MIX SUITE + VOCAL BOOTH BASICS Written/produced by FVNMA Technical Staff at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, rev. 1/2/13 GROUND RULES: 1. ABSOLUTELY NO FOOD OR DRINK IN THE ROOM! 2. NEVER TOUCH THE PROJECTION SCREEN AT THE FRONT OF THE ROOM. 3. THE ACOUSTICAL PANELS AND DIFFUSERS ON THE WALLS ARE FRAGILE AND VERY EXPENSIVE--DON T TOUCH THEM! 4. FINALLY, PLEASE DON T RECONFIGURE ANY OF THE CABLES IN THIS ROOM. IF YOU ENCOUNTER PROBLEMS, CONTACT THE FVNM TECH OFFICE AT ROOM 1320. POWERING UP In order to prevent speakers from popping and to ensure that all components properly sync up, it s important that everything be turned on IN THIS PRECISE ORDER: 1. Turn on the Furman Power Conditioner at the top right corner of the mixing desk. 2. If you re planning to record talent via mics in the Mix Suite or the Vocal Booth, turn on the AVID PRE mic preamp unit on the floor to the right of the mixing desk. 3. Press the power BUTTON on the MAGMA HD (big black box on the lower left side of the mixing desk) until its green power light turns on. Wait 10-15 seconds for the Magma to warm up. 4. Turn on the other Furman Power Conditioner at the top left corner of the mixing desk. The D- Command mixing console should power on and light up. 5. Press the power buttons on the 192 and SYNC I/O interfaces (top right side of the mixing desk). 6. Press the power button on the XMON unit just below the 192 and SYNC I/O interfaces. 7. Power on the Smart Rack at the back of the room via the switch located on the right side of the Furman power conditioner (just above the laptop input/cable). Press the Standby button on the lower left of the Outlaw audio receiver to turn it on. If you are using the Projector turn it on. 8. Lastly turn on the Mac Pro under the mixing console. * NOTE: before you leave, turn everything off in the exact order laid out on page 9! (1)
1413's Smart Rack is similar to those in other classrooms: it has a row of buttons that you can use to select different inputs to the projector, and to turn on the projector. Note: the volume knob on the Smart Rack controls the volume levels of other inputs (Blu-Ray, laptop) but does not correspond to ProTools--your audio output from ProTools is controlled at the Mixing Desk and by the Outlaw receiver. 8. Press the PC button on the Smart Rack until the black Outlaw Audio receiver reads 7.1CH DIRECT (you might have to press the button twice). Adjust the volume dial on the receiver to make sure it reads 0 db. Look for the red speaker icon on the receiver s LED display--if you don t see it, hold down the mute button until it appears. 9. Turn on the power switches (located on the backside of each speaker) of the two Dynaudio monitors (just behind the mixing desk). LAUNCHING PRO TOOLS 1. First, create a folder on the AUDIO_HD1 or AUDIO_HD2 drives and label it with your name. 2. Click the ProTools 10 icon in the Dock (left side of screen) to launch the program. Choose Create Blank Session from the options in the Quick Start window. Click the triangle to reveal Session Parameters. (2)
3. Set up your session as follows: It s very important that you choose USE THESE under I/O Settings. This ensures that the inputs and outputs in your session correspond to the equipment in the mix suite. 4. Name your session and save it to the folder you created in step 1. UPDATING AN EXISTING SESSION Follow these instructions to update a session from another facility (e.g. room MC324) or from an earlier version of Pro Tools for use in the Mix Suite. 1. Copy the session from your hard drive to your folder on the AUDIO_HD1 or AUDIO_HD2 drives. 2. Open the session. You will see a dialog with some variation of the one pictured here. Take a moment to read the dialog and choose the option that selects the current playback engine with 4 DSP and 64 Voices. (3)
If you used plug-ins in your session that are not on the Mix Suite computer (or are an earlier or otherwise incompatible version) you will get a message like the one pictured here. Click Yes for a detailed list of the plug-ins and settings that will not carry over to your new session. Otherwise click No to continue. Your session will now open. Save a copy in your folder. 3. A message might appear that Your hardware does not have sync. If so, designate the Mix Suite s SYNC unit as the session s clock source. Select Session from the Setup menu. In the Session Setup window, make sure that SYNC is selected for Clock Source and choose Internal/VSO under Clock Reference. The Locked rectangle will turn to a solid green. 4. Go to the Setup Menu and choose Playback Engine. The settings shown here were recommended by an Pro Tools engineer for optimum performance with the particular hardware and software setup in the Mix Suite. You can adjust them as need be (e.g. add more voices) but these settings are a good place to start. (4)
5. The most potentially complicated part of migrating a session to the Mix Suite involves the Input/Output Setup. As of Fall 2013, the Mix Suite offers the ability to mix in 7.1 surround sound* and the I/O Setup has changed accordingly. Compared to previous versions of Pro Tools, Pro Tools 10 seems to do a fine job of automatically updating a session to the latest I/O Setup saved on the Mix Suite computer, but you should follow the steps below to ensure that your session is fully and correctly utilizing the updated hardware/software setup. * Most corporate movie theaters feature 7.1 audio, as do the majority of new home theater entertainment systems. However, the Gene Siskel Film Center does NOT currently support 7.1 surround sound--it is a 5.1 facility. See page 6 for instructions on setting up your session for 5.1 surround. Choose I/O Setup from the Setup menu. Click the Input tab. The settings should appear as shown here. Click the Output tab at the top of the window and confirm that 7.1 OUT is the Output path, as shown above. Click the Bus tab. Things can get a bit more complicated at the Bus tab. If you are updating from another facility, you will probably not need to follow all of the steps outlined here. However, if you are updating a session that was created in the Mix Suite with an earlier version of ProTools and you ve done any kind of volume and pan automation, you ll need to keep the old I/O settings as you enable the new settings. The scenario shown here uses a Pro Tools 9 session that was created in the Mix Suite. We need to Import the new I/O Bus settings and disable the old settings without deleting them. Click the Import Settings button. (5)
Pro Tools will automatically navigate to its IO Settings folder. Choose USE THESE and click Open. Uncheck all output paths other than 7.1 OUT The Bus path labeled 5.1 at the top of the list and the line out 4 paths are from an earlier version of Pro Tools. Uncheck the boxes for any Channel output paths other than 7.1 OUT at the bottom of the list. You can leave buses 1-2, 3-4, etc. checked. When you click OK, you might get this prompt: Before closing the window, we ll need to change the Audition Paths and Default Output Bus--select 7.1>7.1 OUT for each. To fix this, you ll need to rename your old/disabled paths/subpaths so that none of them have the same name as any of your new paths/subpaths. In the example shown here, 5.1 is renamed OLD 5.1. When you click OK, the I/O settings are confirmed and you can move on from this window! 5. Finally, you ll need to remap all of your tracks outputs to the Mix Suite s outputs. Hold the option key (this performs the action on all tracks) and click on any track s output pop-up. Select 7.1 OUT. Stereo to output all tracks to a standard stereo left and right output path. Selecting 7.1 OUT gives you the ability to output a track to any of the speakers. Use 7.1 OUT 5.1 for a standard Gene Siskel Film Center compatible surround mix. (6)
AUDIO MONITORING To monitor from the main speaker system (in 5.1 or stereo), choose Main on the Inputs bus. To choose the Dynaudio nearfield monitors, press Mini (also on the Inputs bus). To monitor using headphones, press the Phones button in the Cues bus, then press On. If you don t hear anything, press Source until the LED panel reads HP Mn. This room has been calibrated so that when the Main output level is turned almost all the way up and reads as CR -21 on the LCD display, you are hearing your audio at the approximate level of a commercial movie theater. Headphones On Main Mini (If you don t hear any sound, it might be because this Mute button is activated) IMPORTING & MONITORING VIDEO Go to the File menu and scroll down to Import> Video... This Video Import Options window will appear: Choose New Track as your Destination and Session Start as Location. If your video clip has audio that you d like to include in your session, check Import audio from file. You can view your video clip as a separate window on one of the two computer monitors, or you can send it to the projector (which also sends the signal to the TV in the Vocal Booth).* Choose BLACKMAGIC as your input on the Smart Rack and make sure the audio is set to 7.1 CH DIRECT. If not, press the BLACKMAGIC button again. To view video on the projector and in the Vocal Booth choose Video out PCIe from the Options menu (make sure the option is checked). *It s now possible to use 1080p ProRes HD video with this system. However, for optimal performance use a lower resolution video reference file, e.g. use MPEG Streamclip to compress to 720p with a Quality setting of 50%. (7)
USING THE VOCAL BOOTH Room 1414 contains the sound-proofed Vocal Booth. The booth is made of sound-deadening boards, acoustic foam and fabric to insulate against environmental noise on the 14th floor (including from the HVAC system that has been known to impede the recording process in the Mix Suite). You can record directly to a laptop or other audio-recording device in the Vocal Booth without using the Mix Suite, but if you re interested in recording from the V.B. directly to a ProTools session via the AVID PRE mic pre-amp, you ll need to follow the steps below. 1. Reset the PRE pre-amp. Go to the Setup menu and choose Peripherals, then click on the Mic Preamps tab. Click the reset button to reset the levels and settings for all of PRE s inputs. 2. Go to the I/O Setup window (from the Setup menu), click on the Mic Preamps tab and make sure that PRE #1 is activated as shown here. 3. From the 'View menu go to Edit Window Views and select Mic Preamps. Each track will now show controls for the PRE unit. 4. Create a new Audio track via the Track menu (or Command-Shift-N). Note the controls below. *Click here to set the track height *click this Input Selector to open a popout gain fader: * use the popout fader to adjust the gain of the mic input * Track Input Monitor * you will not hear anything from the mic connected to the input unless you click this * Record Enable Audio Input Path Selector * select any of 8 PRE inputs-- inputs 1-4 are routed from cables in the Vocal Booth * Track Volume * you might want to raise this so that your talent can hear him/herself adequately, note that this is NOT the same as raising the mic input gain * Phantom Power Selector * click and drag down to 48v to enable phantom power if the mic requires it * If you ve selected any of the first four PRE inputs you can record from the Vocal Booth. The mic stands in the Vocal Booth are set up with pop filters and clips to be used with Neumann U87 mics. There are four advanced mic kits at the Media Center--each contains a U87 mic and windscreen (for additional sibillance protection) and a set of Sony MDR-7506 headphones. Turn on the light in room 1414 so you can see inside the Vocal Booth, then turn on the power strip on the floor of the booth. The booth s three light strips should come on. To monitor video from ProTools via the booth s TV (after choosing Video out PCIe from ProTools Options menu), press the orange button on the TV until it turns blue. To see the video simultaneously on the projector in 1413, press Mojo on the Smart Rack switcher. (8)
Power Switch Master Volume Output Level Plug headphones into any of the six OUT inputs on the headphone amp (don t plug into the first jack that says DIRECT IN ) and use the MASTER VOLUME and LEVEL knobs plus the EQ knobs on each output to adjust the signal you re receiving from ProTools. 1. To send audio from ProTools to the Vocal Booth, press the Studio LS button in the cues panel and use the Level knob below it to adjust the output level. 2. To communicate with talent in the Vocal Booth, use the Internal Talkback mic built into the D-Command console. First, press the button labeled Internal and the Asgn TB button and On buttons in the cues panel. 3. Press the Sel Source button until the display reads ST MN. Depress the TALK BACK button (just to the left of the transport buttons) to activate the talkback mic. Adjust the send level from ProTools to the Vocal Booth. Adjust the talkback mic level via the Talkback Level knob. POWERING DOWN 1. Turn off the Dynaudio nearfield monitors, the Outlaw receiver and the video projector (via the Smart Rack DISPLAY OFF button) and the Furman power conditioner. NO BLUE SCREEN! 2. Turn off the XMON interface. 3. Shut down the Mac Pro--wait until it s completely shut down before continuing! 4. Press the power buttons on the 192 and SYNC I/O interfaces. 5. Turn off the D-Command via the Furman Power Conditioner at the top left of the mixing desk. 6. Turn off the Magma HD on the left side of the mixing desk. 7. Turn off the AVID PRE mic preamp. 8. Turn off the Furman Power Conditioner at the top right corner of the desk. 9. Turn off the power strip and lights in the Vocal Booth and the lights in the Mix Suite. (9)