User manual

181
Control Room (Cubase only)
Inserts for the Talkback channel
The Talkback channel has a separate set of eight inserts.
In order to view and adjust them, the Talkback must be en-
abled via the TALK button located in the bottom right sec-
tion of the Control Room Mixer. Click once on the TALK
button to activate the Talkback system. The inserts for ex-
ternal inputs are now replaced with the Talkback inserts.
Once the Talkback is disabled, the view reverts to external
input inserts.
Monitor inserts
Each Monitor channel has a set of eight inserts, all of
which are post Control Room fader. The Monitor inserts
are most useful for surround decoding or brickwall limiting
to protect sensitive monitor speakers.
The Main Mix and the Control Room channel
The channel configuration of the Main Mix determines the
channel configuration of the Control Room channel.
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 Control Room configuration also determines the lay-
out of the Speaker Solo panel. If the channel is stereo, the
solo panel only contains a left and a right speaker.
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 are heard
even if a 5.1 Monitor is selected. Only two channels can be
routed through a stereo Control Room channel.
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 can help to quickly set up the Control Room
and get started for recording and mixing.
• If you do not have a master recording device and only use the
Export Mixdown function to create final mix files, set your Main
Mix output to “Not Assigned”. This eliminates many confusing
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.
!
You can easily identify the inserts for the Talkback
since they have six pre-fader and two post-fader in
-
serts while the external inputs only have six pre-fader
inserts. If the Control Room Mixer is fully expanded,
the name displayed at the very top of the Mixer re
-
flects which channel is currently visible in the ex-
tended panel.