Sound Advice by Brent Handy Contributing Writer November 23, 2008

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.

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Performing I struggle with this all the time. I really enjoy performing and that is probably a major reason why I am involved with worship music. I pray for the right motivation, but in the "heat" of playing, it is really hard to get my ego out of the way. I...more Submitted by: thomaskster 80dBA?!? There's absolutely no way we could run our worship at 80dBA in our contemporary services. We'd lose half our people in a month. It's a young, contemporary, energetic church, and we target about 90-92dBA for full-out music from the band, with brief ...more Submitted by: xjcsa Thanks, Ross Ross, this is a great insight that I find very challenging. I believe that one weakness in the modern praise and worship movement is an over emphasis of God's immanence at the expense of His transcendence. Thank you for so eloquently expressing this....more Submitted by: jasoncrossmusic

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