QSC Instrument Presets and Scenes: Part 1

House of Worship Audio Training : Introduction to Touchmix

1 ) Introduction

2m 20s

3 ) Setting Up Your Sound System

10m 14s

4 ) Setting Up Your Stage

18m 25s

Lesson Description

QSC Instrument Presets and Scenes: Part 1 4m 25s

The Preset libraries are truly one of TouchMix’s most powerful features. Use these to get a great mix up quickly and easily. 

Video Transcript

QSC Instrument Presets and Scenes: Part 1 4m 25s
00:15
Picture this; your pastor says, “We need help with audio visual.  
00:20
Who would like to volunteer to help out?”
00:23
A few volunteers step forward and say, “I’ll help. Just show me what to do.”
00:28
But few people realize that there’s a whole science behind this audio thing.
00:33
So, the volunteer steps up to the mixer, pushes up a fader and everything starts to feed back.  
00:40
Or the worship team vocals are super muddy and boomy sounding.  
00:44
Or the pastor’s mic has no clarity and it’s really hard to understand him.
00:49
Now, these volunteers have beautiful hearts to serve,  
00:51
but are still growing in their knowledge and understanding of live sound reinforcement.
00:57
This is where the TouchMix family of mixers can be super helpful.
01:01
The TouchMix mixers have tools  that gives these volunteers a fighting chance even if they don’t have any audio experience. 
01:09
Now most churches already have a mixer of some sort, but what sets the TouchMix family of mixers apart from all other mixers, 
01:18
are the world-class instrument presets.   
01:21
So, if a sound person in training doesn’t yet know what to do with an instrument after it’s been plugged in,  
01:27
no problem.
01:28
They can pull in a preset for that instrument and make it sound great.
01:33
Now, picture this. You’re an experience audio engineer. You have the knowledge to dial in each instrument from scratch and make it sound great
01:43
but you have very little time to sound check your praise band.  
01:46
You’ve learned that if you load a QSC preset for each input channel that you’ll be at least 80% of the way there
01:54
and then you can finish dialing in the rest of the mix as the band sound checks.
01:59
Here’s Patrick and Nathan to give you a bit of background on how these presets were created.
02:07
TouchMix has many high quality factory-programmed channel presets that are good for a variety of instruments,
02:14
microphones and musical styles. The concept behind these tools is similar to that of a “point and shoot"
02:20
feature on a high-end digital camera. You may not be a professional photographer,
02:24
but it’s easy to get a great shot by changing the camera’s mode for an action shot,
02:30
A night time shot, or a landscape shot.
02:33
The TouchMix channel presets work in much the same way.
02:36
Just select the preset that's right for what you're doing.
02:39
Now, before we dive in to how to use the presets, we'd like to tell you about how they were created.
02:43
QSC started off by using a wide variety of typical gear that working musicians would use.
02:49
Our skilled and experienced concert sound mix engineers spent hundreds of hours creating these presets in live venues,
02:56
with real musicians and their instruments.
02:58
We used PA systems ranging from small two-way speaker systems on sticks.
03:03
To full three-way club PAs with subs.
03:06
We also chose a variety of the most commonly used microphones and stage monitors
03:11
at live performance volume.
03:13
Then, our engineers set all the filters and dynamics for each instrument to minimize feedback and maximize sound quality.
03:20
Finally, we validated these presets using multiple instruments and a variety of musicians.
03:25
It means that less experiences users can get a great mix in a flash,
03:29
while professional mixers will love it because it saves them a lot of time.
03:33
The presets are designed to be used with common microphones and pick-up systems in real live sound applications.
03:39
And the work!
03:41
People who have used TouchMix report getting great results with little or no modification.
03:46
When you add one to your channel, you're getting the combined experience of decades of professional audio mixing
03:53
Applied with the touch of a button.
03:55
All you have to do is load a preset and then fine-tune it to your own preference.
03:59
Alright, now that we know the back story, let's explore the channel presets.
04:04
Pretty cool, right?
04:06
QSCs presets are extremely powerful and great tools for getting a mix up and running quickly.
04:13
In the next video, we’ll walk through how to recall the presets and apply them in real time. Move on whenever you’re ready.

Downloads and Links

QSC Instrument Presets and Scenes: Part 1 4m 25s