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Junior Varsity
Musical Theatre Mute/DCA Automation "Granularity"?
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<blockquote data-quote="Simon Eves" data-source="post: 141166" data-attributes="member: 4463"><p>Re: Musical Theatre Mute/DCA Automation "Granularity"?</p><p></p><p>Thanks, Kevin, for the Palladium tip, but my question was really more about the data rather than the tools.</p><p></p><p>It seems to me that there are four ways of running a show...</p><p></p><p>(1) Manual. Have all the faders in front of you and push up what's required. Don't use mutes at all. This is how I've always done it with up to 16 channels.</p><p></p><p>(2) Automate mutes only. Leave all the faders up for adjustment as required. Still need to see all the faders for adjustment, so doesn't really help much for > 16 channels. Harder (for me, at least) to visualize who's on and off from just the mute button lights. Faders can be set manually (in advance of un-mute if required). Cue frequency is at least every entrance/exit, and perhaps more with in a scene if a character doesn't vocalize for a while.</p><p></p><p>(3) Automate faders rather than mutes. Automation pops "on" faders to zero and drops "off" ones. Easier to visualizer who's on and off, but still need to see all the faders for adjustment, so still not ideal for > 16 channels. Need to get gain structure right so that "zero" is always a valid initial level. This is what I'm interpreting Kevin as doing, using Palladium for the automation. Cue frequency presumably the same as above.</p><p></p><p>(4) Automate mutes and DCA assignments. Use faders (rarely) for gross level adjustment. Dynamically assign individuals or groups to DCAs and mix only using DCAs. This is how I'm led to believe the pros do it. Mute cue frequency presumably still the same as above. DCA reassignment perhaps less often.</p><p></p><p>If aiming for (4), my questions are then...</p><p></p><p>(a) What's a good frequency of DCA assignment cues (as opposed to mute cues)</p><p>(b) What's a good layout for DCAs</p><p>(c) How the hell do you not get confused when the same fader means different people from one minute to the next (maybe I'm getting old!)</p><p></p><p>As for programming the cues themselves, do people do it just right there on the console (saving mutes only, naming, inserting etc. on the fly using the mixer's UI)? I'm sure the pro consoles are much nicer in this respect. Whenever I've tried it on the X32, particularly before Snippets, I've wanted to throw the thing out the window.</p><p></p><p>My current plan (and I've started already) is to do all the programming in a spreadsheet on a computer (with a nice big screen and a proper bloody keyboard!) and then I have a Python script in development which will read in that file and spit out a sequence of X32 Snippet files (named, mute data only for now, but DCA assignments obviously possible too, once I've decided how and how often) which I can then just bulk-import into the console via a USB stick, and then put it in Snippets sequence mode and wail on the GO button. No, editing isn't instant, but I don't see that as a big deal, since the moment has often passed anyway so you just have to make sure you note the problem to fix later.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Simon Eves, post: 141166, member: 4463"] Re: Musical Theatre Mute/DCA Automation "Granularity"? Thanks, Kevin, for the Palladium tip, but my question was really more about the data rather than the tools. It seems to me that there are four ways of running a show... (1) Manual. Have all the faders in front of you and push up what's required. Don't use mutes at all. This is how I've always done it with up to 16 channels. (2) Automate mutes only. Leave all the faders up for adjustment as required. Still need to see all the faders for adjustment, so doesn't really help much for > 16 channels. Harder (for me, at least) to visualize who's on and off from just the mute button lights. Faders can be set manually (in advance of un-mute if required). Cue frequency is at least every entrance/exit, and perhaps more with in a scene if a character doesn't vocalize for a while. (3) Automate faders rather than mutes. Automation pops "on" faders to zero and drops "off" ones. Easier to visualizer who's on and off, but still need to see all the faders for adjustment, so still not ideal for > 16 channels. Need to get gain structure right so that "zero" is always a valid initial level. This is what I'm interpreting Kevin as doing, using Palladium for the automation. Cue frequency presumably the same as above. (4) Automate mutes and DCA assignments. Use faders (rarely) for gross level adjustment. Dynamically assign individuals or groups to DCAs and mix only using DCAs. This is how I'm led to believe the pros do it. Mute cue frequency presumably still the same as above. DCA reassignment perhaps less often. If aiming for (4), my questions are then... (a) What's a good frequency of DCA assignment cues (as opposed to mute cues) (b) What's a good layout for DCAs (c) How the hell do you not get confused when the same fader means different people from one minute to the next (maybe I'm getting old!) As for programming the cues themselves, do people do it just right there on the console (saving mutes only, naming, inserting etc. on the fly using the mixer's UI)? I'm sure the pro consoles are much nicer in this respect. Whenever I've tried it on the X32, particularly before Snippets, I've wanted to throw the thing out the window. My current plan (and I've started already) is to do all the programming in a spreadsheet on a computer (with a nice big screen and a proper bloody keyboard!) and then I have a Python script in development which will read in that file and spit out a sequence of X32 Snippet files (named, mute data only for now, but DCA assignments obviously possible too, once I've decided how and how often) which I can then just bulk-import into the console via a USB stick, and then put it in Snippets sequence mode and wail on the GO button. No, editing isn't instant, but I don't see that as a big deal, since the moment has often passed anyway so you just have to make sure you note the problem to fix later. [/QUOTE]
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