Know-how

Favorite for Film

When Geyer Synchron, a long-established film dubbing studio, needed to replace their old analog film console, a market analysis showed that none of the existing console designs available would fulfill their particular needs as far as film mixing was concerned. Therefore, Stage Tec and Geyer Synchron developed what now is the »brand new kid on the block« in Stage Tec's family of mixing consoles: The CINETRA.

In the cinema world, up to eight audio channels must be fed for a simple scene like this, while the sound engineer adjusts level and pan pots simultaneously. Since his eyes are firmly locked onto the screen, he has to rely almost entirely on his sense of touch… definitely not a job for a normal mixing console. So, what exactly distinguishes a professional audio film console from »normal« mixing desks? What does CINETRA do that CANTUS cannot do?

New Flexible Bus Structure

First, the entire range of film and video formats must be supported. To be prepared for either 4-channel Dolby Stereo or Dolby Surround, 6-channel Dolby Digital, 8-channel SDDS, and all the other multi-channel formats, a film console needs a bus structure completely different to the one you may be familiar with in normal production consoles.

Therefore, the centerpiece of the CINETRA is a highly flexible bus structure with a total of 64 user-configurable mix busses that may be used in any configuration of record, reassign, aux or monitor busses. 64 busses sounds like quite a lot of meat on the bones. However, look at a typical 6-channel mix and you will end up with 6 monitor busses and maybe 24 record busses. This leaves you with 16 aux busses, 1 PFL bus, and 17 reassign busses – with all the mix busses in use!

These reassign busses are another particularity of film desks. As they are not affected by the panpot setting, they may be used for a simultaneous mono mix or as »real« audio sub groups in a typical mix-down situation.

Routing Display Instead of Metering

Film desks do not need to be equipped with precise meters in each input channel since microphone recordings rarely occur when dubbing. Consequently, CINETRA's meter bridge differs significantly from a normal production console – basically by not existing. This has created physical space for other, more essential information: routing. It is easy to imagine that – given 64 mix busses – the sound engineer needs a clear overview which channel is routed to which bus(ses). If this was not displayed in a clear and concise manner, he would almost certainly get lost in the matrix. However, this does not mean that there is no input meter at all; two small arc displays in each channel give a good indication of what is happening to levels and dynamics respectively.

Panning & Routing Panel

This is the central panel of the CINETRA console, and it is an entirely new design. The panel serves two independent purposes: on the one hand, you will find two servo-driven joysticks for pan adjustment. They allow sound to be »flown around the room« at will. Which, in practice, means that sound is proportionally sent to three, five, or seven record and monitor busses. The joysticks are touch-sensitive and connected to the desk's automation system.

The other function of the panel is the allocation of individual channels to the 64 mix busses. Depending on the actual type of bus, the user may choose whether a channel should be routed before or after panning. The reassign busses pick the signal before the panner.

Another peculiarity: In the routing module, a channel may be directed solely to one or more of the 8 monitoring busses. This means that input channels may be used purely for monitoring. Film people use this to monitor existing predubs while recording new ones.

Sensitive Automation

Needless to say, the CINETRA features dynamic automation of all console parameters. This includes motorized faders and all conventional automation functions. Automation has become essential in the film mix-down process. Most of the time, many changes in audio parameters happen simultaneously on a large number of channels – for example, take any change of scene in a movie.

For this reason, CINETRA features a number of operational concepts that were developed specifically for the film world, for example, the »intelligent zero-mark« fader automation mode: While moving a fader in Write mode, the servo exerts a slight pressure towards the recorded value. When the physical position of a fader in Write mode matches the automation's previously recorded value, the servo drive initiates a slight shake which only affects the physical fader and, of course, does not affect the audio signal. This means the engineer is able to feel when he can drop the fader out of Write without producing a jump in level. Remember, your eyes are on the screen, not on the console, so this provides some most welcome assistance.

A Three-Man Job

The console can be configured for being operated by three engineers – a must for the American market. For this purpose, the console is split into three semi-independent sections that share data-management functions. The concept drastically increases operational reliability as any problem occurring will normally affect one section only; for the other sections, it will remain »business as usual.«

Combined with the hot-swap ability (i.e. to change faulty modules whilst the console is in operation), it is this feature that makes the CINETRA such a robust system. In three-man operation, some signals need to be available to the entire console while others are required only in a single section. This is achieved by assigning each section with separate mix busses: The reassign busses allow for communication between the sections. The monitor busses are also globally available while the record and aux busses are strictly separated. This forestalls possible misrouting and provides a better overview. Typically, one mixer will handle effects, another music, and the third one the dialogs.

First Accomplishments

Film consoles are different. All the different peculiarities like three-man operation, multi-format monitoring, and recording require dedicated solutions that Stage Tec has embraced during CINETRA's development. One must, however, admit that there was a pretty good chance that the project would be a success: A customer who knew exactly what he wanted and a manufacturer who understood that this project could not be achieved with small software modifications but would require the construction of a new console. The result was well worth the courage and effort.