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I am curious to know if any consoles (analog or digital) have a feature that allows the sound engineer to individually mute Auxiliary sends from the Aux Send level (not at the channel strip).

The scenario is this...

Church service:
All instruments sent to Groups 1-2 and vocals to Groups 3-4 (except for the pastor/ speaker).
Band plays with the use of Aux 1-4 for stage monitoring.

When the band is done, the instruments and vocals can all be cut from the house mix simply by depressing the individual grouping "To ST" buttons which are conveniently located together in a single row (rather than muting all the channel strips one at a time). Unfortunately, this still leaves all the channels live in the monitors and the pastor doesn't like the monitors on during the message. It would be nice to be able to mute the main Auxiliary Sends right next to their send level knobs instead of turning them down and having to remembering their exact settings.

The board I'm using doesn't have Aux Send mutes. Does this feature exist on some boards? I don't think shutting off the monitor amplifier is a good option really. Could get pops when doing that and it just doesn't seem appropriate anyway.

Comments

dvdhawk Fri, 01/29/2010 - 11:24

I'm using a 32-channel Soundcraft Live-8 on Sunday mornings and it has 4 Mute Groups, so with the push of one Mute Group button I can make the transition from music to message. You can assign each of the 32 channels to any or all 4 Mute Groups - very handy.

Any digital mixer would let you recall a scene that mutes unused channels for the sermon.

Before I had this mixer at church, I muted each channel as we transitioned from the music to the message.

I hope that helps.

mdb Mon, 02/01/2010 - 15:27

dvdhawk, post: 298727 wrote: ... And of course you could use the "To ST" buttons for the rapid transition - then mute the individual channels as soon as you can.

Thanks. I thought of that, but that's actually why I posted this thread. Using the "to ST" buttons doesn't mute the Aux sends - leaving them live if the channel strips are still on. I thought hitting the "To ST" buttons on the groups and two by the Aux Send pots would be better than pressing all the mutes on the strips (not that it's all that difficult with our 32 channel board). I don't like turning the Aux's down after they're exactly where the band wants them for monitor levels. For now, muting the channel strips is it.

dvdhawk Mon, 02/01/2010 - 21:05

I know to ST doesn't kill the monitors and I would find that annoying too. And I'm with you, if the band is happy with the monitors I don't touch them - not even the Aux Master.

I used to press 32 mutes, on an older Mackie VLZ you run your finger along the mutes, zzzzziiiiiip - takes 2 seconds. unmute? zzzzziiiiiiiip, takes 2 seconds.

Vs. what? 10 seconds on another mixer?

bouldersound Tue, 02/02/2010 - 00:59

1. Try turning off the amps. It may not be so bad (but amps differ).

2. Run a piece of tape along the aux masters showing what the setting of each should be, or just take notes.

3. Use the amp input level controls for final monitor levels and leave your aux masters at unity. Mute with aux masters.

4. Use the aux masters to set your final monitor levels and set your amps wide open. Mute with amp level controls.

bouldersoundguy.com

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