The phrase “we need to get a new console” can evoke a lot of anxiety. On the other hand, the phrase “we need to get a new console” can also evoke optimistic excitement. The replacement of any major part of our technology inventory can be daunting indeed, especially when it’s the de facto nerve center of all our audio. There’s more to it than simply disconnecting the old one and connecting the new one. We’ll need to reconfigure more than a few things, and we’ll probably also want to establish new baseline mixes to approximate what the previous console was doing. We probably have a small team of people who used the old console, and we’ll want to get them acquainted with the new console if they’ve never had experience on our new make and model. And even if they have, we’ll still need to get them acquainted with the new console’s configuration and newly-established baseline mix(es).
The Silver Lining
But at the same time, we mixers generally enjoy doing what we do, and presumably, the new tool we’re bringing into play will be more sophisticated, giving us appealing new capabilities that didn’t exist in our previous console. It might even resolve clumsy workarounds we suffered with the previous console. The cloud does have a silver lining! So we’ll go into the new paradigm with both trepidation and encouragement — just like life, right? When the time comes to replace a console (or introduce an additional new console), we’ll want to be objective and smart about how we do so. Here are a few things to think about.
We can file the reasons for replacing a console under two broad headings — voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary happens when a functional console is replaced as part of a deliberate planning process, and involuntary happens when smoke pours out of the console immediately after Sunday services — at which time the countdown clock starts ticking and we must race to replace the thing in time for the next service (or more likely the Thursday night rehearsal). The latter of these two possibilities is very undesirable for what ought to be pretty obvious reasons. The former, on the other hand, is quite desirable. It’s nice to plan ahead, establish money in the budget, and move on to the next console while the current one is still functional and we have time to sort out the details of the exchange. For this reason, I strongly recommend against limping along with gear that’s on its last legs, particularly the nerve center of all audio operations.
While we cannot predict the future, there are a few attributes we’ll likely want to have in the next console we acquire as a matter of course — they’ll be beneficial to us no matter what happens. The replacement of the console creates some nice opportunities to “up our audio game.” There are some pretty obvious ones: better audio quality resulting from cutting-edge technology, matrix improvements, the potential introduction of audio networking if we hadn’t already done so, and the capacity to hand monitor mixing over to musicians. It has been a joy to watch the quality of consoles increase while the price continues to decrease over recent years. It’s sort of a corollary to Moore’s law — in general, our technology keeps getting better and the prices keep going down. The main paradigm shift that has driven this phenomenon is that modern consoles are now more or less computers with audio I/O. The coding that runs on these computers determines what we can accomplish with them, and coding is easier and cheaper than designing analog consoles with lots of copper and PC board circuit traces inside. We continually get more and more internal signal processing and routing capabilities — more power at lower prices — pretty awesome.
Thoroughly Modern Mixers
Modern digital consoles also facilitate the development of increasingly better user interfaces. It seems almost paradoxical, but the more sophisticated the console, the easier it is for us to configure it in a way that an untrained volunteer can deliver surprisingly good results. The user interface can be set up to capitalize on the expertise of a mixing veteran, or dumbed down to enable a green volunteer to achieve solid results. Another common attribute of modern consoles is the built-in capacity for audio networking so we can easily split audio off for monitor mixing or a streaming mix or broadcast. As you are probably surmising at this point, the replacement of an existing console may entail the introduction of additional hardware and software outside the physical console itself. For this reason, it’s a good idea to do some additional advance planning and engineering to avoid nasty surprises. You don’t want to discover in the middle of the upgrade process that you need a certain specific kind of Ethernet switch that you can’t just pick up at your local box store retailer. Plan the entire upgrade and budget accordingly. When the time comes, you will have all the hardware you need, and you can properly map out the upgrade process using neat stuff like Gantt charts to help ensure it’s all complete and functional, on time and under budget.
In my circle of friends and colleagues, I have developed the reputation as “the guy who says you haven’t planned for enough physical I/O.” I’m happy to own this reputation. Here’s my thinking: you should look to see how many physical inputs you needed for your biggest production over the past year (typically Christmas or Easter) and double it. If your Christmas production required 48 inputs, make sure your next console has 96. No one ever says “we have way too many inputs,” but I’ve seen more than a few sad faces telling us “we don’t have enough inputs.” The same is true for outputs, or any other connection that passes audio. Don’t skimp — you’ll almost certainly regret it.
In summary, I strongly recommend budgeting well in advance for a future console upgrade, execute that upgrade while your existing console is still completely functional, plan your exchange process wisely so it can be done smoothly and with minimal downtime, and above all, do not underestimate your future channel count requirements. If you do these things, you can avoid the nightmare of an emergency console replacement and smoothly transition to better audio and bigger smiles.
John McJunkin is an adjunct professor at Grand Canyon University.
