VIVA LA ANALOG - THE TRUTH ABOUT CONSOLES

2/23/2015

Disclaimer: This is not about analog vs. digital. Don't read into what I am not saying. I love digital consoles, and I can run them with the best of them, but...

I have been worried about a trend I have been seeing in the church audio tech community. Without finding out each congregation's needs and challenges, I have seen my colleagues blindly recommend purchasing a digital mixing console. Most churches in America average around 200 members or less. Worldwide, this number is allot smaller. Because of this, a majority of churches do not have a pool of technically proficient people to pull from that is wholly committed, and shows up on time.

If this sounds like the type of church you attend, here are a list of reasons why you may want to remain with an analog console:

1. An analog console does not have anywhere near the learning curve a quality digital console has. For instance: I have a technically proficient friend that purchased a very simple inexpensive digital console a year ago, and is still trying to figure out all the ins & outs to it. On the other hand, I have personally taught countless volunteers how to run an analog mixing console in less than an hour.

2. If your engineer doesn't show up on a Sunday, will "Uncle Earl" know how to run a digital console?

Probably Not

"Hey Uncle Earl, I need you to patch something in for me on this channel." Don't worry, we bought an easy to use digital console:

Uuuhhhhh.

3. Are digital consoles extremely powerful? Yes. One of the perks of a digital console is the ability to patch in any effect or numerous effects on any channel. Most worship leaders of medium-sized churches would say this is not necessarily a positive thing when thinking about who's in the booth every Sunday. "Oh look a flanger! That would be cool on the worship leader's voice!"

4. When something goes wrong on a digital console:
a. It is typically very difficult to find anyone local in most cities certified to repair a digital console...and not only a digital console, but your particular brand of console.

b. You usually have to send it to another state to have it repaired. This is called DOWNTIME and it's not fun! I guess in that case, you'll just have to do without?

c. This is a picture of an analog Allen & Heath GL Series mixing console I repaired recently. It took me one hour to repair 3 faulty channels (someone had dropped coffee on one channel, and something very heavy had dropped on 2 channel's faders). There was also an auxiliary master control in the master section of the console that was out. Take note: The console was still functional and useable even though these items were faulty. You see that nifty white flat thing running the length of the console in the middle of the picture? That's called a ribbon cable. You can take out a module for repair, and the whole console still functions.

One of the faders had to be ordered (it was cheap). After I fixed most everything on it, we turned the console back over and prepared it for their service coming up that night. Once the fader came in a week later, I soldered it in-between services. They had ZERO downtime. BTW: This console was about 10 years old. It's not obsolete. Never needs a software update. It just works.

5. No Firmware, Software, or Drivers to download, update, or flash on an analog console. No software component to freakout mid-service. No Lockups. No hours on a phone with tech support. I am only bringing this up because I have seen numerous complaints about this type of behavior from affordable digital consoles.

6. Most churches in this country cannot afford a quality digital console. So, they'd have to purchase an affordable digital console. An affordable digital console may have allot of bells and whistles up front, but typically won't remain a solid mixing platform you can rely on in the long haul. If you gave me a choice between an X32 digital console (a budget conscious digital console) and a ZED analog console (budget conscious analog console), and told me it would have to be solid for the next 5 years, I'd much rather go with the ZED. The ZED is $600 cheaper to boot, and I know that it would be reliable.

7. But wait! What about recallable scenes to help someone use on Sunday? They probably wouldn't know how to access it anyway, and it takes more than just recalling a scene to mix an entire service. Furthermore, an analog console's "scenes" don't change. No scene to recall...it's already there from the previous Sunday. It's called real knobs, and it wouldn't take that long for someone to know how to use them. I want someone to be focused on mixing music and the message, rather than getting lost in technology. We are missing the main point when this occurs.

In closing - I love digital consoles. I've been running them since they first came out, but I just don't think they are a right fit for most congregations.

9 Comments

Best of Both Worlds

2/23/2015 09:49:01 am

Sounds like the best solution is an A&H GL style analog console with motorized knobs, buttons, and faders for scene storage and recall only.

Greg Chudyk link

4/30/2015 01:29:49 am

Hmm...
I guess I better return the A&H Qu-32 we bought last fall.
;o)

Casey Campbell - Site Admin link

4/30/2015 01:55:20 am

Actually, the Qu-32 is a great console! If you look in my buyer's guide, you'll see that I recommend it as a great priced and powerful digital console.

Greg Chudyk

4/30/2015 02:39:56 am

What??
No X-32??

Stephen Davis

4/30/2015 07:24:46 am

While I understand and respect your opinion, having used 2 different budget digital consoles (the Presounus (3+ years so far with no problems) and the X-32 (1.5 years with no problems)) I disagree on some points (using your point numbers)
1) If it is set up properly it can just be turned on and used like an analog console with minimal extra training.
6) If you add the cost of even a stereo graphic EQ to your example of the ZED the cost favours the digital console, by time you add the gates and compressors even a mid range digital is less expensive than a comparable analog system.
7) you must have never come in on a Sunday morning after the youth group has used the system on Friday evening if you think that analog scenes "don't" change :-) I much prefer being able to load something that know is a good starting point than having to check every button and knob.

Casey Campbell - Site Admin link

4/30/2015 10:07:11 am

Touche! Ha! This post of mine has generated more discussion and flaming than any other I have written.

Let me start off by saying (as I have said before), that I love digital consoles, and as a matter of fact, I was running them before they were a viable & affordable option for the prosumer.

As to your first comment, I wish that you were right - that every time that a volunteer can just come in and turn on the console, and that the audio will just mix itself with no issues ever, but in reality, this will hardly ever be the case. Please re-read my post as to what I have written about this...

As far as cost, a 16 channel Zed is $700. A 16 Channel StudioLive Ai is $2000. Now obviously there is some apples and oranges to this comparison from the get go; because the beauty of digital, is that you can have a compressor for every channel, FX galore, etc. My point to this though, is that at $700 for a ZED, I could purchase a dual 32 band EQ, and a DBX 1046 - 4 channel compressor, and an effects processor, and still be cheaper than the Presonus console - and have more than enough for any typical volunteer to run.

Another point I would like to make, is that just because a digital console has the capability for a serious amount of effects and compression for every channel, doesn't mean that it will, or has to be used (or necessarily should be by someone who doesn't know how).

Now as to your statement regarding re-callable scenes, in the example you have given, I totally agree! BUT - For most of the churches I have worked with (which in 20+ years has been quite a few), I have noticed that the majority of youth groups have their own sound systems to abuse, and that the leadership of most congregations keep it this way on purpose. There is no doubt that being able to reset a console to a base setting in an instant, is a definite strength....no doubt about that. I will say though that any competent soundman/woman should be able to fix any issues that may have arisen during a sound check within moments. Which brings me to my next point. I have ran both digital and analog consoles for a very long time, and I can tweak an EQ on an analog console much faster than I can a digital console. Same way with an outboard compressor or graphic EQ. No menus, no select buttons...always right there waiting with no extra steps.

Now here is something though that you didn't mention regarding the strength of digital: having a visual representation of what an EQ or compressor is doing, is very powerful. On upper-end consoles - having the ability to choose different character comps or eqs, or any other effect - like what WAVES offers on Avid consoles, is really great - but again, most churches have to pull from whatever pool of folks they have that are willing to run sound - and that is where the issue lies for me. Now with that said, just in the past year, manufacturers are designing digital consoles to be incredibly easy to use. The gap is indeed closing, but in my opinion it's not quite there yet. These are exciting times, and I am really enthused to see what is coming in regards to this - but for now, analog still remains a very viable platform for mixing consoles in most churches today (and I would venture to guess most churches are still using them).

Stephen Davis

5/1/2015 04:53:00 am

Thank-you for your good response and I whole heartedly agree that before recommending a console the needs and challenges of the individual church needs to be looked at very carefully.

I did not say that the audio would mix itself, but that a properly set up digital can be approached and run by a volunteer with minimal extra training to get as good of a mix as they would have gotten out of an analog console. All they really need to know in addition to what they would need to know to run the analog board is how to push the "select" button (on the 2 budget consoles that I mentioned) the rest is like the outboard gear, not usually tweaked until there is more in-depth training and understanding of what it does. One example: I set up a Peavey Feedback Ferret because we had a central overhead speaker cluster and the leadership wanted to use a wireless lapel mic, when the wearer was standing under the overhead cluster it would feedback, and that was the best way to get it under control. I moved away and when I visited about 3 years later they had changed the sound board, and quit using the lapel mic, but seemed to be having other issues with feedback, so I asked if they had adjusted the Ferret the answer was "no" so I suggested that they read the manual and set it up for how they were running the service now. My point being that most of the volunteers that I have worked with do not adjust outboard gear because they think it was set up by an "expert". They can use the "Gain", "EQ", "Aux (monitor) Sends", "Faders and "Main output" the same on either analog or digital.

A little background on me. I have been a "sound man" for approx 30 years (but only a handful of different <300 people churches) and am completely self taught, I have personally found that many times I can solve a problem by asking Holy Spirit, as I do not have schooling to fall back on.

Of the churches that I have worked with there is usually only 1 PA and that is in the main auditorium so it is used by the youth group (some years it was my kids that ran it :-) ).

In the end we all need to prayerfully consider what the best usage of the money that God has entrusted us with to enhance the worship experience in each particular situation. I really enjoy using the X-32 but do know that what is right for my situation is not right for everybody.

Joseph Johns

4/30/2015 10:15:01 am

I agree with the article, especially this sentence - which sums it up nicely: " Without finding out each congregation's needs and challenges, I have seen my colleagues blindly recommend purchasing a digital mixing console. Most churches in America average around 200 members or less. Worldwide, this number is allot smaller. Because of this, a majority of churches do not have a pool of technically proficient people to pull from that is wholly committed, and shows up on time."

His point number 5 is very true. I have had 2 instances with an X32 where it locked up on me mid-service. Allot of confusion, and finger pointing came my way. That was not a good day at all!

Stephen Davis

5/1/2015 04:55:46 am

I am not sure how your X-32 is set up but it is very important for any digital console to be on a quality UPS as they are essentially a computer and do not like any variation in supplied voltage.

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