Hi, we just set up the sq-6 and figuring everything out. So far what I’m stuck on is creating a stream mix that is independent of the FOH mix. We were using a presonus series 3 before and I had the ability to set up a matrix mix. I could mute and mix every channel separately from the main LR mix. And I could select the mix and edit it on the board or just use the PC software to mix. Is there a way to do something similar with the sq-6?
Fyi, I know little about sound, I’m the guy who figures everything out and sets it up, not always knowing how or remembering later on down the road…
The biggest question I have is whether or not there will be a dedicated person actively mixing the broadcast feed. Long story short, you can easily set up an stereo (or mono) aux for the broadcast mix and this is generally the least complicated method of handling a broadcast mix. But the answer to the “dedicated engineer” question will determine the best way to set this up.
If you WILL have a dedicated person actively mixing the aux, then you want to set the aux sends as “pre-fader” mixes. This way the aux mix is independant from the main FOH mix and any changes that the FOH engineer makes to their mix will not affect the broadcast send levels. The broadcast mixer will just adjust the send levels of the broadcast mix to achieve the desired mix.
If there will NOT be a dedicated person actively mixing the broadcast mix, then you want to set up the aux mix as “post fader.” This means that any changes to the main FOH mix will also affect the stream mix. What you will want to do is get your FOH mix “dialed in” and sounding good. Once that is done, you want to switch over to listening to the broadcast mix and adjust the broadcast auxes send levels until you achieve the mix that you want. There are many times when acoustic instruments that are loud in the room need to be turned up more in the broadcast mix due to the fact that there is no “acoustic energy” from those instruments in the broadcast mix. So drums, guitars with amps on stage, brass instruments, etc probably need to be turned up louder in the broadcast mix than they are in the FOH mix. Once the broadcast mix is pretty well dial in, you will go back to mixing the FOH mix. However now any changes made to the FOH mix will also be made on the broadcast mix. So if you turn the singer up 3db to get them over the mix, that change will also be applied to the broadcast mix. If the guitarist is a little too loud during a certain part of a song and you turn them down in the FOH mix, that change will also happen in the broadcast mix (which you want).
With A&H system, the channel mute is a “global mute.” What I mean is that if you mute a channel, it gets muted every where - every aux, group, matrix, etc will have that channel muted. Personally I think this is the correct way to handle it (if I really need to mute something, I generally want it muted everywhere). However that might take some getting use to since it is different that your old console. If you want to take something out of a mix (FOH or otherwise), but still have that audio present everywhere else, you will need to use the fader to turn the volume down instead of muting it.
As far as mixing with software, there is the SQ4You apps that allow people to mix their own monitors/aux sends. A&H also has a “FOH mix” app called the SQ Mixpad where a user has access to a lot more things than just a single aux send. You can also check out the third party app Mixing Station as it supports the SQ lineup.
Thank you for your help! Yes we have a dedicated person running the stream mix. So it sounds like we set it up correctly, had our first run with a service last night and we did it exactly how you explained, with an aux mix.
There were two things I couldn’t figure out. First, I created a mute group that mutes every channel except our music channel. That way after worship or at the end of service, we just hit the mute group and turn up the music. On our previous board we did the same, but, with the mute group enabled, we were able to un-mute and mute channels. So if someone wanted to talk through a mic, I didn’t have to disable the whole mute group. The SQ doesn’t appear to work this way? With the mute group enabled, if I pressed the mute button for a channel it just lit up red (instead of blinking red). But I couldn’t figure out a way to completely un-mute a single channel with the mute group enabled.
Second, because we didn’t use global mute on our last board, we could start our stream with just music playing while the worship team finished up any last minute practicing. But with global mute, they can’t play while the stream runs. Is there a work around?
Our set up consists of running the stream from obs on our PC. We run the sound board to the PC via USB. I know I can figure out a way to play music for the beginning of our stream just in obs, creating a scene within obs to play music, independent of the sound board audio and show the video feed. Then switch to the sound board audio when the service begins. I’m just wondering if maybe there’s a way to do it on the SQ like we did before?
Mute groups - unfortunately A&H has not implemented a way to unmute a single channel in the mute group while leaving the others still muted. As you experienced, you really have to unmute the entire mute group. This is a much requested feature that hasn’t been implemented yet.
As far as starting the stream without audio, I think the simplest method is going to be just lowering the unneeded audio sends/faders in the broadcast aux. However, if you have a matrix available, it might be possible to send the broadcast aux to a matrix and also send the music to the matrix (either as an insert or from another aux, group, etc.) If you can make this work, then you will send that matrix output to the broadcast computer (instead of directly from the broadcast aux). Setting it up like this will allow you to mute the broadcast aux with one button press (mute button on broadcast aux) and still have the music being played through the matrix. This is a better long term solution if you can find a way to implement it. Unfortunately the SQ doesn’t allow you to send an input (the music in this case) directly to a matrix because it would be a really easy to set this up if they did. (You have to step up to an Avantis or DLive to get that functionality currently).
If you aren’t already using all 12 mixes you can use Groups to add a layer of control similar to muting individual channels. Assign the musicians to one or more groups and pastor and lectern mics to another. In routing, remove the assignment of those groups from everything except the Aux you are using for the live stream. You can now use the group masters to control what is going to the stream, and fine tune with the individual channel sends.
While I’d like the ability to mute channels to specific sends, and to send individual channels to a matrix, these are features I can live wothout, given all of the other features of the SQ.
