iPad mixers: the solution to our small church budget?

The live production industry is in a cool place right now. With technology developing so fast and cost of manufacture going down, you can get a lot of bang for your buck. I think the area of pro audio that has seen the most change over the last 5 years is mixing consoles. With companies like Behringer ripping off high quality manufacturers’ tech and cramming it into a low budget mixing desk like the X32, big features are now available to those with small budgets.

“Amazing” I hear you say. “We’re a church with a tight budget, trying to serve our congregation with good tech and be careful stewards.”

Hold up. We’d all agree that stewardship is about more than buying cheap. These sub 5k desks are impressive, can provide a lot of flexibility and often can sound great. I’m a fan of the Behringer X32 and have mixed on it for a range of shows. It changed the industry. But it’s not my first choice. To achieve a low price tag there’s compromise. As stewards we have to figure out what to prioritise. Our spending decisions have to be defined by our need, not dictated by our budget. And definitely not by Thomann’s pop up ads on Facebook.

So you’re looking at getting a new mixer for church. You’re looking for some cool features that you can play with, but fits a budget that the pastor will approve. A bit of research online shows an exciting influx of iPad mixers into the market – a lightweight 16 channel plug-and-play unit that I can control wirelessly? Perfect.

I don’t think so.

Why I hate iPad mixers

iPad control of mixers has been around for a while. It’s a great way to maintain control while walking out of the booth to hear your mix in the room, or for making monitor tweaks on stage. But there’s no way you’d convince me to trade my faders in for a piece of glass.

Firstly, they’re unreliable. The built in wireless connection drops out ALL THE TIME. You can plug in an external access point which improves it a bit. But what happens when your iPad crashes?

Second, they can quickly become a distraction. There’s a reason it’s industry standard to put control at the back of the room and dress crew in black. How can you expect the person next to you to focus on the sermon when you’re playing with a screen of flashing coloured lights?

Thirdly, and most crucially, iPad mixers encourage fiddling. When I’m training tech teams I spend a lot of time talking about our focus and approach to the role. We’re there to be engaged and responsive, to serve our church and worship our Lord. Technology can be a tool to help us do that. But stick an iPad in my lap and I’ll spend the whole time adjusting parameters and settings that don’t need changing.

Why I love analog

I’m not going to be able to convince many of you to choose analog in 2017. If we’re honest, we love doing tech in church because we like playing with toys. But bear with me as I explain why analog may be the best option for you.

Even cheap analog mixing desks are reliable. If you don’t spend much, you might lose a few buttons and have a few noisy channels, but your mixing desk will still pass audio. You still have control of how the processing is working, and therefore how it sounds. Take that Wifi.

Analog is simple. It’s easy to use, easy to control, easy to make sound decent. Because of reduced features, you can get way more quality for what you spend. If you buy well, you can get a mixer that’ll last for under £500.

Less about analog vs cheap digital and more against iPad control. If you’ve even been in the situation where the keynote speaker is onstage and the tiny fader on your iPad screen becomes unresponsive you’ll want to do everything you can to avoid going through that again.

You need faders to grab when things go Pete Tong!

Our vision for Balance is to resource teams and volunteers to serve their church with production. We want to communicate the priority for valuing team over tech. If your team aren’t trained and confident in their role, trading out your kit probably won’t solve anything. The next step in raising your use of sound / video / lighting in church is situation specific. The appropriate system or gear for your church will be defined by your situation. I wish there was a way to offer a quick kit list for each church budget, but it’s more complex than that.

I’ve put a couple of solid mixing desk options for the ‘church plant’ style congregation below. If you’re thinking of upgrading your mixing desk, please drop me an email or reach out on Facebook. I’d love to chat through options with you.

Allen & Heath QU16 – 16 XLR ins / LR + 10 Aux sends
Digital desk at a great price with enough features to achieve great sound while still be simple to use.

Yamaha MG16XU – 10 XLR ins / LR + 4 Aux sends
Well built small format analog mixer that’s simple to use, sounds good and very affordable.