solution needed

[dogcop]

Good morning and happy new year

 

We are looking at evaluating a spec for some new kit for our church, which,

(a) provides a method for digitally recording the sermons for upload to our church website

(b) provides a mixing desk with 6 foldback sends

© Has 24 channels

 

What is the best method for getting that digital recording

is there an out from the desk to a specific recorder or is there a mixing desk on the market which will do all we want in one - if so which

 

Please bear in mind, like any organisation we are spending other peoples money but having said that we do not want to spend good money after bad kit.

 

any Q's please do not hesitate to get back to me

 

andy

[gyro_gearloose]

Why do you need so many channels? Surely if you are just recording one persons voice at any one time, a good microphone and a computer will be all you need? If the computer is connected to the net, you can then easily upload your sermons.

 

Also, why do you need six foldback sends? Will you need to send six different mixes to six different places, or do you need to send one mix to six places? If you want one mix to six places you'll only need one foldback send.

[StevieR]

Hi Andy,

 

Several options at your disposal here.

 

1. Use a standard mixing desk with an interface into a PC such as this one - Phonic Firefly - which is relatively inexpensive and comes with some basic recording software.

 

2. Get a desk with the digital interface built in such as this - Allen & Heath Zed 428. You will still need a PC, etc and some recording software.

 

3. Standard mixing console plus a dedicated digital recorder

 

4. The all in one solution. A Yamaha LS9-32, which allows for recording direct to a USB memory stick.

 

That should give you some food for thought.

 

One thing, in terms of the mixer spec, you would ideally require 6 pre-fade auxes for your foldback mixes. As most 6-aux consoles only offer the first four as pre-fade you may need to look into an 8-aux unit to get to the desired spec.

 

Steve

[cedd]

I would assume Gyro that the desk will also be mixing a band and maybe some other mics for speakers/readings. I think the OP is wanting a Front of House console with the facility to record as well rather than a dedicated record desk.

 

My first bet (personal preference) is the Allen and Heath GL2400. 6 Aux, 24 channels (well, 22 fully featured and 2 with slightly less in the way of EQ) and has the addition of a matrix which would mean recording would be far more flexible and there's possibility of recording the full service with ambient mics and a mix tweaked for recording.

As for recording, I would be tempted if recording to PC, to transfer the files onto a seprate PC for upload to the web, simply for protection of your "operational" pc from viruses and the like. Alternatively one of these solid state pc card recorders would also do the job. This could be a weekly thing, so recording to cd seems a little wasteful of media to me.

 

The Allen and Heath consoles are around the £1300 mark and the technical support and build quality is superb! There are also some filtering onto the second hand market which are a bit cheaper.

 

If you tell us what you've got already, we'll see if there's a workaound using it.

 

 

Edit; beaten to it by Stevie R!

[dogcop]

thanks for the input so far guys - much appreciated

 

for info Gyro - the desk will be used predominantly for FOH mixing and we do need those amount of channels as at the mo we will be running

 

3 x singers mics

4 x radio mics for drama / sermon

lead

rhythm

keys

piano

cd

laptop

 

this is our basic setup - however when we want to do specials I.e more instrumentalist or maybe putting the drums and bass thru the system (which we don't normally do, due to the size of the building) then we need the resiliance of the extra channels.

 

we already run for foldbacks and again we want resiliance in that dept

 

hope that clarifys

 

Andy

[MarkPAman]

I read the OP, then found that StevieR had already listed most of the options that sprang to my mind.

 

However, I'll add to point 3, that the Zoom H4 would be worth looking at as a digital recorder.

[Jivemaster]

For a spoken voice sermon please enable a low bitrate MP3! Some of your intended listeners will not have a high bandwidth service.

[soundiesam]

2. Get a desk with the digital interface built in such as this - Allen & Heath Zed 428. You will still need a PC, etc and some recording software.

 

 

I think he Allen and Heath comes with software for recording.

[smalljoshua]

2. Get a desk with the digital interface built in such as this - Allen & Heath Zed 428. You will still need a PC, etc and some recording software.

 

 

I think he Allen and Heath comes with software for recording.

It comes with Sonar LE

 

Josh

[StevieR]

I think he Allen and Heath comes with software for recording.

 

Course it does - Doh! And I should know! We sell the darn things!

(Note to self - must pay more attention to sales literature!)

 

S.

[Scouse Dave]

I would echo the A&H GL series, although going to something like an LS9-32 would give lots more features, although it will set you back around £7000 (inc vat). The GL2400 will be nearer the £2000 mark.

 

For a standalone recorder, I have used the BOSS Micro BR Digital recorder. Dead simple to use. I have been using it for about a year, a few times a week and I can't recall a single failure. It just needs the external power supply and a memory card.

 

Dave M.

[mervaka]

to be honest, if he doesnt need the group/aux reverse function of the GL2400, the ZED428 is probably a better choice.

[Scouse Dave]

to be honest, if he doesnt need the group/aux reverse function of the GL2400, the ZED428 is probably a better choice.

The only thing that leads me to the GL2400 is that auxes 5&6 are pre/post switchable. If he wants all 6 channels for the band, pre-fade auxes are important.

 

On the other hand, if he can work auxes 5 & 6 fixed as post fade, then the ZED428 may be a better choice...

 

Dave M

[Mr.Si]

I specified a new console for our church, a GL2400 (the 24 (ish :)) channel model). We run only 2 monitor mixes at the moment and use auxes 5&6 for FX but that's just our setup. We record via a couple of the matrix channels into one of those Portable Zoom digital recorders, which I think is the same one as MarkPAman mentioned (the H4).

 

This works incredibly well.

 

Couldn't recommend a more easy setup for those who like their "analogue" desks.

 

I don't know if it was just an issue with ours, but our zoom portable recording unit had to have its firmware updated as it wasn't writing the audioheader files properly and so acting as though the recording didn't exist. (That's where having a computer with linux helps )

 

So yeah, GL2400 and Zoom recorder, works a treat.

[techywhizz]

We have looked very hard at solutions for recording the sermon lately. We used to record to cd. However our main issue was duration of some talks / seminars (you can only record 78 minutes on a cd).

 

We have now opted for a digital format. We use marantz pmd570 and record all our sermons onto compact flash. These are then easily put into a computer and cut up on eiher peak pro or audacity(free to download)

 

On a 2gb compact flash card you can record a 6 hour mono wav file. This is all you will ever need for sermons.

 

M