VENUE: Monitor Mixing Features on VENUE Consoles
If you make your living in live sound, then it’s no secret that mixing monitors can be one of the most demanding encounters you may experience as an engineer. While FOH engineers can devote all of their mental and auditory energy to one mix, monitor engineers essentially become traffic cops for a multitude of artist mixes that require the engineer to satisfy many different listening agendas — oftentimes all at the same time.
With the VENUE line of mixers, Digidesign implemented many invaluable features to help monitor engineers keep tabs on multiple mixes, and gain better control of them all. For you monitor engineers of the world, here are some nifty features you’ll want to get acquainted with that’ll help you keep cool under fire while in the heat of battle.
Variable Groups
Sometimes, even though you may have all the flexibility of stereo PQ monitoring matrixes and mono matrixes, there are times when you simply want more discrete aux busses. With VENUE, you have that option with Variable Groups, which allows you to employ eight mono subgroups as eight discrete and variable auxiliary sends on auxes 17–24. To access this functionality, be sure to select the “16 Auxes + 8 Variable Groups (24 bus)” option for your Bus Configuration when configuring your system (see Figure 1).
On the VENUE D-Show® control surface, access these busses by pressing the Stereo button underneath the bus assignment section of the ACS (see Figure 2). (VENUE Profile™ has a dedicated VAR Groups button specifically for this function.) The stereo functionality of this button is no longer needed, now that there are no groups available. Once you press this button, when you select auxes 1–8 on the encoder selectors, you’re really selecting auxes 17–24 (see Figure 3). And since all outputs can carry user-defined labels, you can update the data to show up in the scribble strip.
 Figure 2: Pressing the Stereo button on VENUE D-Show while in VAR groups allows the encoder selectors to access auxes 17–24. |
 Figure 3:Now, even though you’re physically selecting Aux 8, it’s actually Aux 24. |
Auxes Follow AFL
One of the normal workflows for any monitor engineer is to regularly scan all of the varied mixes he or she has created by AFLing (After Fader Listen) those outputs to evaluate or make changes at specific times during an event. With analog consoles this was a pretty straightforward activity where you’d simply solo a given output, scan the aux busses in front of you, reach for the correct auxiliary row and knob (hopefully), and make your adjustment. However, this kind of workflow could be challenging with digital consoles, given that only one or maybe two rows of encoders can be made to represent any targeted auxiliary. Therefore, some amount of “disconnect” is possible, where you could solo an auxiliary output, and if you weren’t careful, have a completely different auxiliary assigned to the encoders. You could even be listening to a different mix than the one you’re about to adjust. Obviously, there’s no job security in that type of activity!
With VENUE, the Auxes Follow AFL feature specifically combats this challenge. In fact, this feature makes you less likely to make a mistake of this type than on an analog console! Just go to the Options > Busses page and select the “Solo and Monitor Operations” checkbox. Now any time you AFL an Auxiliary output (see Figure 4), that particular auxiliary will be automatically assigned to the encoders (see Figure 5). This ensures, without fail, that the mix you’re listening to is the one you’ll be adjusting.
 Figure 4: By engaging AFL on Aux 1, the action will automatically present that aux to the encoders. |
 Figure 5: The result of our AFL action; VENUE automatically selects Aux 1 for the encoders. |
AFL Follows Auxes
As many of you digital mixer aficionados know, on many systems, output master faders can serve numerous functions. For example, on VENUE control surfaces, the eight output faders can represent Aux Masters, Sub Group Masters, Mono or Stereo Matrix Masters, or VCA Masters. The assignment depends on which output encoder selector switch you’ve engaged. For monitor engineers who make use of VCA grouping, this could pose a bit of an ergonomic battle, considering that in order to solo a given aux output, you’d have to lose sight and control of the VCAs because you’d need to switch the output encoder assignment to Aux masters just to get to the appropriate AFL switches. Yikes!
With AFL Follows Auxes on VENUE, you don’t have to worry. Go to Solo and Monitor Operations and select the “AFL Follows Auxes” checkbox, and this challenge is history as well. Once done, you can now leave your output faders selected as VCAs masters and simply target an aux in the encoder selection area (see Figure 6); once selected, it’ll automatically be AFLed for you (see Figure 7). If you want to unsolo it, simply press the “solo clear” button — all while never losing sight or control of your VCAs. Nice!
 Figure 6: With AFL Follows Auxes, we simply select Aux 3 to the encoders… |
 Figure 7: … which results in an automatic AFL of Aux 3. |
Creating an Automatic Flip to Faders Workflow
Flip to faders is a great concept that showcases the power of digital consoles. By “flipping” control of the auxiliary levels down to the faders, a more accurate visual representation of level relativity between inputs within the aux is easier to see. Plus, it’s easier to mix across multiple faders using all of your digits than grabbing a couple knobs at a time.
Automatic Flip To Faders allows you to add the flip-to-faders functionality to the AFL solo or encoder selection mentioned previously. Just create an Event in VENUE D-Show® software to accomplish this. Once programmed, whenever you AFL an aux output by either pressing the AFL button or selecting that aux to the encoders, that mix will automatically flip down to the faders. To release the flip-to-faders activity, simply press the Solo Clear button and your faders will return to addressing the left, right, mono, or subgroup levels. Super slick and very intuitive!
Event list programming is very easy to do, as shown in the figure below (see Figure 8). (For more info on using the Event list, see “VENUE: The All-Powerful Events List.”)
Blank Channels
VENUE D-Show software 2.7 gives you the ability to employ “blank channels,” which work great as console dividers when grouping channels. By moving channels around the way you want and then inserting blank channels at strategic places in your fader layout, you can easily separate faders into groups or even dedicate specific sets of faders to their own bank.
In our example (see Figure 9), we moved various channels to group them by instrumentation (from left to right): drums and effects in red, bass and loops in blue, vocal and effects in green, backing vocals in orange, guitars in purple, keys in gray, and our production inputs at the end. We then inserted blank channels between each group to provide a better visual layout for easier navigating. This virtually eliminates searching within a single bank for a specific type of input, and is super fast for accessing large numbers of inputs quickly.
I use this feature regularly now while mixing front of house and love it! You can also use it effectively to “stack” blank channels below an input on which you want to engage “safe from banking” for the duration of the event. By stacking blank channels underneath the bank-safe channel, you can then leave that channel in bank-safe mode for an extended period without being blocked out from the channels that would normally reside on the banks beneath it. This is great for those inputs you need to keep your fingers on for the entire event.
In Figure 9, the final blank channel on the far right would sit directly underneath fader 17, which I’m designating as a lead vocal channel. This provides a way to bank-safe that lead vocal channel for the entire set without losing access to channel 40, which would normally sit directly below fader 17 on bank B.
Take advantage of these VENUE features when mixing monitors and you’ll quickly get hooked on the speed and fluidity you’ll experience. Who knows; you might even get a reputation as the best traffic cop on the beat! Best of luck!