automatic limiting circuits will “chop the top” of the volume, resulting in poor quality broadcast sound. If you are playing a track with widely varying levels (such as many pieces of classical music) you may need to start with the trim control set to high, and decrease it at the appropriate time to reduce the volume of the louder parts of the track. Do this slowly and smoothly unless you can accurately judge a very sudden change in volume.
PFL will also allow you to back-time a track accurately by listening to the end part to determine exactly when you will start the news (or other) jingle, which may not be at the timed end of the track on a CD. The two CD channels and the vinyl record deck channel work slightly differently than the others – if the channel is on, and you move the fader up off the “0” position, the relevant disk will start playing immediately. If the channel is off and you position the fader at whatever volume you want the disk to start, pressing the On/Off button will immediately start the relevant disk playing. No other channels work like this.
CD Players
The two main CD players are professional systems with several “Radio presenter friendly” features. They have jog and shuttle dials allowing very fine control over the exact start position for a CD. When a track ends, they stop, unlike a domestic CD player, which normally continues to the next track. They auto-start when the relevant fader is moved from the zero position, or the “On/Off” button is switched to On and the fader is not in the zero position.
To select a track, rotate the small white knurled knob (1) until the correct track number shows.
To listen to a track before playing on air, ensure the fader for this CD player is right down, and the On/Off button is red or off (not green). Press the relevant PFL button above the fader, then press the Play/Pause button (2) on the CD player.
To fast forward, rotate the outer large white wheel (3) clockwise. To skip backwards, rotate the wheel anti-clockwise.
To cue a track to a specific “cue point” ready to start, play until you are very near to the cue point and press Play/Pause. Wind the inner large dark grey wheel (4) clockwise or anti-clockwise until the track “stutters” at exactly the correct moment. Press Cue to set the cue point. Press Play/Pause to check that it starts correctly.
To reset the track back to the beginning or previously chosen cue point while it is playing, press Cue.
Remember to set the level of the loudest part of the track to 4 on the desk meter.
Finally, press Cue/PFL on the mixer to go back to listening to the track currently being broadcast.
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