Handbook for Sound Engineers

Consoles 829

a derivation of the main mix, but similar to the problems
with foldback mixes, artistic judgments dictate some-
thing more complex. Some instruments and sounds
benefit greatly from being dry (most of a drum kit, for
example), while others—vocals, in particular—sound
quite dry, cold, and uninteresting. A means of adjusting
the relative amounts of artificial reverberation due to
various sources would be beneficial. Fig. 25-12 shows a
small console system complete with an echo send mix
bus (echo in this sense including reverberation); the
echo return is brought back into the main mix just as
any additional source would be. Echo feeds are nearly
always taken postfader, keeping the reverberation
content directly proportional (once set) to the corre-
sponding dry signal in the mix regardless of the main
channel fader setting.
Today, any number of foldbacks and effects sends are
in use as toys (effects boxes) proliferate; long gone are
the days when one of each feed was sufficient.

25.2.5 Communications (Talkback)

An often mentally mislaid but crucial console auxiliary
path is talkback; that is, the ability of the console oper-
ator/producer to talk to various people involved in the
recording. The primary need for talkback is to be able to
communicate with the studio area that is necessarily
acoustically separate from the control/monitoring room.
Since there are already foldback feeds going to the
studio area for performer cues, it makes sense to talk
down these feeds, which is talk to foldback (talk to
studio). Another useful function in this vein is slate.
This curiously named facility allows the operator to talk
into the main mix output and thus onto tape for track
and take identification purposes.

25.2.6 Combined Auxiliaries

In summary, a usable console has to have several signal
paths in addition to the main mix path. These include
overall and presource monitoring, prefader adjustable
foldback feeds, postfader artificial reverberation feeds,
and communication (talkback) feeds as shown in Fig.
25-12.

25.3 Stereo Consoles

Stereo predated multitrack recording. Technically the
required console techniques were not very far removed
from those just described. Assuming the same bouncing

(machine-to-machine overlay and transfer system

described earlier in the section on overdubbing), stereo

just means two of everything in the main signal path.

25.3.1 Panning

Panning is the technique of positioning a single mono-

phonic source within a stereophonic image. It isn’t true

stereo; true stereo can only be achieved from coinciden-

tally aligned microphones. Instead, it is panned mono.

Simply, the ear is deceived by pure level differences

between the left and right paths of a stereo pair into

perceiving differing image position; fortunately for the

entire industry, this is a trick that works rather well and

is quite simply realized.

Complementary attenuators (one increasing and one

reducing attenuation, with rotation) feeding the L and R

mix paths from a mono source is the most common

method. Fig. 25-13A illustrates this system. The pan pot

is usually inserted after the source fader. An alternative

arrangement is shown in Fig. 25-13B. Here the pan pot

is inserted prior to the fader; a ganged matched fader is

required with this method. This arrangement can be

useful when stereo PFL is required, although there are

other ways of achieving stereo in-place monitoring for

sources that will be described later.

25.3.2 Auxiliaries for Stereo

Auxiliary paths remain largely untouched by the

upgrade to stereo of the main mix path; the monitoring

section stays just the same in systemic function (but

obviously with two paths instead of one to cope with

stereo feeds). Both the prefader foldback and PFL take-

offs are still in mono. The postfader echo-send feed is

usually taken out before the main path pan pot, so they

remain mono, but the returns pass through their own

pan pots such that the reverberant image may also be

spatially determined in the mix. It’s become normal

practice to make echo-send feeds stereo in their own

right, Fig. 25-14, via their own pan pots’ mixing to two

outputs. Many reverberation rooms, plates, and boxes

are capable of supporting a diffuse stereo field. The

purpose of this is to excite the reverberant chamber (or

plate or springs or little black box) spatially, conjuring a

more solid and credible reverberative effect in the main

mix. If a panned echo-send output isn’t available, it’s

common to use a pair of separate postfader feeds and

juggle the levels between them.