- Hi, I'm Jordan from Kettner Creative,
and in this video I want to show you the difference
between an analog audio console and a digital audio console.
So on my right we have the Yamaha MG16, which is a fairly
popular analog console, and on my left we have the
Allen and Heath QU16, which is a fairly
popular digital console.
So both consoles do really well at mixing levels,
without a lot of adjustment.
The analog console has some basic EQ settings,
and it can mix up to two submixes, so this means
that for if you're in a band and the vocalist
needs a separate mix than what the audience
is hearing, it can do two mixes like that.
The Allen and Heath, and most digital consoles, can do
upwards of ten or more submixes at the same time.
Now, to mix the submixes on the analog console,
you have these little rotary pods, which you can adjust
to set the mix, but on the digital console, you can use
the same faders that you're using for your main mix,
and then you just switch it to, say, like the drummer's
mix, and all the faders will adjust, and then you just
adjust the mix as you need, and then you go back to
the main mix and it'll go back to the way it was.
That makes it a lot, it's a lot more intuitive when you're
setting levels repeatedly throughout the night,
just to switch between the mixes that way.
The one benefit of the analog console is you can see
everything that's going on at a glance,
so you can see where all the settings are set.
The downside is you can't set as many things,
or there's not as many tools in the analog console
for you to use to improve the sound at your event.
So, the basic EQ settings, there's set frequencies,
there is a midsweep on this one, but there's
set frequencies that you can basically just move
up or down, it doesn't give you a lot of tools
for fine adjusting.
On the Allen and Heath, and most digital consoles,
you can set the frequency that you want to adjust,
say you want to scroll over to 350 Hertz, and then you
can drag it down or up, however you want, and you
can set how many frequencies you're dragging down
with it, or the width, which is very handy,
especially in like, we do a lot of ballrooms
where there's always like one or two frequencies
that are causing feedback, and you can just quickly
select them and knock them out and then you don't
have feedback throughout the rest of your event.
On the digital console, there's a bunch more tools as well,
so we have the compressor, so the compressor will set
the maximum volume that you're letting the channel go.
And once it goes over that threshold,
it takes everything above it and it just squishes it down.
We've all been to events where a dynamic speaker
decides he wants to you know, yell, or emphasize
a certain point, now, we can allow that to a certain
extent, and then once it breaks a certain threshold,
we compress it down, so that way you're not, we can let
him be a dynamic speaker but you're not shocking
the audience or you're not actually doing hearing damage
if they go over a certain limit, or if we're at like
a press conference, we do a lot of press conferences,
you can set the maximum levels, so then you know
that it will never distort on the camera's audio feed
or the media's audio feed.
You want to keep it in that safe working range
as much as possible and that's the most important thing.
There's also a gate, so a gate works well on a drum kit,
is the best example I can think of.
So when you don't want the mics on your toms to hear
the other toms, so you can set the level that you
want it to be before it's allowed to come through
the sound system.
So if you think about having a five person panel on a stage,
you don't want all the live mics to be on at once,
cause then you hear a lot of breathing noise
and sighing, and that sort of thing,
but as soon as somebody talks, you want their voice
to come out of the sound system, so the gate
allows you to set that threshold.
You should use it sparingly, it can catch you off guard
and sound choppy if you're not using it right.
Other than that, I think the biggest benefit of using
a digital mixer is your ability to save your mix
for the next event.
So if you're in a touring band, or if you're doing
a lot of repetitive conferences with the same
input list, it allows you to save that show with you,
and then the next night when you're at the next venue,
you can load up the mix, so you don't have to worry
about doing a lot of the prework, it's all there,
and you're just into the fine tuning,
you're not starting from scratch every time you
turn on the board, which is nice.
Where on the analog console, I mean, the rule of thumb
is at the end of the night, you're supposed to be putting
all the adjustments back down to zero, right, so the next
guy can walk in and he has a baseline to start from,
a digital one allows you to bring your mix with you,
which is super handy.
If you have any questions about these two,
or why they would be required at any event,
please email us events@kettnercreative.com,
or give us a phone call 604-427-1629,
we'd be happy to walk you through which is right
for your event. Thanks so much.