and not the best use of church resources .
A FEW THOUGHTS ON QUESTION 2 — AN INPUT BY ANY OTHER NAME …
Question 2 moves a bit more into the technical weeds and this will require participation from multiple functions within the church organization . How does church leadership see audio needs growing over time ? Is there a vision for expanding the choir someday ? A dream to pepper in more of the youth music team into the Sunday worship line-up ? Don ’ t focus on crafting your input list needs only off of the audio lead or music minister , expand out the tent as you start to draw up your comprehensive future-state input list .
While we ’ re on the topic of inputs , note that I didn ’ t say “ channels ” or “ sources ”. This is a pet peeve of mine that will possibly create some confusion when you move beyond gathering requirements and into building the possible product list with consoles that could meet your needs . As noted , I am a marketer . I get it . If folks can put a bigger number out there about a particular product they are marketing , it might make its way onto more potential product lists . Without naming any names here , let ’ s just say that there are certain audio manufacturers who use the terms ‘ inputs ’ and ‘ channels ’ and ‘ sources ’ in somewhat fuzzy and potentially confusing ways .
It is important to check that if you need 48 inputs ( actual mics ), the console on your list can process / mix all of those 48 . Advertising a console as a “ 48 channel console ” is unfortunately not always synonymous with “ 48 mixable inputs ” and does frequently trip people up . And even within the Allen & Heath product line-up there is a difference in terminology between seeing sources on a network and being able to actively mix all of those channels . In this case it isn ’ t that we are trying to be tricky , but the total networkable or addressable ‘ sources ’ is a separate important spec in some console selection processes . For our basic purposes here , just watch out for the gotcha of consoles interweaving the definition of ‘ inputs ’ and ‘ channels ’ and ‘ sources ’ and ensure that if you need 48 inputs the console can simultaneously actively mix all 48 without any limitations or trickery that you might not be aware of .
A FEW THOUGHTS ON QUESTION 3 — LET ’ S GET OUT OF HERE !
Getting back to the requirements gathering stage as it relates to audio outputs , let ’ s talk