Mackie mixer doesn't completely mute

urban_winter

I have a Mackie ProFX12. The channel mute buttons don't completely mute the signal. They make it very, very quiet but not completely silent. It's not really a problem for me but it's weird and unexpected. 

This is only the second mixer I've used, and the first with channel mute switches, so I don't know if this is perfectly normal or indicative of a fault. 

U.

Danny1969

The mute switch normally grounds the signal pre fader  so leads to silence. However any signal tailed off to an aux send or direct out won't be completely  grounded if it's not directly connected to the pre fader bus .... on some Mackie mixers the monitor sends aren't affected by the mutes, on other Mackie mixers they are  ... likewise the direct outs if any or USB of the more modern desks. 
Best bet would be to look up the specific manual for yours. It could be they are supposed to mute completely but there's so much crosstalk between channels you can still hear the signal ... a friend has a pretty new Yamaha mixer that does that. 

Funkfingers

What he said.

The Mackie ProFX12 is now up to v.3, therefore, the specs have probably changed from one generation to the next.

Some compact Mackie mixing consoles assign the Mute button a second function. The input signal is redirected to an alternative pair of output sockets. Hence, the signal(s) you wish to mute could be leaving the mixer via a different route. 

Additionally, some of the input signal could be passing via the Auxiliary Send to whatever outboard effect processors you have connected at the time. (This ought to be switchable but, in the interests of economy, some smaller consoles omit such functions as this.)