ABSTRACT
The control board is the control center of audio operations. A well-conceived and -designed control board should be easy for the operator to learn and to use. Even the most complex control boards are extensions of this basic one microphone-one program channel console. Audio energy levels are commonly stated in volume units and in decibels. To discuss consoles, it is necessary to diagram their parts and functions using a combination of the block diagram and the functional diagram. The older, traditional large round knobs on console pots that open and close like water faucets have been superseded by the more functional sliding vertical faders on many modern consoles, particularly those with the console face practically parallel to and rising up from the top of a desk. A modular multiprogram channel console will have, as part of each input module, a method of switching the output of that module to a subgrouping facility to any of the program or audition channels.
