Need a new sound Board

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by Frank DeWitt

Buying a mixer that has just enough channels, and costs $3K to expand doesn't sound like a good idea.

Agreed. I think the church needs to decide which is more important to them, the channel count or the integrated processing, scene recall (as it is for the StudioLive), etc. Everybody can tell you what might be right for their situation but you really have to decide what is right for you.

As far as the training, it is true that any new console may take some training. How much depends on the people involved, their experience and how quickly they pick things up. Initially configuring a digital console is a major shift in thought process for many that are familiar only with analog consoles, however many churches the console configuration is a process that only one or two people need to understand and apply on a limited basis while many of the regular operators may need to adapt only to more limited differences, especially if the console work surface does not use layers. In fact, if you have not had processing and effects then learning to properly utilize those may be much more of an issue than learning to perform basic mixing on a basic digital console.

[pdc]

Originally Posted by Brad Weber

Probably need to qualify this because as far as mixing an analog console will generally be less expensive than, and may be just as small as, a 'comparable' digital console. I think it might be more fair to say that a digital console will usually be less expensive and require less space than the combination of a comparable analog console in combination with comparable processing.

I agree with the others that you are likely not going to find a 24-32 channel console with gates on each input, integrated effects and a minimum of 8 aux sends (6 monitors plus 2 or more effects sends and you may want to account for ALS, overflow audio, recording, etc.) for $1,000 or even $1,500. I'm sure that's not what you were hoping to hear but Wayne provided a good synopsis of the general options and realistically you will probably have to either cut back on the requirements for the mixer and/or significantly increase the budget.

32 channel analog console, 32 gates, 32 comps, 32 limiters, 6 parametric EQs, 8 graphic EQs, 32 channels of A/D and D/A, stereo recorder, good cabling, more AC outlets/distro strips, etc....all more expensive than an integrated digital solution and all bigger.