A: Check your owner and/or service manual for your console. You may have the option to change a "jumper" on the channel strip electronics. Allen & Heath, Soundcraft, Spirit and others offer this feature. "Pre or post EQ" and "pre or post fader" monitor sends may be selected per channel.

If you do not have the luxury of changing jumpers, then you still have an option.
1. Take a 1/4" TS cable and insert it only half-way into your Insert jack (If you have a Direct Out jack, use that). By inserting it half-way, you are connecting to the output of the jack.
2. Take the other end of your TS cable and plug it into an open channel's
Line In.
3. Assign the first channel to the house mix outputs only. This is your house channel strip.
4. Assign the second channel to your monitor mix outputs only. This is your monitor channel strip.

Now, not only do you have discrete EQ's for the monitor and house mixes, but you can also assign digital effects processor outputs to either mix. You can do this as little or as much as you wish. You are only limited by the number of console channels available.

Q: I am a volunteer for our churches sound team. We want to record a
musical, using our sound board. We will use a Alesis HD24 Digital 24-track. What is the best way to do this?

A: If your mixing console has Direct Outs, use the appropriate 1/4" TS, or TRS cables to connect to the HD24. If you do not have Direct Outs, then insert the plug half-way into the Insert jack. This effectively does the same thing, but it prohibits you from inserting compressors or gates into the channel. If you need to compress/limit a channel, then simply connect it into the chain (Insert output >>> compressor input, compressor output >>>recorder in).

You should monitor the recording from your Alesis HD24. If your mixer cannot accommodate the tape returns, then you should use a separate mixer. Simply connect the HD24 to the mixer via the same 1/4" TR, or TRS cables. This will allow you to Solo individual, or groups of channels and monitor on headphones.

I do not recommend subgrouping, to record mixed groups to the HD24. The reason is that it is permanent at that point. You can't go back and recreate the service if you don't like the mix, so it is best to keep it seperate until the mixdown.

Q: Our speakers pop when we turn the system on and off. Will this damage the speakers?

A: YES! This will damage your speakers. The pop can be caused by one of two things, or a combination of both. The first one is your amplifier's capacitors are discharging. Older amplifiers, like Crown DC150's & 300's for example, have no speaker protection circuitry. When they discharge, the current causes excessive movement of the cone, and/or burns up the diaphragm. If this happens, your speaker will need to be reconed (rebuilt to factory specs, by replacing all but the magnet and the basket).

The second reason may be that you are powering up and down incorrectly. Make sure that the amps are the last thing to be turned on, and the first thing to be turned off. This will prevent snaps, crackles and pops from other components being amplified and past on to the speakers.

Q: Our church is in the market for a mixing console. What is a VCA and how is it used?

A: Subgrouping is a means of controlling the volume of a group of channels, which are then in turn routed to the main outputs. For example, eight channels of a drum kit are mixed, then they are routed to a group fader (mono, or two group faders (stereo) for convenient overall level control of the kit, without disturbing the internal balance. A subgroup passes audio.

On a console with VCA (Voltage Control Amplifier) grouping, the VCA groups can be in stereo, and instead of passing audio, it sends the output from the channel directly to the assigned output of the VCA. This is literally like adjusting the eight faders of the drum mix with one fader. Most VCA consoles have a combination of both VCA and subgrouping.

Do you need VCA's? That is a hard call for me to make for you. That depends on how you work and what functions you require of your console. If it were my church, and I had $30k+ to spend, I think that I would go for it. There are some exciting new entries in the VCA console market.