ASHLY DigiMix18 Review – ASIO Audio & Live Streaming a Concert

In this episode, we review our brand new ASHLY DigiMix18 and the usefulness of ASIO Audio Drivers. We talk about using the DigiMix 18 at an upcoming music festival and importing all the individual audio channels to create the ideal live streaming audio mix. We are preparing for an upcoming live concert event where we will be using ASIO Audio Drivers to create a custom audio mix for the Facebook and YouTube live streams. Many times the FOH (Front of House) audio mix made for the concert and musicians is not the ideal audio mix for the recorded and live stream. So we will use our ASIO Audio inputs to tweak the audio and apply VST3 audio plugins to enhance the mix.

Working with ASIO Audio Drivers

The inspiration for today’s live show agenda is ASIO technology which stands for Audio Stream In and Out. This is a technology that allows hardware audio mixers like the ASHLY 18 DigiMix to bring in unique audio sources into Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software such as Ableton Live, Pro Tools or Logic. It also works with live streaming software such as vMix, Wirecast, OBS and xSplit. Bringing these audio sources into your video production software independently allows for a whole new world of possibilities but most importantly a unique mastered mix for your live stream.

Working with Audio for Live Video Production

As you can see from the picture above, a lot of times we have to work with an audio engineer who is working on the Front of House (FOH) mix. The FOH mix is usually designed to create an ideal audio experience for the people at the concert but not necessarily ideal for the live stream and recording. Using ASIO Drivers or DANTE sources over your network, live streamers have the ability to mix a completely unique studio style audio feed for our live broadcasts. This gives us the opportunity to use VST3 plugins which we describe in depth in our video.

Ashly Audio DigiMix18 Review

We had a great time using the ASHLY Audio DigiMix18 for the first time. The USB 3.0 card that I purchased with this mixer was back order so I was actually unable to test the ASIO functionality but it is advertised to work. Assuming everything works the way this audio mixer sounds, we should have a great time when we take it out to handle all the audio for our live concert stream in a couple of weeks. As I mentioned in the video, the DigiMix18 has the option to use a USB 3.0 card or a DANTE card allowing upgrades to suit users.

Ashly Audio DigiMix18 Review

With 18 inputs on the DigiMix 18 we can also connect this audio mixer into the network and use an iPad to control the entire system. The unit includes a 7″ touch panel which can be used for advanced mixing effects which include EQ for each channel. The best part of the mixer is the mechanical fader which saves on space and reduces the total price to only $899! So you can’t beat the functionality and size of this mixer for small to medium-sized audio/video productions.

AShly Audio DigiMix18 Inputs

Tips for Audio Mixing a Live Stream

Finally, to summarize, I wanted to add some tips about ASIO audio drivers and creating a professional sounding live stream. Audio is the most important aspect of any video production and mixing different vocals is incredibly important. For example, in our studio, we mix Tess’s audio and Paul’s audio very differently since they have different voices. In fact, I will post our video all about VST3 plugins and how we use them in our podcast below. These audio techniques can also be used to create ideal mixes of studio quality if you know what you are doing live. It defintely takes some getting used to and you may want to use the FOH mix from your audio engineer on site. But, if you want to really create a studio quality production, consider creating an audio mix specifically for your live stream.