New guy looking for advice/refresher

Qu Qu General Discussions
1

Hello, new guy here.

I’m looking for some advice and a refresher. I’ve been mixing in churches for awhile, but I’ve been out of action for about the last 5 years. The previous two churches I mixed at before had professionally installed systems that were pretty stable. I recently started mixing at a church where I think the sound system is misconfigured, but I feel like I’m unpeeling an onion.

So our setup is the A&H Qu-32, a dbx DriveRack PA+, and Yamaha PX3 amplifiers for main cluster, side fills, and subs. Our mics are run through a traditional snake, and the A&H in-ears are in the digital snake. At least, I think that’s our setup.

I went early to get more familiar with the board while no one else was there. While I was playing around, I turned off the high pass filter on the piano mic. After a minute, a low feedback slowly started to build, which continued even after I had killed the master fader. Only by muting the channel or re-engaging the high pass filter did it kill the feedback. I later learned that the subs are fed from the Mix1 layer, and it apparently bypasses the master fader. That doesn’t seem right to me.

So now I’m not sure about the setup. I assumed that the mix all went out a single output from the board to the DriveRack, and then to the amps as appropriate. I assumed the DriveRack was the system EQ and crossover point. Now I’m not so sure about any of it.

I don’t yet understand routing on the Qu-32 under ideal conditions, never mind the current setup. I don’t yet understand the menus, logic, design philosophy, etc. I’ve only ever worked with one other digital board, and that was a Roland M-300, which was quite different.

So I guess I have some questions:

  1. Is it possible to route the Mix1 layer through the master fader? And do I want to do that?
  2. The DriveRack is a DSP, correct? I’ve never had to worry about that in my previous churches.
  3. Are my assumptions correct that it should be a single output from board to DriveRack to amps? Part of me is wondering if the DriveRack is even in the signal chain. I know a lot of churches end up removing DSPs because they don’t understand what they are, what they do, and/or they can’t figure out how to adjust them (which they generally shouldn’t be doing). I’ll have to check on Sunday.
  4. I welcome correction on any misconceptions I might have. It’s been about 5 years! :slight_smile:

Thanks,

Zack Hamilton

2

  1. If the subs are set up on an Aux (ie Mix1 is an aux and not a matrix), then the Main L/F fader will not control the volume of the subs. The work around is to set up a DCA that includes the Main LR channel and the Mix1 buss. You’ll need to use that DCA fader to control the overall PA instead of the Main LR fader.

  2. The Driverack is a DSP. You can easily send the Driverack the Main LR output from the console, and setup multiple ouputs - one for the Main PA speakers, one for the subs, etc. Each output can have it’s own DSP (eq, timing, etc) set up.

  3. Speaker DSP can be set up either in the console (usually by using Matrixes) or in the Driverack, but doing both at the same time will certainly cause confusion. I think the general consensus is to use an external DSP when possible because it can be set correctly and then locked/left alone. Even if you change the console out, the PA DSP will remain the same. Setting up the PA DSP in the console gives more opportunity for someone to mess with the DSP, and it’s obviously tied to the console so if you change the console out you completely lose your DSP.

3

This is pretty much along the lines I was thinking, but because I’ve been out of action for 5 years, and I never really had to deal with the install side of things, I wasn’t sure I was remembering the theory correctly. It’s good to get some confirmation.

I really need to check that DriveRack and see how (or if) it’s in the signal chain.

Thanks!

4

Perhaps one more thing:
As it’s currently wired, the DriveRack won’t affect your subwoofers.

If the rest of the PA system provides sufficient bass reproduction, e.g., for male speech, controlling the subwoofer separately via a post-fader-aux can be quite advantageous, because you only mix in the channels that actually need the subwoofer.
Whether a piano belongs in this category if you then cut it again via HPF is questionable, but you’ll have to try it out.

Everyone has to decide for themselves.
Personally, I always prefer to have the subwoofers in my hands separately, but I don’t work in a church.

5

To be fair, the piano is only plugged into that channel when we do “scaled back” or more acoustic services, which is what this was. Normally, there’s a synth plugged into that channel.

You make an interesting point, though. The only things running to the subs are that channel (which I probably should have pulled out of the subs), kick drum, and I think a little on our computer audio output. So I guess it’s managable. It’s just not the way I’m used to seeing it. I’m just not sure it’s a good idea because a lot of church sound mixers are volunteers who aren’t going to realize how it’s configured, and they will get bitten when they have feedback or something.

Thanks.