The StudioLive 32.4.2 AI combines analogue comfort and digital integration in a competitive, intuitive console.

The PreSonus StudioLive 32.4.2 AI live/studio mixer provides analogue I/O as well as digital processing and connectivity. Equipped with 32 analogue microphone and line inputs, as well as insert jacks on every dedicated channel, there are analogue connections for venues and performance spaces that may be in the midst of upgrading their analogue systems. Outputs on the 32.4.2 include TRS 0.25in line outputs for four sub groups, a left and right control room output, and 10 aux outputs. There are TRS 0.25in line outputs as well as XLR connections for the Mains, XLR Mono output, four TRS line inputs for auxes, and unbalanced RCA connections for a Tape input and output.

For this review, I temporarily installed the StudioLive 32.4.2 AI at Winston-Salem, NC’s Underground Theatre that previously housed a StudioLive 16.0.2 and, before that, a Soundcraft GB8 carrying the workload. I also used this same 32.4.2 AI at nearby Foothills Brewing as part of the 2014 Triad Music Festival. The show was a Lunch Time Acoustic Sampler featuring four different acts including variations of piano, acoustic guitar, harmonica, cajon, and vocals.

Many of the recent digital consoles on the market provide only XLR inputs and outputs, limiting the integration of a digital console into an analogue system. I love that this console offers a way to insert a dynamics processor per channel and not be limited to the onboard effects.

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The reviewer

As the owner of SoundLizzard Productions (www.soundlizzard.com), Realizzation Records, and Coda Publishing, Liz May has spent the last decade of her life not only engineering, but synthesizing her many areas of expertise within the active North Carolina Triad musical community. After studying Piano and Arts Management at Salem College, Liz relocated to Nashville to intern at Word Records and attend SAE Institute. After working as an assistant engineer and publicist for Spin Red Productions, Liz returned to North Carolina in 2006 where she first began work at the Wes Lachot-designed Fidelitorium Recordings (fidelitorium.com), owned by producer/engineer/musician Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Let’s Active). In 2007, she recorded, edited and mixed her first full-length feature film, Wesley, in surround. In addition to running a production company, record label and publishing company, Liz also directs a non-profit organisation, Habitat-Nexus, which maintains a database of skilled session musicians around the Triad area.

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