Handbook for Sound Engineers

950 Chapter 25

that matter) channels paged; this means that a switch can
instantly throw a whole second (or more) batch of
controlled channels up onto the surface. Superficially a
great idea, since a modest-sized surface can drive a
much larger console, this seemingly facile addition is far
harder to come to grips with operationally than rational-
izing the channels themselves was. It is quite unnerving
to have half a console disappear! It takes considerable
effort to design and engineer a surface with enough
clues as to the background channels’ existence and
well-being to make paging a comfortable operation.

Fig. 25-122 shows a highly considered control
surface design somewhere between the two extremes of
knob-per-function and completely rationalized. The
Wheatstone D-12 television audio console has central-
ized EQ, dynamics, routing, surround panning, auxiliary
and mix-minus feeds, which are brought into play by,

guess what, a ME! button on each relevant channel.

Additionally, though, it is to be noted that there remains

a considerable amount of localized control on each

channel; these controls are what an operator needs to get

his or her hands on immediately (and which of course

can differ between setup and when on-air contexts),

with no intervening selection step involved.

(Remember, broadcast is a high-stakes no-second-take

environment). Input metering is adjacent to each fader,

and two sets of channel ID indication above each fader

help assuage paging concerns; full console status and

metering are spread across the numerous GUI displays

in the penthouse.

There are circumstances where the use of a room

might be quite diverse over the course of a workday or

likewise the technical adeptness of the users; in mind is

that of a radio broadcast studio. One could have the

problem of there being a perceived baffling sea of knobs

for a disk jockey, yet insufficient control for a commer-

cial producer. A convenient solution, falling out of the

soft control surface concept, is shown in Figure 25-123;

the hardware surface is very basic —just what an on-air

presenter needs—but the (removable if need be) screen

can be ME’d and mouse driven to have a full set of EQ,

dynamics, and effects per channel: happy advertising

Figure 25-119. SSL Duality analog Mixing Console. Cour-
tesy Solid State Logic.

Figure 25-120. SSL C200 Digital Mixing Console. Courtesy
Solid State Logic.

Figure 25-121. Innova-Son Compact sound-reinforcement

console. Courtesy Sennheiser USA.

Figure 25-122. Wheatstone D-12 live console. Courtesy

Wheatstone Corporation.