My Soundboard Can Do What? 5 Features You May Not Know Your Behringer X32 Has

Posted on by Steven Reed

Though it is quite common to find a Behringer X32 at many churches around the world, it is, however, uncommon to find ministries using this sound board to the fullest potential. Here are 5 features that you should know about.

  1. Wireless Mixing from an iPad or Tablet

One of the best features of this series of soundboards is that you can control the board remotely from a tablet via a free app when you connect the X32 to any Wi-Fi network. This allows you to mix from anywhere in the room, taking the ability to make changes with you so you don’t have to run back to the sound booth or potentially have a sound booth at all. This is perfect for churches that have a poor mixing location (such as sound booths that are in or under a balcony). You can run sound from the front row, have multiple people running sound at the same time, or even mix from the stage.

2.  Wireless Monitor Control

With a Wi-Fi set up you can also control individual monitor mixes by having each person on the team connect to the X32 via their smartphone or tablet. This uses a smaller and still free app that only gives team members control over their monitor mix. This does not transmit the audio over the Wi-Fi directly to the phone (an idea still in its infancy that is possible through some hi-end equipment and some other apps) but instead, the app just controls the monitor mix. You would still use standard monitors such as wedges, headphone amp, or wireless in-ears. 

3.  De-esser

Located deep in the effects rack is a tool that will change your mixing life, the De-esser. When EQ’ing Vocals most people would make things a little brighter and clearer if it wasn’t for those nasty ’S’ and ’T’ sounds we call Sibilance (pronounced Sib uh lence). Though these sounds comprise less than 5% of our speech they often dictate the EQ setting for the other 95%. A De-esser flips that on its head, allowing you to set the EQ based on the 95% and when those harsh ’S’ and ’T’ sounds show up the De-esser turns them down automatically. You’ll want to choose Dual De-esser most of the time and you’ll have to learn how to insert it to the channels you want which can only be done on effects racks 5 – 8. I would recommend you use it on the channel for your main presenter and lead vocalist at a minimum. Adjust settings to taste, but be careful as if you go too far it can make people sound like they have a lisp. 

4.  USB Routing

On the back of your soundboard is the inconspicuous USB port that opens up a world of possibilities. This port can allow you to send all of your individual channels to a computer in order to record and it will also allow the computer program to send signals back to your board.  This allows you to not only record, but you can practice mixing or playback your services to give your worship team an objective picture of what things sound like. It is also possible to route channels in and out of this port, essentially a digital version of an insert cable, in order to use special effects on an external computer. Things like auto-tune or an external plug-in hosts such as Waves Multi-Rack. 

5.  Auto Mix 

For those who have ever missed turning on a microphone because you didn’t want to leave it on (what is often called leaving it ‘open’) for the entire service or if you have multiple people speaking (such as a panel discussion), you might want to check out Automix. This will automatically turn microphones that are not being spoken into down and adjust the volume of the ones that are. This feature is only available on channels 1 – 8. 

Just exactly how to use all of these new-found and fabulous features is well documented via Behringer manuals and video tutorials on platforms such as YouTube and at behringer.com