Creating Instrument Subgroups - PRESONUS AI-Series Owner's Manual

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4.5 Subgroups

4.5.2 Creating Instrument Subgroups

Grouping individual instruments that create a section in your mix has obvious
advantages: The entire group can be muted or soloed, brought up or down
in a mix, and faded in or out for a more polished intro or outro. Some of the
most common submix groups are drums, backing vocals, horn sections,
and string sections. Drums are a classic application for subgroup mixing.
We will use a drum group in this particular example but these principles can
be applied when grouping any type of instrument section in a live mix.
A drum group is especially useful when every piece in the drum kit has a microphone
on it. In this example, our drums will be connected to the StudioLive as follows:
Channel 1: Kick
Channel 2: Snare Top
Channel 3: Snare Bottom
Channel 4: Floor Tom
Channel 5: Tom 1
Channel 6: Tom 2
Channel 7: Overhead Left
Channel 8: Overhead Right
Channel 9: Hi-Hat
We will create a stereo subgroup by linking Subgroups 1 and 2.
1. The first step in creating a subgroup is to get a good mix of the
instruments you are grouping—in this case, the drums. Beginning with
Channel 1 (Kick), raise the fader and, with the drummer's assistance,
set the input trim, EQ, and dynamics for each drum separately.
2. As you select each channel and dial in its Fat Channel settings, assign each channel
to be routed to Subgroup 1 and unassign it from the Main bus. When you are done
with each channel, lower the fader before moving on. When you get to Channels 7
and 8 (Overheads), you may want to consider stereo linking them.
3. After you have gone through the entire kit and are satisfied with each channel's
level, EQ, and dynamics, have the drummer play the entire kit, and set the relative
volume and panning for each mic in the mix. Press the Select button above
Subgroup 1.
StudioLive™ 32.4.2AI
Owner's Manual
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