Learning to Mix on the Allen & Heath Avantis: A Complete Walkthrough from Hebron Christian Church

If you’re a new mix engineer at your church and you’ve been staring at that digital console wondering where to even start, you’re not alone. The good news? Once you understand a few fundamental concepts, mixing becomes way less intimidating.

I recently sat down at the Allen & Heath Avantis console at Hebron Christian Church in Winder, Georgia to walk through everything a new volunteer mix engineer needs to know. This isn’t just button-pushing—it’s understanding the why behind what you’re doing.

The Foundation: Channels, Buses, and DCAs

Before you touch a single fader, you need to understand three core concepts:

Channels are where audio enters the console—microphones, instruments, playback tracks. Each channel can be processed individually with EQ, compression, and effects.

Buses are groups of audio signals bundled together. Think of them as collections of channels that can be processed as a unit or sent to specific destinations. On the Avantis, you’ll see different types: Aux buses (for monitor mixes), Groups (for additional processing), and the Matrix (which is essentially a bus for buses—perfect for creating a separate livestream mix).

DCAs (Digitally Controlled Amplifiers) let you control multiple channels or buses with one fader. Instead of adjusting ten individual vocal mics, you can control them all at once. This is where a lot of troubleshooting happens—if you can’t hear your drums but the individual channels are unmuted, check if the drums DCA is muted.

Console Navigation at Hebron

I set up the Avantis at Hebron strategically across multiple fader banks:

Left side (Input Channels):

• Layer A: Drums (red channels)
• Layer B: Instruments, guitars, keys, pastor mics (blue/yellow)
• Layer C: Vocals (purple), tracks (green), computer audio, Bluetooth

Right side (Buses):

• Stereo Aux buses for in-ear monitor mixes
• Reverb groups
• Stereo groups for additional processing
• DCAs for drums, instruments, vocals, and talk mics
• The livestream matrix mix

One of the smartest things about this setup? I put duplicate channels on multiple layers for convenience. You’re not constantly jumping between pages during a service.

The Power of Separate Mixes

Here’s where digital consoles shine: you can create completely independent mixes from the same console.

If a band member needs more acoustic guitar in their in-ears, you hit the blue mix button on their aux bus, find the acoustic guitar channel, and turn up that fader. The main house mix stays untouched. This is a pre-fader send—it’s independent of what’s happening in the room.

The livestream mix works similarly but uses a matrix. At Hebron, we’re sending the drum group, instrument group, vocal group, and talk group into the matrix—then adjusting the balance specifically for online viewers. We can boost tracks in the stream without changing what’s happening in the room. We’re also sending room mics to the broadcast that don’t go through the PA at all, adding that live atmosphere to the online experience.

Building Your First Mix

I walked through a complete mix build during a virtual soundcheck, and my approach is methodical:

1. Start with gain staging Before mixing anything, make sure your input levels are correct. On the Avantis, I aim for levels metering around zero—it’s okay to see a little yellow, but you never want red. This is the most important foundation. Bad gain staging means you’re fighting problems all service long.

2. Build from the foundation up I start with drums—specifically kick and snare at unity, then add toms and overheads. The drums establish the rhythmic foundation of the mix.

3. Add instruments layer by layer Bass, guitars, keys—each gets checked for proper gain and processing. In the video, I noticed the keys channel was running hot and mentioned I’d pull that gain back. The electric guitar needed compression to smooth out the dynamics between individual notes.

4. Vocals require the most attention This is where musicality matters. The lead melody needs to be front and center. Harmonies sit about -10dB below. Background “gang vocals” are even further back at -15dB. It’s not just about level—it’s about creating clarity so the congregation knows what to sing.

5. Add reverb tastefully Reverb gets sent from a dedicated bus. My approach: less reverb when the mix is busy and loud, more reverb during intimate moments. Too much verb buries your vocals; the right amount adds space and life.

The Technical Details That Matter

Throughout the tutorial, I pointed out common pitfalls:

• Compression makeup gain: If a channel seems too loud but the fader isn’t up that high, check the compressor’s output gain. This trips up a lot of people.
• Stereo input issues: When I noticed the electric guitar had more signal on the right than left, I checked the pan setting first—but it was centered. That meant it was a cable or connection problem, not a console setting.
• Filter and gate placement: High-pass filters remove unwanted low-end rumble. Gates clean up drum mics. These are essential tools, especially on channels that aren’t the primary source of those frequencies.
• EQ with purpose: The kick drum at Hebron needed both low-end and high-end boost because they’re only using one kick mic. Acoustic guitars often need some harshness taken out around 4-5kHz when mixing with a full band.

Why This Approach Works

What makes this training valuable isn’t just the technical walkthrough—it’s the philosophy. I emphasize knowing the songs ahead of time, understanding the musical arrangement, and making mixing decisions based on what serves the song and the congregation.

The Avantis at Hebron is set up to be operated by volunteers Sunday after Sunday. The channel processing is already configured. The show file is organized logically. A volunteer can walk up, understand the DCA structure, and have a successful mix without needing to dive into advanced processing every week.

That’s intentional design. That’s thinking about your team, not just your gear.

The Practical Takeaway

If you’re new to mixing, here’s your roadmap:

1. Understand the signal flow: input → processing → bus → output
2. Master your DCAs—they’re your primary mixing tools on Sunday
3. Check your gain staging before every service
4. Build your mix methodically: drums, instruments, vocals, effects
5. Remember that the master mix stays at unity; make level changes elsewhere
6. Use separate monitor and livestream mixes to give everyone what they need

The Allen & Heath Avantis is a powerful console, but the principles I teach apply to any digital console. Once you understand how channels, buses, and DCAs work together, you can approach mixing with confidence instead of confusion.

Want to see the full walkthrough in action? Watch the complete video to hear the before-and-after examples and see my mixing decisions in real-time.

Churchfront designs, installs, and supports AVL systems for churches nationwide. More importantly, we make sure your team knows how to use them. If you need help with your church’s production systems or training for your volunteers, reach out at churchfront.com.