Does any digital mixer have this feature?

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kristianjohnsen

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Mar 13, 2011
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Lillehammer, Norway
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I very often find myself taking notes on a piece of paper at the same time as storing scenes on a digital mixer. This could be simple stuff like "remember that guitarplayer needs extra level on his vocals on third song" or only guitar channels 2 and 4 will be used for this band's set.

Considering most consoles can be connected to a keyboard either directly or by menas of a laptop, it seems like it would be a good idea for these notes to be typed into and stored with the scenes in the console. That would mean that they would be transferred between consoles etc automatically upon storing, also. Great for tours that suddently need a fill-in guy, too. Printer friendly document available upon connection to a computer would give extra points.

I can type the notes in Word, but if the next guy goesn't have the same laptop the next time that's one more thing to remember.

Anyone else think of this? How difficult could it be for the manufactureres to design a notes page of sorts?
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

kristianjohnsen said:
That sure teaches me a lesson about being to Yamaha-centered in my digital learning curve. Thanks guys!
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IIRC on a PM1D there is a comment field in the scene screen. If you scroll across you will get to the fields where you can directly enter midi information, and a comment area. It is not a lot of space, but there is a field for each scene. I have never used the comment field, but I have used the midi field often.

Mac
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

mackerr said:
IIRC on a PM1D there is a comment field in the scene screen. If you scroll across you will get to the fields where you can directly enter midi information, and a comment area. It is not a lot of space, but there is a field for each scene. I have never used the comment field, but I have used the midi field often.

Mac
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Thank you for the suggestion. The CS1D is arriving in it's new case tomorrow, can't wait to start learning all of these little tricks :)
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

Excellent point. I just attended a mixing class with Robert Scovill. His motto for the day: Be proactive, not reactive, when mixing. If you see it happening it's possibly already too late. For one-offs and things with unfamiliar content reading some notes between soundcheck and showtime would be great, especially if inhereting someone else's console.
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

Have you done theater with a lot of cue changes & actors? It can get insane fast and following the script is often the only way to know when to hit the scene increment button. Last play I did sound design on had over 150 cue changes in the first act alone. If you looked away from the script, you were dead with 19 live headset mics going. If you're doing a particular production for a really long run, sure, you can forgo the script at some point and just follow the action. But in community theater, that usually isn't the case.

Greg
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

Greg Cameron said:
Have you done theater with a lot of cue changes & actors? It can get insane fast and following the script is often the only way to know when to hit the scene increment button. Last play I did sound design on had over 150 cue changes in the first act alone. If you looked away from the script, you were dead with 19 live headset mics going. If you're doing a particular production for a really long run, sure, you can forgo the script at some point and just follow the action. But in community theater, that usually isn't the case.

Greg
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How did they do that before digital consoles?
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

Silas Pradetto said:
How did they do that before digital consoles?
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With Cadac analog consoles controlled with Cadac SAM mute automation software. Before that it was mixed manually, but involved far fewer wireless mics since the the era of the big amplified musical hadn't arrived yet.

Mac
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

Silas Pradetto said:
How did they do that before digital consoles?
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I'm pretty sure that it sucked. That's why theatre has jumped on the digital console bandwagon way before everyone else has. Mixing a four or five piece band, even if they do manage to stretch the inputs out to 48 channels, is nothing like the 100 plus inputs and swapping VCA groups every 30 or so seconds and playback that modern theatre demands.
 
Re: Does any digital mixer have this feature?

Justice C. Bigler said:
Because in theatre, the mixer has to have the show memorized just like the actors. Reading the script while mixing the first several shows is the only way to do that.
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The first several shows? How about the first several months. In 200+ performances of In The Heights I never went off book. Eventually I would notice that I had stopped turning pages and I knew the places in the show where I wanted to see the script. The simple fact is that a couple of shows would suffer in the process of me getting rid of the script. Which paying audience do I give less than my best effort?

I know I'm kind of alone in this. Most guys see it as some sort of badge of honor to be "off book". I've always been more concerned with the show sounding good.
 
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