Soundcraft, Allen&Heath, Behringer, Yamaha, Midas, QSC, Mackie, Presonus…One of the most popular in churches is the Behringer X32 and is one of the best sound mixers for church. Once you try and learn to use it appropriately, you will perhaps not want to return to analog ever again. Many musicians and churches have moved over to using digital mixers in recent years. Click here to read my review of the Yamaha MG20 soundboard.
With the development of USB technology, the analog mixing desk have evolved, so today, with many having a USB port, you can easily record your performance to your PC. In the past, the analog mixers were very large and heavy but now it’s much easier since you can carry them in your backpack. Many people find that the analog mixer’s signal processing and routing are easier to understand and achieve rather than small screens on a mixer board, Ipad or smartphone. Their operation can be somehow more natural and more interesting because of that feeling which their physically controlled functions such as faders, knobs, and switches provide. Analog Recording from a MixerĪnalog models remain popular because of their lower price and ease of use despite the greater versatility of their digital rivals.
You might be interested in my other post on how to use aux send and return fx on a mixer – read more here. There are several ways and approaches on how you can record from your live sound console depending on whether it’s digital or analog and I am going to introduce you with these and explain step by step how to record audio to any other device. You should pay attention that onboard effects have their own aux bus if not, you could lose a monitor mix in order to apply effects to your instruments or vocals. Usually, digital mixers provide much more signal processing than analog which means that you will need to throw less on additional equipment such as reverb, delay, compressor, limiter…etc.Īlso, a lot of analog sounddesks have effects built in such as reverb and delay. Most analog and digital audio mixers have at least EQ on each channel. Onboard Signal Processing and EffectsĪnother important factor, maybe not for a studio recording but definitely for live performance, is a signal processing options. In a live sound mixing situation as well as recording performance, you need a mixer with enough inputs to handle the combination of microphones and other instruments you want to capture. Smaller mixers have their inputs on top like most of the analog desks but a lot of digital models have their I/O on the front or their backside. There is also the question of physical size and I/O (input and output) placement because there is a big difference between analog and digital mixers when comes to size, weight, and I/O connectors location. However, if you intend to record a podcast show with guests, several input channels should be enough for you. If you want to do a live sound recording of your entire band, you can’t use a mixer with only, for example, 4 input channels, because only drums will require every channel. Do you have a soundboard that can be used for recording? I/OĪ number of inputs on the mixer are just one of the many important factors.
Most have a USB or Firewire connection, and may be the best choice for capturing live audio performances. Of course, the combination of these two devices would be perfect, but as we know that advanced consoles have a number of options for recording. You will need at least a sound card, USB audio interface or analog/digital live audio mixer. It’s true that you can record live audio with a built-in microphone in a laptop, a smartphone or a handy recorder, but if you want to achieve a better sound you will need some extra equipment. If you are thinking and wondering how to record your live music performance, speech or church service, you should consider buying some equipment for that task.