Plug in the power supply of your Mackie sound mixer. Depending on whether or not you are using a Mackie firewire mixer, Mackie USB mixer, or a Mackie powered mixer, you will either plug the mixer into a wall power outlet or directly into your computer, using a standard firewire or USB cable.
Connect the speakers. Connect the loudspeakers or studio monitors to the main outputs of the Mackie mixer.
Connect instruments and direct inputs (DI) to the appropriate channels on the Mackie mixing board. All Mackie mixers accept either standard XLR inputs or balanced 1/4" inputs. Make sure that the channel faders are set to zero when you connect music equipment and devices to the Mackie mixer in order to avoid damaging your speakers.
Slowly turn up the channel faders on the Mackie mixer until you reach the desired amplitude levels. Make sure the signal levels are as high as possible without clipping. All Mackie mixers will have either an LED that visually displays sound levels or a clip indicator to warn if the music signal is overloading.
Add on-board effects and EQ. Once you have proper levels for your input source, tweak the signal with the built-in EQ and effects that are available on the Mackie mixer. Be careful when adding EQ to your sound source. Boosting certain frequencies can increase the gain of the entire signal, causing clipping.
When all instruments and devices have been successfully connected to the Mackie mixer, raise the level of the master fader until you have reached the optimum listening volume.