When PreSonus first launched its StudioLive series years ago I must admit, I was a skeptic. Right from the start Presonus put an impressive feature set it its small digital consoles. My hesitation was due to the channel limitations. 16 or 24 channels did not seem to warrant all the bells and whistles of a digital console. From my experience most churches need at least 32 channels.
I have to say that over time I realized I was wrong about this. In fact just last week I was mixing a Sunday morning service at a church that has a StudioLive 16.4.2 and it worked brilliantly. So while I have warmed up to the entire line of StudioLive digital mixers I was still really happy to see that PreSonus now has a 32-channel mixer, the StudioLive 32.4.2 AI. This is something that I think will be a perfect option for a large segment of the church market. If you are not familiar with it, the StudioLive series has a long (emphasis added) of features. I'm going to try to go over the basics and then dive into the stuff that will be most useful for the church market.
The 32.4.2 AI, introduced earlier this year, is a 32-channel, 18-aux digital mixer with four subgroups and a built in 48x34 FireWire 800 recording and playback interface (optional Thunderbolt card is available as well). Each of the 32 channels has mic and line inputs with selectable 48V phantom power as well as a ¼-inch insert. Because of the recording interface, each channel also has a button to select the digital source the playback software uses for virtual sound check (more on this later). This digital playback source can also be used for adding backing tracks or using plug-ins as inserts, or for overdubs in a studio application. Additionally there is a talkback mic input, RCA, tape input/output, two stereo aux inputs/outputs, four outputs for your subgroups, 14 outputs for the aux section, stereo output and mono output. A control room output, with its own control knob and pre-insert balanced direct outputs for all 32 channels via DB25 connectors give you additional routing options.
The key to appreciating the StudioLive is getting comfortable with what PreSonus calls the Fat Channel. The Fat Channel is home to the pan, HPF (high-pass filter), gate, compressor, limiter, and EQ. It also functions as a meter bridge, and offers aux send level controls. Because the Fat Channel is all LED-based, it can be a bit hard to read at first - at least it was my first time. The first time making adjustments on the Fat Channel my moves were quite slow, and though it's not as pretty as other digital consoles, all of the controls you need are there. After a few times using the StudioLive I picked up on how to use the Fat Channel controls and things moved along much faster. The gate has a selectable key filter, allowing you to select the frequency at which the gate will be triggered. I found this very useful for dialing in the gates on a drums. The key filter can also be sidechained to another channel. The compressor has a selectable soft knee as well as a “auto” mode that sets the attack time to 10ms and release time to 150ms. There is also a limiter with a simple threshold control, which is nice to lock down any sources that could get out hand. The four-band parametric EQ section has a shelf option for the both the high and low bands, and each band has Q controls. I found the Fat Channel to have just as much detailed control as any expensive large-format digital console.
All Fat Channel settings can be saved, and copied to any other channel. One of the new things PreSonus has put on the 32.4.2 AI is the A/B Fat Channel Settings. This allows you to store two independent settings on each channel and toggle between those two settings with a simple press of the A/B button. The A/B function is available on every channel and bus, plus the graphic EQ's. This is something that every digital console should have especially for a church setting. We are all familiar with an MC's mic that gets used by multiple people on Sunday morning, or perhaps you have an acoustic guitar player that wants to use two different guitars within the same set that have completely different sounds. These are just two examples of how things can change on the fly within a service. With selectable channel changes you can prepare for these types of situations appropriately and there won't be any panic grabs for EQ or gain with “surprise” sources.
There are four internal effects processors in the mixer. Effects A and B are dedicated reverb processors while C and D are delay effects (with a dedicated tap button). These buses can be routed to any of the subgroups, aux buses, or main outputs. I was not overly impressed with the sounds that I heard, but they were certainly useable. I liked the warm hall settings the best, and with four effects processors I was able to have a dedicated instrument reverb, vocal reverb, and vocal delay --- just what I need for a Sunday morning mix.
THE A/B FAT CHANNEL SETTINGS ALLOW YOU TO STORE TWO INDEPENDENT SETTINGS ON EACH CHANNEL AND TOGGLE BETWEEN THEM. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT EVERY DIGITAL CONSOLE SHOULD HAVE, ESPECIALLY FOR A CHURCH SETTING.
By far the most impressive feature sets within this console have to do with the innovative wireless and digital control technologies within the 32.4.2 AI. First thing to look at is controlling the mixer with your iPad using the SL Remote-AI app. Hooking this up was quite easy and involves using either the Ethernet port on the back of the console, or you can use the supplied USB wi-fi adapter plugged into the console. Once both the mixer and your iPad are connected to the same network you are ready to go. Launching the app on your iPad, you will be asked to select the StudioLive AI console you want to control. I found this app to be really handy as I was able to make all the changes that I needed remotely. I could recall scenes, name channels, adjust Fat Channel parameters, levels and even access the graphic EQ.
These same options (and more) are available with the Universal Control-AI program for Windows and Mac platforms. Also, by using the VSL-AI plug-in, you can simply connect an RTA (real-time analyzer) mic and the setup wizard will take you through procedures for tuning and time delaying your system. It's truly remarkable that this type of tool is available on such an affordable console. There is also an RTA option for the parametric EQ section of any channel. This creates a RTA display behind the EQ controls to give you a visual representation of what you are hearing allowing you to spot any problems quickly.
Accessed through the mixer's system menu, the FOH engineer can launch QMix, an iPhone app that allows users to control their own monitor mixes. Musicians just need to download this free app, connect to the same network as the mixer, and they will be able to mix their own IEMs (in-ear monitors) or wedges. That's right, the FOH engineer does not have to worry about mixing monitors. As iPhones are connected to the network they are displayed in program. Simply select which aux send a given iPhone can control and you are done. This feature in and of itself is a huge time and cost saver for a church. The fact that you don't have to purchase another personal mixing system for your church means that this mixer pays for itself by almost half with this feature alone.
For digital recording and play back the Capture 2 software (included) allows you to record and playback your services. PreSonus has the made this integration seamless, by far the easiest digital console to use in this manner. There is no, I repeat, no routing of audio channels needs to be setup. The software automatically detects which StudioLive model is connected and auto-configures the channels as such.
Virtual sound check is a vital feature for churches that rely on volunteers.
THIS IS SET UP VIA FOUR EASY STEPS
1. Create a new session.
2. Click the Virtual Soundcheck Mode button.
3. Select the session you'd like to use. Once engaged all the audio and track names are automatically loaded, digital returns on the mixer are engaged, and you're given the option of loading the stored AI mix scene, if one was saved with it.
4. When you're finished, you simply click the Virtual Soundcheck Mode button again and all audio is removed. The digital returns are disengaged and all the tracks in Capture 2 are armed and ready to record.
Capture 2 also allows you to record a stereo channel of your main mix. This feature is priceless if you need to record your mix on Sunday morning and export the file later for your church's podcast or other purposes.
I've found all the products in the StudioLive series to be very good sounding, and the feature set is virtually unmatched. I don't know of another mixer that offers this vast array of features and is this easy to use at such an affordable price. For churches big or small, portable or not, the 32.4.2 AI solidifies the PreSonus StudioLive series as a serious option for Sunday morning. The street price is about $4,000, which makes the 32.4.2 AI an aggressive competitor for other more expensive digital consoles. This new, larger, flagship model will become an all-in-one solution for a great many churches. If your church has been waiting to upgrade to a new digital console the PreSonus StudioLive 32.4.2 AI could replace racks full of gear and take care of all your audio mixing needs well into the future.
