Erik Matlock: Since I’m not mixing the big shows these days, I’ll offer my simple analog group setup that worked well with most small to medium churches or shows.

Most rooms with less than 300 seats will likely be equipped with a 16- or 24-channel analog mixer. Rarely do you see more than four subgroups on small systems, so you have to be flexible and creative.

For the sake of mixing simple services and music, I generally place all vocals in subgroup 1 except the primary podium and/or pastor’s mic. These usually go straight to the stereo bus. Once sound check is finished, the volunteers are basically babysitting one or two channel faders and the groups.

Subgroup 2 usually has choir mics, group 3 is for guitars and keyboards, with drums in group four. This really helps with the transition between spoken word and performance. All subgroups go up for music and down for the message. The primary speaking mics and playback tracks normally stay independent of the groups.

Gerard McCorry: Understanding and implementing subgroups and VCAs/DCAs in my workflow has made an immeasurable difference to my mixing and has gotten me closer to the Holy Grail: consistency. I generally use subgroups for processing and VCAs/DCAs for level control.

So why use groups? Well, to group things! Depending on the hardware available, you’ll be able to get more done with less. Take a drum kit with eight inputs as an example – if you have the capability on your console, you can put a compressor on all eight channels, but what if you only have access to four compressors? How about just two? This is when a group will make a big difference, because you can send the drum inputs to one group and use one compressor to affect them all.

Following this line of thinking allows you to start getting creative; how exactly should you group inputs for processing? Experiment with grouping all the drums (so kick, snare, toms) as one group and then the cymbals (hi-hat, ride, crash) as another group and processing them differently. The hardware is your limit and I encourage experimentation with different configurations of grouping inputs to find your best workflow.

A great mixing technique is the use of dual compression and we’ll continue with drums as the example. The idea is that you have an uncompressed group with all your drums, a normal drum sound with all its transients joined by a second heavily compressed group that removes the transients but allows the drums to have more sustain. Then blend the two groups together to taste. You have to be careful with phase issues with this technique, so put the “dry” drums subgroup through the same processing as the compressed drums subgroup but set it so it doesn’t affect the signal.

Another trick that uses VCAs/DCAs is to put the inputs and the groups on different VCAs/DCAs so as you push/pull the input VCA/DCA, everything is run in/out of compression, and as you push/pull the group VCA/DCA, their level post compression is being adjusted.
In the theatrical world, subgroups and VCAs/DCAs are integral to achieving consistency and for dealing with a large number of inputs. It would be very difficult to mix several principles, a chorus of a dozen plus singers and a full orchestra pit without them. At a minimum, I put the male ensemble, female ensemble and band on three separate VCAs/DCAs so I can quickly control the levels for everything.

When working within the corporate sphere, subgroups and VCAs/DCAs come in to their own whenever there’s need to start routing to multiple outputs including record, broadcast and PA zones. When working with softly spoken presenters and lapel microphones, drastic EQ cuts are often needed on the lapel group to reach the appropriate volume; however, you don’t want to send this same group to the press, so what I do is create a separate group with different processing for them to pick up.

HOUSE OF WORSHIP

Chris Huff: I use mute groups, matrix groups, and DCA groups for controlling related channels. For example, DCA groups are for drums, bass, guitars, keyboard and piano, percussion, and vocals. Any time there is more than one channel that’s related, they get grouped together.

These groups make for easy volume manipulation. Pull back the vocals, boost the drum kit, do whatever is called for in the mix. It’s a lot easier than trying to boost or cut eight individual drum channels.

Here’s where things get fun. My mute groups are the same but they aren’t what they appear. The vocal mute group doesn’t include the spoken mics. When the band walks off the stage, for the sermon, I can immediately mute all the vocal microphones but I don’t want to mute the pastor’s mic.

Therefore, I have a handful of mics that are not in the mute group because I never want to accidentally mute an important channel. I also might omit a keyboard from a mute group if I know it’s going to be used during other parts of the service, such as during communion or to underscore the sermon.

We also run our mixer’s combined channels through a few different matrix outputs. These matrices allow us to mix what’s going to the subwoofers versus to the flown main loudspeakers. This way, we can boost the sub volume or EQ it if we want, in addition to being able to control what’s going to the subs, such as bass, kick drum, organ, etc., and to what level.

When it comes to using any type of group, ask yourself where you’d like faster control, easier control, or need more control across related channels.

CORPORATE

Craig Leerman: I tend to use subgroups and VCAs as much as I can, and utilize them as individual volume masters for groups of similar instruments like drums or vocals. On VCA consoles I generally just use the VCAs as the group masters so I am not adding an additional layer of gain in the signal chain. I mostly organize my VCAs in the following order from left to right: Drums, Percussion, Bass Guitar/Bass Synth, Guitars, Keyboards, Horns, Backing Vocals, Lead Vocals.

I like having groups of instruments under a single fader because once I set the balance of a group of instruments like a drum set or backing vocalists, I rarely have to adjust individual instrument or voice levels in that group, but usually have to adjust the entire group to blend it into the mix as the band performs.

Using the subgroups and VCAs on older big frame analog consoles meant you could stay in the center of the big console (my last Soundcraft Series 5 was more than 7 feet wide) and not have to keep moving right and left looking for the channels to adjust. Utilizing VCAs on digital consoles may keep me from having to switch layers a bunch of times a gig because I can place the money channels like lead Vox, lead guitar or podium mic on the same layer as VCAs and have basically all I need at my fingertips.

On corporate events I’ll use both subgroups and VCAs if available, utilizing the subgroups and matrix for sends to Loudspeakers, Backstage Monitors and Recording Feeds, and the VCAs for Front Of House Podium Mics, Main Presenter, Other Presenters, Audience Question & Answer Mics, and Graphics (video) Playback. Also sometimes with corporate events, especially in breakout rooms, I’ll only have smaller four subgroup consoles, with these all used to sending feed to the front fill loudspeakers, delay loudspeakers, recording, etc.

MONITORS

Becky Pell: I use VCAs/DCAs regularly in my current work, but hardly ever groups. My most frequent VCA use is for between songs – I have one for the vocal reverbs (which I duck when the performers speak to the crowd) and one for the audience mics (which I push, so the performer can hear applause if they’re using in-ear monitors). I’ll often ride the audience VCA during “audience participation” parts of the set as well, so there’s a sense of connection with fans in sing-along bits, but I can maintain clarity during the rest of the song.

In the days when I mixed front of house, I used groups in order to treat, say, a section of an orchestra in a particular way (group EQ on some violins for example), but that’s something that crops up less in rock/pop music and with mixing monitors.