Digital Consoles

[J.Williams]

Hi......I've been writing about the development of the audio mixing console for use in the live entertainment industry over the past few months and have decided I need to get some professional opinions for my next section. I've just finished doing a write-up on digital consoles, comparing them to analogue and noting key differences, changes etc etc. If you're interested, I've put together a collection of questions in this post that I think need to be answered with the thoughts of those who actually use mixing consoles in day-to-day activities. Please feel free to add any other valid points you think I may have missed out.

 

The questions are as follows........

 

• Do you think the move from analogue to digital has benefitted your work or has it created hassle for you?

 

• What are the main advantages of using digital?

 

• What are the main disadvantages of using digital?

 

• What could you recommend to digital console manufacturers to better their products?

 

• Are digital consoles generally worth the money?

 

• Is it common to find engineers using additional outboard, rather than the dynamics and effects etc the console has to offer?

 

• Do soundchecks generally take you longer to do on a digital desk?

 

• Where will the future of mixing technology lead us?

 

Thanks for taking the time to have a look.

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan

[tall_phill]

[1] Yes, it has benefited my work immensely. My work primarily being mid level/budget theatre.

 

[2] The main advantages are: Unprecedented levels of automation and recall. Greatly expanded feature sets at mid price points. Redundancy of outboard equipment allows for smaller profile for mix position. Incredibly small size & weight for given feature set.

 

[3] Different skills needed to operate and problem solve equipment requires learning a new skill set for many people in the industry. Greater variety in interface design can necessitate relearning basic operation skills for each new console encountered. Interface designs often slow working speed and ability to interrogate system settings / behaviour easily (compared to analog). Lack modularity in design (compared to high end analog) can potentially make faults harder to work around or crippling - there is very often no equivalent option to touring with a few spare channel strips just in case.

 

[4] Improve the automation programming, make it faster, easier, smarter. Greater consistency of interface design between consoles. Interface designs that are easier to operate and interrogate. Better reverbs.

Something that I am generally mindful of, though is not unique to digital consoles, rather all digital gear, is the additional and unavoidable latency involved. In most instances a few milliseconds is not an issue, but its easy enough to design systems where three or four units are chained together. This won't cause the end of the world, but it is something people need to think carefully about.

 

[5] Yes, they are worth the money, providing they are the right tool for the job.

 

[6] Only outboard I have ever used with a digital board is Reverb. The M7CL verbs aren't much chop compared to a PCM91. Though they are easier to use!

 

[7] Soundcheck duration: Totally contingent on event and console. If the right console for the job has been chosen, and if any prerequisite prep/programming has been done, no - no extra time is required. In a touring gig, with pre-programmed scenes sound checking is potentially much quicker.

 

[8] Not, I hope, to mixing on wireless tablets. I could/would not mix anything more complex than a lectern mic on a wireless tablet. I hope we end up with more small, ergonomic, intuitive interfaces that can control alot awfully quickly.

 

Now given that I have made a big deal about interface design and ease of operation, I feel like I should point out something. I don't necessarily find analog desks easier or more intuitive to operate. I spend much more time on digital boards than analog. I have often found that small analog desks have some really unintuitive and unusual quirks in their operation and signal flow. Presumably as an attempt to fit as many features in to as small a package (and budget) as possible.

 

Other than my comments about reverb, which is funny because its a digital effect anyway, I don't think its particularly valuable to make generalisations about sound quality between analogue and digital consoles. It is easy enough (with suitable budget, or lack there of) to find excellent, and sub-par examples of both.

[RustyBrooks]

The questions are as follows........

 

• Do you think the move from analogue to digital has benefitted your work or has it created hassle for you?

 

From a mixing point of view, I feel it has sped up my work, and made my life a whole lot easier, and more intuative, press a button near the channel I'm tinkering, and that channel comes to control under my fingertips in a big centre section with detailed views. Makes sense in my head, and like not having to move three feet to get to the kick from the vcas, or trying to grab the right knob to turn a twiddle to add a bit more reverb, fader flip and long throw faders are, to me at least more intuitive and accurate. However, teching a job with digital can be more problematic, curing data problems, finding plugins that are misbehaving and general housekeeping can be a bit more tricky, though again, when into a pattern and touring, digital makes everything else that little easier.

 

• What are the main advantages of using digital?

 

Low weight/space needs (yes I know there are some massive digital sysems out there) and recallability, both for snapshots and other bands.

 

• What are the main disadvantages of using digital?

 

Ahhhhh, its fallen over!!!!!!!!

 

• What could you recommend to digital console manufacturers to better their products?

 

Build in tea/coffee making facilities? Ashtray?

 

• Are digital consoles generally worth the money?

 

Yes

 

• Is it common to find engineers using additional outboard, rather than the dynamics and effects etc the console has to offer?

 

Mix and match according to preference/availability.

 

• Do soundchecks generally take you longer to do on a digital desk?

 

No

 

• Where will the future of mixing technology lead us?

 

Remote control off of your phone (doing already), much more flashing lights, less older engineers winging about the lack of sub clarity in a digital system, and probably more time in catering/sloping out the back of the gig for a fag

[StuTheSoundGuy]

• Do you think the move from analogue to digital has benefitted your work or has it created hassle for you?

 

Both. The learning curve is a hassle that leads to a blessing.

 

• What are the main advantages of using digital?

 

Smaller footprint, everything is within arms reach (as opposed to running from end to end of an xl4), depth of scene memory makes for more versatile mixes and quicker soundchecks if you're using one console for a run of shows. They're also lighter, cheaper, have super accurate eq sections and look more like a spaceship console.

 

• What are the main disadvantages of using digital?

 

Every console is completely different in terms of layout and menu structure. if you've only used a particular board once or twice, anything beyond the basics can prove tricky. Preamps often lack the richness of their analogue counterparts. Longer soundchecks if you haven't used the board before/not for a while.

 

• What could you recommend to digital console manufacturers to better their products?

 

Standardise layout and menu structure.

 

• Are digital consoles generally worth the money?

 

Definitely - once you consider they replace your fx rack and reduce the size of mixpoint (more tix sales), everybody wins financially.

 

• Is it common to find engineers using additional outboard, rather than the dynamics and effects etc the console has to offer?

 

I've seen a few guys use outboard preamps for lead vocals.

 

• Do soundchecks generally take you longer to do on a digital desk?

 

Yes - because I only occasionally use them and because generally I'm using a different make/model every time.

 

• Where will the future of mixing technology lead us?

 

Having a desk side of stage while the details of the show are mixed wirelessly via tablet from the crowd. Improved AI to handle simpler mix functions. Sync to lighting options.

[J.Williams]

Cheers for the responses guys.

 

Much appreciated,

 

Jonathan.