Making the change from a simple Analog system to modern Digital mixing

[gafftaper]

After 30 years of running sound on simple analog systems, my new job has an A&H GLD80 and I'm attempting to teach myself to be a digital guy. I'm finding it to be a huge jump. Here's the problem I'm finding, there are a lot of features and ways of doing things that I have never had access to before. I had someone trying to explain a DCA to me saying it's just like a VCA, but I've never had a console with a VCA either. I'm used to a gain knob I turn up and down at the top of each channel, there are faders on the mixer, and a gain on the amp; that's where my experience with gain structure begins and ends. I've used a parametric EQ, but I've never had the option of changing the width of my sweep. I've had high pass filters, but mine was just a push button, not adjustable. "Tap tempo" is not a standard feature on a thousand dollar mixer, with a $300 reverb. You get the idea, I've spent decades making the best sound I could on simple systems. Now, I find myself having a hard time wrapping my brain around many of the features in the digital console, because I have nothing to relate them too in my low budget analog experience. I know I'm not alone, as digital consoles get cheaper, more and more of us us with experience using only simple tools are getting the chance to play with some serious big boy toys.

SO, I'm requesting, without getting too console specific, a discussion of big concepts and your best tips for making the change to digital mixing. If you've recently made the change to digital, what were the breakthrough moments of understanding for you? What was the hardest thing to wrap your head around and how did you overcome it? If you've been using digital mixers for a while, what are your three best tips? What concepts should I focus on mastering first? What is the key to converting to the digital world? If you want to address some of the specific example's I've thrown out great, but don't feel constrained to any one topic.

Perhaps a collaborative article on converting from analog to digital mixing would be better. Thanks! I look forward to any and all advice as I trudge through these online tutorials.

 

[DaveySimps]

I can see where making this leap can be intimidating for some, but if you approach it from a logical standpoint, you should excel at it. I always equate it with what a lay person might think about all of the knobs on an analogue desk before they really learn about them.

For starters, make a generic starting scene (or handful of scenes depending on the types of events you do). You can recall this scene so that you start with the same blank slate or set of features for each event or production. For example, I have a starting scene for musical theatre, band / choir concerts, and traditional band / festival shows. If I am not around, a student operator has an OK starting point that "zeros out" the board for them. For us, this has all of the channels EQ's zeroed out, every channel OFF and routed to stereo and nothing else, 4 effects routed to 4 stereo returns, high pass filter engaged at specific frequency, all compressors and gates bypassed (off), all aux masters at unity, and a master mute that will mute all of the channels at once. Here, none of the more "advanced" features are really at use, so they have less potential to cause confusion for an inexpirenced operator.

Just like when typing a paper, save frequently so you do not loose work, especially if it is a musical, or after a sound check with a band. Always remember to hit select on the channel you wish to work with. Always back up on external media such as a USB drive.

You mentioned sweepable EQ's and other such features you do not know much about. The nice thing about most digital boards is that you do not have to use many of the advanced features if you do not know how. You don't know how to sweep frequencies? Just use the starting factory default frequency like you did on other boards you used (at least until you have had time to play a bit and learn the features). Use default effect settings until you have a reason to change them, and can research their settings. Don't know what a DCA does (think subgroup)? Don't use it. The vast majority of high pass filters on analogue boards that do not have sweepable frequencies is 80 hz, so you can use that as a starting point fot your high pass filter. It is still possible to K.I.S.S., even in the digital realm.

Schedule time to play with the gear when you have a free space and free time. Be sure students / voulenteers learning the equipment have this opportunity as well. They are far more likely get comfortable with the basics of the board when they are not under the pressure of a show at hand, or 60 people waiting on them. Most manufacturers have great training resources available such as videos and forums. Seek them out and expolit them.

Good luck in your new aventure!

~Dave

 

[chausman]

I'm in a similar situation. I just started using a new Soundcraft Expression (1) for the first time a few weeks ago, as a first adventure into modern digital (post 01V). One thing that I thought was useful was to remember that there still is the same (in essence) channel strip as on an analog, it just isn't a straight line, and that the same signal flow is still present.

 

[gafftaper]

Don't know what a DCA does (think subgroup)? Don't use it.

I found some great posts about DCA's by @Andy_Leviss starting here in an old LS9 thread. If I understand him correctly a DCA is essentially a "remote control" fader over a group of channels, which unlike subgroups doesn't dump all the audio together into one pot, but maintains their separate nature. Does that sound correct?

Taking that point one step farther, what does the ability to keep channels separate on a dca allow me to do?

 

[dmx]

I found some great posts about DCA's by @Andy_Leviss starting here in an old LS9 thread. If I understand him correctly a DCA is essentially a "remote control" fader over a group of channels, which unlike subgroups doesn't dump all the audio together into one pot, but maintains their separate nature. Does that sound correct?

Taking that point one step farther, what does the ability to keep channels separate on a dca allow me to do?

I have to say that I am a big fan of DCA's. When used with an amateur chorus, you can use a DCA to bring the chorus down quickly and without affecting the lead's mic. Other uses include putting all of your drums on a DCA and through this, you can bring everything down together. As far as keeping the channels separate, this feature allows routing to wherever you want, but still controlling everything together. (This makes a lot more sense in my head, I promise.)

 

[chausman]

http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/dcas-versus-stereo-masters.31849/#post-281365 Might be a good place to look.

 

[gafftaper]

How do you like to layout your board? Is the master always on top or buried?

One thing that concerns me as a new digital user is the ability to quickly find a problem chanel in the correct layer and tweak a setting in it while there's feedback or another issue. How do you maximize access with your layout?

 

[FMEng]

I'm doing the same thing right now. I just bought an X32 and will be mixing a live radio, remote broadcast with a singer and a jazz big band with it in four days. All 32 input channels will be in use. I've been spending as much time as possible playing with it to learn while the pressure is off. It is surprisingly intuitive and does every odd thing I can dream up. It isn't the perfect console, but it is insanely good for the price. It's also a pleasure not to need a rack full of outboard gear.

 

[dmx]

How do you like to layout your board? Is the master always on top or buried?

One thing that concerns me as a new digital user is the ability to quickly find a problem chanel in the correct layer and tweak a setting in it while there's feedback or another issue. How do you maximize access with your layout?

Leads on page 1, Chorus and Pit on page 2, CD, QLab and processing on page 3. I cheated and used a DCA to cover CD and QLab inputs. Honestly, I never touched pg3 during the run of the show. All effects were programmed into scenes.

 

[Footer]

Few things...

The move to digital has moved us to the point where you can now fit in a package under 10k what used to take 80k of gear to do. That great, but it can lead to some issues.

First things first, learn how to program and save shows on your console (as Dave said). Know the difference between a cue and a showfile. Get a jump drive and fill it up with every configuration of even you can think of (ie, theatre, music, orchestra, recording, etc). In other words, for the shows that you need a lot of effect processors, get that there. For a show that needs multiple outputs for recording, make sure you are set for that. Etc. This can really save time down the road. Some consoles (X32 included on this) can get setup rather quick to a few different configurations. Others (like the 2 Pro2's we just bought) take hours upon hours to get setup "just right".

Play with the EQ's a bit. DON'T look at the screen, listen! Really listen to what moving the Q does. Play with the shelves if your console has that. Same thing goes for gates and compression.

You are already hitting the biggest issue with digital... workflow. If your console has a "custom" layer, learn how to use it. Try to live there if you can. If you have DCA/VCA, they can be used to help a bit but they can cause issues with newer users. I would save those for later. Otherwise, think about your input lists and try to group things in logical groups in the blocks that they would come in on. Finally, good labels and colors are you freind. Use them. The newer consoles with screens on each channel really makes this much easier.

If you have user defined keys they can also be useful.

Learn sends on fader/fader flip. Getting things to auxes is usually one of the more difficult things for new users to do. If you have encoders that you can grab a channel and then throw signal to auxes all the better. Personally, that is my prefered way. I really don't like using fader flip if I can avoid it... even for running monitors.

No matter what, you always have to keep in the back of your mind what is selected and what layer you are looking at. The newer consoles make this much easier. It will come with time.

Right now, focus on your routing and your assignments and gain structure. After that, play with effects, advanced EQ, and dynamics.

 

[JD]

Although I grew up in the analog world, I have been fascinated by what has been achieved by the change to digital audio both in the home studio and the live performance world. There is a couple of conceptual differences that have to sink in before digital boards make any sense. First, lets start with what is the same- The pre-amp. Getting the microphone signal up to line level is still an analog operation. From there, the signal is converted to a number and everything else is handled by mathematical operations. An effect, like reverb is an app. A small section of software. How well that "reverb" works has far more to do with the code written then any hardware difference, as there relay is none. Gain is nothing more than a multiplication algorithm. Equalization is a program that looks for time-based re-occurrences. Signal to noise is no longer effected by how much processing is done. Probably the greatest asset you gain in digital is remote operation of the sound board from something like a iPad. The ability to walk anywhere in the room and make adjustments in real time on a live show is something that just didn't exist before. The best part is that since the audio stream itself does not flow to the remote, those "analog transmitter mic" moments don't happen! Conceptually, digital audio allows you access to the signal from dimensions that were not available in the analog world. Best example, the "digital snake." In addition to replacing the snake with a chunk of CAT5, the signal can be split (or should I say replicated) an infinite number of times with no loss of quality. Because of this, monitor systems can be far more elaborated and customized than could be imagined in the analog world. Like any new technology, it will scramble your brain until you get used to it, but when you do, the prior "life" with analog will look like something from the stone age.

 

[museav]

I look at your situation a bit differently as many of the issues seem to be familiarity with some of the basic functionality of the new tools available to you rather than specifically rleated to "digital". For example, if you had worked with analog parametric EQ then you would already be familiar with variable bandwidth control but apparently your experience is actually with quasi-parametic filters, so that is really a basic EQ functionality issue and not a "digital" issue. Similar for VCAs versus DCAs, if you had experience with VCAs the transition might be much easier but you are having to learn the general concept as well as the digital implementation of it.

I nk the most important thing to remember is what Davey mentioned, just because something is there does not mean you have to use it. Ease your way into trying new tools and capabilities. Play with things offline until you understand the basic concepts before trying to use them live.

I find that for many the biggest actual analog versus digital console difference is fixed versus flexible architecture. This is primarily a configuration aspect as you are no longer limited to fixed take-off points for signals, fixed mix buses, fixed physical I/O assigments, etc., that is often all determined in software. This adds an entire second 'configuration' element to be addressed in addition to the traditional operation aspect. And the configuration(s) defined can greatly affect the operation. Where the application remains fairly consistent it may be posssible to develop a digital mixer configuration that rarely, if ever, has to change and many operators may have to have limited or even no knowledge of the configuration aspect of the mixer, but in other applications it may be desired to significantly alter the mixer configuration between or during events, thus requiring greater familiarity with that level of console programming and operation.

 

[Michael Grimaila]

I nk the most important thing to remember is what Davey mentioned, just because something is there does not mean you have to use it. Ease your way into trying new tools and capabilities. Play with things offline until you understand the basic concepts before trying to use them live.

That is a valuable piece of advice! I recently upgraded to a Soundcraft Si Expression 3 (my first digital board) and was initially overwhelmed with the features. I have since applied this advice and focused upon what I know first... then experiment with one new feature at a time and get to know it well.

 

[TimmyP1955]

If you don't need to apply compression or EQ to all of say the drum channels, use a VCA/DCA - the routing is simpler And yes, a VCA/DCA is a remote control for any number of channels, for instance the drum channels.

One of the beauties of VCAs/DCAs is that a channel or channels can be on multiple VCAs/DCAs. For instance you could have one for Drums, one for Guitars, one for Keys, one for Vocals, and one for Band (Drums, Guitars, and Keys). If only the guitars are too loud, turn down the guitars VCA/DCA. If it's a soft song and the vocals are perfect but the entire band is too loud, turn down the Band VCA/DCA. You can make it as simple or as nuts as you want.

If you want to see a wild and crazy use of VCAs/DCAs in conjunction with subgroups, watch

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[Michael Grimaila]

Dave Rat has some great advice on his videos...