Back in the “old days,” all audio mixing was analog. And when I say “old days,” I mean about 30-40 years ago. While it seems like a long time, it's important to remember that audio mixing in general and digital mixing in particular are relatively new concepts. Early mixers were simple four- to eight-channel affairs and about the size of a typical 48-channel digital mixer today. As the industry grew, so did the channel count, features and footprint.
Roughly 20 years ago, analog mixers gained basic automation. Through the use of mute groups and, at the high end, flying faders, engineers were able to program cues and play them back in real time. A few years later, digital mixers appeared. Early ones were rather limited in channel count and not necessarily suited to live work; however, they paved the way for the digital desks we know and love today.
It was really only about 10 years ago that large-format live digital mixers appeared. They were big, expensive and offered features sound engineers had been dreaming of: built-in effects, recallable mic pre's, real automation, digital patching and full EQ, and dynamics on every channel.
On the one hand, not much has changed in 10 years, and yet everything has changed. Digital mixers still have the aforementioned feature set, but have gotten much easier to use, sound quality has improved and prices have fallen. Welcome Moore's Law to the world of audio.
Now that digital audio mixers are everywhere, it would seem like a no-brainer decision to upgrade that old dusty analog mixer to a shiny new digital one, right? Not so fast. As with all things in system design, choosing a mixer is all about compromise. What you choose will depend on what you value.
While digital mixers certainly deliver a lot of useful new features, there are arguments for staying in the analog world. Space prevents me from working out all those pros and cons, but let's see if we can dispel a few common myths.
Myth #1: Digital is inherently better
Many hear “digital” and immediately think it has to be better than “not-digital.” That is not necessarily the case. In fact, many argue that digital sounds worse than analog. While that may or may not be accurate, it's certainly true that a well-designed analog system will sound more than good enough for any church setting. In fact, I would argue that almost any modern mixer, digital or analog, from any major manufacturer will sound good enough to not be the weakest link in most church audio systems. To decide between analog and digital, we have to move beyond this point.
Myth #2: Digital mixers are easier to use because settings can be saved and recalled
While the second half of that statement is true, the first half may or may not be. To the uninitiated, the idea of storing all your settings this week and simply recalling them next week sounds great. However, there are hundreds of variables that go into sound, most of which are not recallable. Consider just a few of them: the age of the guitar strings, how strong or tired the singer is, how hard the drummer hits, temperature, humidity—all these factors dramatically affect the sound. To put together a great mix, the engineer still needs to be able to easily and quickly adjust gain, EQ, compression and the mix itself. If he or she is not comfortable with a digital board, or those controls are not easily accessible, frustration and a less-than-ideal mix will result. Simply hitting “recall” does not negate the need for trained and competent audio personnel.
Myth #3: Digital mixers are more expensive
If you are looking at just the price tag on the mixer, you may be correct. However, it's important to factor in the entire system cost. Almost every digital mixer made today comes with dynamics on every channel and multiple effects on board. They also tend to have more mix busses, greater signal routing capability, and often handle more channels in a smaller footprint than an analog desk will. If you add up how much outboard gear you need to build a comparable system, the total cost may surprise you.
Myth #4: Based on knob count, digital mixers must be easier to use
Sometimes church leaders look at an analog console and conclude that because the entire surface is populated with knobs, buttons and faders, it must be incredibly complicated. They see the sleek, minimalist control surfaces of a digital desk and conclude that they must be easier. All is not what it seems, however. It's true the control count of an analog desk is high; however, they are all repeating controls. Every single input channel is an exact duplicate of the one next to it. Learn one, know them all.
With a digital board, you may only have one set of controls for all the EQ on the board. This saves clutter, but it's also really easy to adjust the EQ on the lead vocal when you thought you were tweaking the snare mic. Like anything else, once you get used to it, it's pretty easy; however, like anything else, there is a learning curve.
So how do you choose? I'm asked that question all the time, and my answer is almost always the same: it depends. What level of training does your audio team have, and do you have someone who will take the time and effort to learn a digital desk and train the team? If not, you might be better off sticking with analog. Do you have the personnel in place plus the need to quickly recall various show configurations or need more extensive dynamics and EQ capability? Then digital might be the right choice.
The important thing to keep in mind is that one is not necessarily better than the other; it's a matter of which format is the better fit. And, even once you decide on the format, it's still important to evaluate the interface and workflow of the mixers in the category. For example, a fellow audio engineer and I were talking about the console I use each week. He looked at it, but didn't like the interface, feeling like the workflow required too many steps. I have the opposite response; I find mine much faster, and don't really care for his.
More important than deciding on a particular type or brand of mixer is figuring out what the best choice is for your situation. Don't let the salesman dictate your choice; be sure you are getting what you need, not what he needs to sell. Choosing an audio console is one of the larger purchases you will make in your audio system (probably second only to speakers), and it's important to choose wisely. Consider all the factors, weigh your options and talk to other people who use the consoles you're considering. Get demos of them, if at all possible.
If you are a small church, don't feel pressured into buying a digital console just because that's what they had at the big church conference you went to last month. I know of one small church that “went digital” and immediately cut their audio volunteer team from four to one simply because three of the team members had great difficulty with the new desk. Sure, they're cutting-edge now, but is that worth it? Stick with what works for your church. Ultimately, that will be of greater benefit to the Kingdom in the long run.
