A good digital sound mixing console is a big investment. You’ll want to get the most bang for your buck. Odds are, your first idea to save some cash is going to be buying from a big internet retailer. You might save a bit of money on the sale cost, but probably not as much as you might expect, even with the free shipping that some retailers offer. Most brick-and-mortar shops will be selling that console for the same price as the high-volume retailers. We’ve seen a lot of organizations try and put together their own sound system and spend as much or more than they would for a professionally designed and installed system, and wind up with something that sounds bad and looks worse. If you want to get your money’s worth, you should buy locally.

Do you know about the power requirements for your console? Are you planning on getting good power conditioning equipment to protect your investment? A $50 power strip from Wal-Mart or Best Buy isn’t going to cut it in most situations, and could even cause damage to your console. For what you paid for the console and what you’ll pay for power conditioning that you know is sufficient, it’s not worth gambling. Do you know what it takes?

When the console arrives at your location, it’s dumb. The console has no idea what outputs you need: How many main outputs do you require? How many fills, monitor mixes, matrix outs? The console has a bank of outputs, maybe some are actually set up for a specific purpose like matrix outs, but none of them are set up for your specific needs. How much time are you able (or willing) to devote to learning about the console and its patching scheme? Can you teach users how to operate the console when it’s set up just right? What about when something’s not quite right? How much of your ‘mind’ will other users need to know in order to use the console once you’re finished setting it up? Once you get that box in the door and decide that nothing’s damaged: best case, you have someone you can call on the phone who’s going to read you the manual. You might get lucky and talk to someone who’s pretty familiar with the product.

Finally, there’s the idea of spending tens of thousands of dollars on an item that you haven’t put your hands on. I can’t imagine this really sits well with anyone, but I assume that people are doing it or these big retailers wouldn’t be stocking and selling these high-dollar consoles. While it may be true that consoles of the same make and model will all be equally reliable when they come off the production line, you have no idea what your specific console will have gone through by the time it gets to you. If you buy the console online, and something’s wrong with it, you’ll have to return it and hope the next one is OK by the time it gets to you. If you buy it locally, you can be sure it’ll work when it’s installed because (at least at MSL) it will be tested before it’s repackaged and moved to your location.

If you buy your console from us, you can be sure that whatever power issues you have at your location won’t damage your console. You can be sure that your console will be set up for your specific needs, and we will train your users to use it. We installed the first live digital sound console in Omaha, NE, and we have sold the most live digital sound consoles in Omaha, NE. We have customers still using digital consoles we installed 20 years ago. Finally, after the console is installed and our team has left, you can relax and enjoy the flexibility of a well-configured console knowing that you’re really getting everything you paid for.

If you are anything like me, you are either old, or old in spirit. You have worked on analog mixing boards and have found that they suit you just fine. No need to venture into the unknown world of digital consoles. No sir. Those digital boards can be so intimidating and confusing anyway, right? Wrong!!!

Enter the PreSonus StudioLive. This is a digital board that maintains the feel and spirit of an analog board. In fact, at first glance, you would be hard pressed to tell that it wasn’t a piece of analog gear. All of the familiar features you would see on an analog board are present, plus some extra onboard digital features!

I have actually had the opportunity to use this board a handful of times recently, mostly for running sound at a bar for a buddy’s cover band. My first time using the StudioLive was actually my first time on a digital board, and it was way easier to navigate than I could have imagined. PreSonus truly has the end user in mind when they design their products. The specific unit I was using was the StudioLive 16.4.2. It has 16 channels, 4 subgroups, 6 aux sends, 2 FX channels, talkback channel, 2 aux inputs, and even a 2 track input so you can plug in an external music playing device without eating into the other 16 inputs.

One of the best parts of using that board for the gig was the fact that I didn’t have to bring in a rack of compressors and effects processors. Each of the 16 channels, aux sends,  and even the FX channels, has a built in and easy to use high pass filter, gate, compressor, limiter, and parametric equalizer. There was even the ability to utilize a 31 band EQ  or the main outputs and aux sends. Built in effects include a handful of preset delays and reverbs, which can be customized and saved. Settings can be saved and recalled for  an amazingly quick sound check as well.

Well, you’ve read about many of the features of this board that you can utilize for running live sound. Let’s not forget though, this is the StudioLive. Not only can you use it for live sound, but also for studio purposes. Let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

The PreSonus StudioLive can be used as a recording interface. The 16 channel model can record up to 16 channels simultaneously. Guess how many channels can be recorded with the 24 channel version. That’s right! Twenty four! A great feature is that you can even use the StudioLive as a live console while recording everything you have plugged into the inputs. I actually put this to the test. I ran sound for a band one night, using the board as I would normally. I brought along my computer and  connected it to the StudioLive via a firewire cable and recorded the entire live performance. Later, back at home, I mixed the live show and was quite pleased with the result.

Besides the fact that the PreSonus StudioLive is a great board for live sound, it is also the most affordable way I have found to record this many tracks simultaneously. We sell the StudioLive 16.4.2 for $1,999.99 and the StudioLive 24.4.2 for $3,299.99. There are so many other features this board offers that I have not covered. It’s something you really just have to experience for yourself. Well, what are waiting for? Live it up!