We’ve created a comprehensive computer audio mixing guide to help you not only implement our mix template, but also learn as much as you can about computer audio overall.
Thanks for being awesome and letting us partner with your church’s audio ministry. We are pumped to be able to work with you and serve your congregation with our template resources! This guide will walk you through getting your Livestream Mix Template completely setup to get ready for this Sunday’s service broadcast.
YOUR BOARD
You probably have realized you need a digital mixer to get into computer audio mixing.
If you’re still on analog, you may want to look into upgrading. This is beneficial for you even if you don’t want to step into computer audio mixing. Analog boards are additionally not cost effective anymore.
These boards support digital audio connections. (click to learn more about each):
CHOOSING YOUR CONNECTION
USB: If your console supports multitrack recording using either USB or Firewire, this is definitely the easiest way to go.
Dante: For more info on how this works, check out the Dante section in our Livestream Audio Guide.
A QUICK NOTE ABOUT GAIN:
Gainstaging is the key ingredient in making your template sound amazing.
It’s pretty simple – not enough gain from your console preamps and “I can’t hear you.” If too much gain and your audio will sound distorted and unpleasant.
For our computer audio mix template to work well, it needs to have a certain general level of gain/signal coming into it from the console preamps. If there’s too little signal the compressors, limiters, and other effects we dialed in won’t have enough to sound correct.
If there’s too much gain it will put your plugins on overdrive and squash the life out of your audio.
You get out what you put in, which means put in some nicely gained audio for an awesome sounding mix!
A good rule for gain is to keep is to have the signal coming into your console generally between -18dB and -11 dB.
You want the AVERAGE level of your performer to sit in the middle of the meter.
To add, the meters should appear mostly green, peaking into the yellow every now and then.
THE DAW🎛
Let’s jump into your DAW. This is the central unit, and also the BRAIN of this entire process. It serves as the full functionality of your digital hardware mixer but in a computer. A digital audio workstation is truly an amazing thing.
OPENING THE TEMPLATE
Double click on the file you downloaded, and it will open up automatically in your DAW.
This will additionally depend on which DAW you use.
If you need to redownload: head over to our account page and click the download link in your order.
SETTING INPUTS
Now, you need to go into your DAW’s audio preferences and tell it to receive audio from the console.
You can do this by selecting your console as the audio “input device”.
Our computer audio mixing livestream templates include channels for each instrument in your worship team.
Additionally, you just need to tell your DAW where to put it (kick drum audio in the kick drum DAW channel, etc.)
To add, each instrument channel in your DAW provides the input option to match with any of the 1-32 channels of audio your console is sending to it.
You also need to go through each channel in the template and assign an input to it that matches the inputs on your console.
If your kick drum is on input 1 in your console, select input 1 as the input source on the kick drum channel in your DAW, etc.
This takes about 5 minutes, and you only ever have to do it once! (Hit that save button)
INPUT MONITORING/RECORDING
To add, most DAWs will give you two options on each channel: input monitor and record enable. Selecting input monitoring on any/each channel will allow you to hear the audio that is passing through/being mixed in the template. If you also want to record the audio to listen back to or mix again later, make sure to record enable each channel too!
SENDING YOUR MIX TO THE BROADCAST
Now, you are getting signal on each instrument channel, and your mix is done. It’s ready to mix and sent to your broadcast!
Because you set your input and output devices in your DAW’s audio preferences in an earlier step, it’s already setup to be received at that device.
Methods
USB Method:
Your console will receive the mix to be redirected to your broadcast computer.
You need to chose a channel on your console for your broadcast mix audio to receive to (just like you would with an instrument from the stage).
The USB aux input method works by manually assigning up a channel with the input device set to USB. Now you should be able to hear your mix on a stereo channel of the console!
To send that mix to from the console to your streaming computer, you need to send it to a monitor mix (just like your would for a musician on stage’s monitor wedge or IEMs). That way, the audio can be sent out of an output on the back of the console (make sure you use a stereo send) to your broadcast computer!
Dante Method:
With Dante, all you have to do is “transmit” 1-2 from your DAW computer to be “received” by your computer running your livestream computer, which will also need to be networked with Dante.
Here’s an example of our MainStage template in action.
THE MIX
The template provides pre-configured settings for you to get started. All you need to do is use the faders to set the balance you want, and your new broadcast mix is finished.
NEXT STEPS
This computer audio mixing template provides powerful starting point on your church’s journey to get great sound. But there are lots of things you can do from here to keep developing the quality of your church’s livestreams.