A Digital Improvement
moves for growth
Cutting to the chase: I and a few others have been discussing reasons for upgrading our sound board to the Midas M32 digital console. Want to know why? Keep reading...
age
Practically, while our current board is fairly new to us, it was purchased used and has been showing its age, sometimes not so gracefully. An upgrade will give us a new product with a warranty.
features
- Recall feature (scene): There can be a standard scene set (settings, adjustments, levels, etc) that can be reset with the push of a button. This should make Sunday morning set up more straightforward; changes made for another event, rental, or program will no longer mysteriously rear their heads during crunch time. (This could also reduce the learning curve and danger of breakage for any events without experienced sound operators).
- Options for personal monitors: Want less vocals and more guitar? With a few additional components, we'll be able to let you do that for yourself... on the fly... throughout a practice or service. Not only will this enable you to do things in a timely and personal manner, but will also allow the sound operator to focus on what the rest of the room needs to hear.
- Better EQ, adjustments and effects: We'll be able to better handle the shouts and whispers of dynamic presenters, make instruments sound better in the room, and add more subtle adjustments to all of our vocals and instruments like compression, reverb and delay, as needed.
- Recording: This product is equipped to provide all channels to be recorded individually. As recording live is a weekly occurrence, as well as the most practical way to bring music to the church for distribution, this could be a real game changer.
side benefits
Because this product is considerably more compact, it'll clean up the sound booth as well as reduce some overhead since much of what is built-in can replace components that are now stacked all around.
There are a number of reasons we've chosen this model over others with similar features, but most boil down to better internal components, durability and industry use. We can discuss in person, but won't bore you with too much of that here :)
considerations
- Learning Curve: Since this is a direct move from an analog to digital mixing environment, there will be a learning curve for some members who are currently involved in the ministry (although we have a few guys becoming more experienced in their own personal projects). This is a reason for the timeliness: as we begin to be blessed with more team members, we want to train for the future, not for the past. If we can make this next step, any new people can be trained to operate on what we hope to carry forward.
- Budget: The remaining budget for music/worship team this year is not enough to cover the cost of the board, even with selling old equipment once the new board is in place.
- Time: While there is no guarantee on time to purchase or time to install, any sooner is better. Once/if acquired, the plan would be to use it in tandem with our current setup to give ample opportunity to both test its performance and equip the current operators. When an appropriate amount of time is taken to test and train, we could begin to use the new workhorse in week-to-week functions.
takeaway
If any of this has resonated with you, my request for now is for you to begin praying. Praying for God's timing and will in this project, praying for the means and provision, praying in whatever area resonated with you.
If you'd like to learn more about the product, here are a few resources to check out: