by Robert Scovill
Here’s a great VENUE events macro for D-Show® 2.5 and higher users that’s helpful for FOH and monitor mixers when trying to communicate in a loud environment during rehearsals and sound checks. This event provides a means to leave vocal mics open, and mute only the instruments when you press the talkback button, then open them all back up when you release the talkback button.

Given that the Events list allows you to be selective about what to mute, you can have everyone carry on a conversation without having to talk over, say, the guitar player’s noodling by simply pushing the talkback button, and then return to business as usual when you release the button. You can assign up to eight selected mutes to your talkback switch trigger; this can be any combination of inputs, outputs (such as audio subgroups), or mute groups. Here’s how to use a combination of audio subgroups and mute groups.

1. Go to the Options > Events page, click “New” to create a new event, and name it accordingly.
2. In the Triggers (top-right) pane, choose “Talkback On” from the Add drop-down menu.
3. In the Actions (bottom-right) pane, choose “Mute Channel” or “Mute Group” and then choose an input channel, output, or mute group from the Add drop-down menu; your chosen channels will appear in the Actions pane.
4. Double-click on a channel in the Actions pane to edit how the action takes place. Since you only want the channels muted when you have the talkback switch depressed, choose “On” from the middle drop-down menu, then choose “While Active” from the third drop-down menu (see Figure 1). Repeat for all other chosen channels.
5. Your talkback macro is now ready to go. Simply right-click on the event in the Events list (left pane) to enable or disable the function, depending on whether you’re in sound check or show mode. This will prevent you from inadvertently engaging the talkback button during the show and muting all the instruments.


Figure 1: The Actions pane in the Events window shows our audio subgroups and mute groups to be muted when we press the Talkback switch.

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