It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of digital consoles, yet I also know that they’re are an important and valuable mixing tool that are here to stay.
My issues with digital consoles are not sonic, but rather, are about control. I want my mix control surface to parallel what I experience while driving a car. I want to see all relevant information at a glance and have instant access control over the vehicle.
Pressing a button that switches the windshield into the car stereo screen, or a video monitor allowing me to see what is in the trunk, is unacceptable.
Would you be happy with a rotary encoder for a steering wheel? Well, perhaps, but some sort of motional feedback would be important.
Eye On The Ball
Digital gear designers, how about a little nub on the rotary encoder knobs and an “analog mode” that allows us to feel the knob position with motional feedback end stops, freeing up our eyes for other tasks? How about making some outboard rack units with assignable metering and knobs so we can move critical controls and visual indicators out of the console catacombs and into the racks?
How cool would it be to have eight meters, with three knobs per meter, in a separate two rack-space unit where we could cluster all of our gates? (Hey look – all of my gates are right there, clear as can be, always!) I’d also love to have a few more of those two rack-space metering/knob units clustering my compressors into logical visual groupings as well, rather than splattered and buried into the abyss of menus.
Or how about a single rack-space unit as well that has a screen and some knobs that can be assigned to control a single effect unit?
Plugin companies could make “plugout” units that offer control and look like the physical realities of the units they’re trying to emulate. With a rack of plugouts we could actually see the settings as well as what a multitude of compressors are doing all at the same time, while also not hijacking the console’s “windshield.”
Though digital consoles are renowned for amazing metering accuracy, really, who would ever want or need more than six or eight LEDs to show a 100-plus dB dynamic range? (Ha, just kidding!) But outboard metering alone seems to warrant the creation of assignable outboard hardware.
In sports, the mantra is “don’t take your eyes off the ball.” When driving, everything is designed to minimize diverting your eyes from the road. All I’m saying is let’s get our audio setups back on track so we can keep our eyes on the show.
Dave Rat heads up Rat Sound Systems, based in Southern California, and has also been a mix engineer for more than 30 years.