User manual

145
Control Room (Cubase only)
Just below the configuration display, all settings for auto-
matic downmixing of multi-channel sources are shown.
There are four downmix presets. Some will automatically be
configured for the sets of monitors you have defined. Each
preset is adjustable with the MixConvert plug-in, which you
access by clicking the small arrow icon above the Downmix
Presets section.
The Downmix Presets section
The Main Mix and the Control Room channel
The channel configuration of the “Main Mix” (the default
output) determines what the channel configuration of the
Control Room channel will be. Switching between a project
that has a stereo Main Mix to a project that has a 5.1 Main
Mix will cause the Control Room channel in the Control
Room Mixer to change from a stereo to a 5.1 configuration.
The Main Mix configuration also determines the layout of
the Speaker Solo panel. If the Main Mix is stereo, there will
only be a left and right speaker in the solo panel.
Any external input that has more channels than the Main
Mix will not be heard correctly when routed to the Control
Room channel. Only the channels available will be heard.
Ö If a 5.1 external input is routed to a stereo Control
Room channel, only the left and right channels will be heard
even if a 5.1 Monitor is selected. Only two channels can be
routed through a stereo Control Room channel. You could
use an instance of MixConvert on the external input’s in-
serts to downmix the material to stereo in order to hear it.
Suggested settings
With all the versatility that the Control Room provides
there are also opportunities for confusion when first set-
ting up the Control Room. The following list contains sug-
gestions that could help to quickly set up the Control
Room to get started for recording and mixing.
• If you do not have a master recording device and only use the
Export Mixdown function to create finished mix files, set your
Main Mix output to “Not Assigned”. This eliminates many con-
fusing errors and unpredictable behavior since outputs and
Control Room Monitors can share hardware outputs. The
Main Mix is automatically routed to the Control Room channel
and will not be affected.
• Create one stereo Monitor to familiarize yourself with the Con-
trol Room level controls, DIM settings, the Listen Bus and
other monitoring features. Once you have become acquainted
with some of these functions, create additional Monitors for
every set of speakers you intend to use.
• Use the inserts on Monitor channels for surround decoding
and bass management plug-ins among other things.
• Use the inserts on the Control Room channel for metering and
spectral analysis plug-ins. All solos including the Listen Bus
will come through the Control Room channel allowing analysis
of individual sounds.
• A brickwall limiter in the last insert of the Control Room chan-
nel can prevent accidental overloads and damage to speaker
systems.
• Use the inserts for the Talkback channel to control the dynam-
ics of the talkback microphone. This will help protect perform-
ers’ hearing and ensure that everyone can be heard over the
talkback microphone.
• Use the Gain settings on the external inputs to level balance
CD players and other sources to the Main Mix level for A/B
comparisons.
• Use the Gain settings on each Monitor to level balance all your
monitor systems. Switching between sets of speakers will re-
sult in the same playback volume.
• Use the calibrated Control Room level for film or DVD mixing.
Set this level to the proper speaker volume as determined by
the mixing standard you choose to follow.
!
Automatic configuration of the downmix settings fol-
lows a logical path. For example, if you have defined
one set of 5.1 monitors and another set of stereo
monitors, Cubase will create a 5.1 to stereo downmix
preset and another downmix to mono. You can mod-
ify all the settings for each downmix preset using the
MixConvert plug-in.
Click here to open the MixConvert
control panel.