Cue list for mixing board.

[Production Wizard]

I am Technical Director / Lighting Designer for a Performing Arts Center in Oregon. We do a number of musicals each year. I am looking for a program or app that will let me create a cue list for our mixing board. We have a Yamaha M7CL. When running a show with 30+ body mics it becomes difficult to keep track of who is entering and exiting the stage. A cue list program that would control the mute button would be amazing. It seems that there should be something out there but I have been unable to find it. I know the M7CL has scene capability but any change made on one scene does not transfer to another scene, so that will not work. The program just needs to control the channel mute. Then my sound man can focus on levels and quality and not be distracted by the comings and goings.

 

[jwh78]

Qlab. Done.

 

[AudJ]

I use the scenes on the Yamaha board, and enable "recall safe" parameters.

Anything you assign to "recall safe" will only change globally for all scenes. For example, if the EQ is in "recall safe" changing scenes will not affect it, but Turing the knob on the console will still change it for all scenes. You can also use "Focus" in individual scenes which allows you to select which settings change in that specific scene. I also drop the fader on muted mikes for each scene, giving the operator a visual and physical of what they are controlling. If you are having a specific issue with scenes, I'm sure we can help. Qlab can also be used to change scenes on the board if desired.

 

[doctrjohn]

I am looking for a program or app that will let me create a cue list for our mixing board. We have a Yamaha M7CL.

Check out Palladium; it will do exactly what you want via MIDI from a PC. There is already a complete file on his web site for the M7, so set up should be very straight forward.

Best,
John

 

[Ric]

It sounds like you want 2 operators. One to control the mix & quality, and the other to script follow & step through scenes with mutes for mics.
The Yamaha Editor, or iPad Stage Mix app. will allow you to have this 2nd operator.
As has already been mentioned the M7 can be setup with Recall Safe or Scene Focus in order to just control mic mutes, if that is what you want.

 

[themuzicman]

It sounds like you want 2 operators. One to control the mix & quality, and the other to script follow & step through scenes with mutes for mics.

The times you need two operators are rare, and should never happen on most shows. I also would never trust StageMix in a show critical situation, doubly so when it's a second operator AND StageMix. @Production Wizard has a perfectly fine digital desk. They just need to go through, mark up the script, and program DCA's. I don't think your recall safe settings are properly configured if you are having the issues you say you are having.

Musicals are mixed line-by-line. An M7 has DCA's so you should be routing inputs in a scene to a DCA and using scenes to step through programming changes that have variable DCA assignments. Mutes should be used for those things not routed to DCA's in a scene. They don't need software to tell you how to mark up a script, just roll through, assume your band is set to DCA 8, some verb on DCA 7 (or the Stereo Master if you want to gain back a DCA) and start marking up a script with the numbers 1-6 until you run out of numbers. If you have more than that in a scene, start looking for places you can consolidate folks on a single DCA -- IE big ensemble numbers make a Male and Female DCA while keeping your leads separate.

 

[Joel - Studio 52]

I just did my first show with my new A&H Qu-32 digital mixer. I've always had an assistant following the script.

In learning to use the QU-32, I had wondered about using the mixer's ability to save/recall scenes.

After reading this thread, I'm definitely going to explore the possibilities of using this feature while doing theatrical shows. Once I figure it out, this will make mixing musicals, etc much easier.

Thanks for the ideas.

Joel

 

[Dane Boulton]

By far the best way to do this is to setup your desk with the correct recall safes / global scope. And make scenes for each change in your script (actors on and off etc) learn how to properly record, edit and recall scenes and manipulate them later. Then mark up your script with when each scene should fire. Depending on how you set your scope and focus you can even do advanced things like different EQs for different performers sharing a mic etc. the more scenes the more precise you will be but the harder you'll have to work. Then just run the show firing scenes as you need to and mixing. I've mixed many musicals on consoles ranging from Roland m300 and m400s up to digicos and with as little as 20 or 30 cues up towards 150-200 It's the same concept and it's the way to go.

 

[JD]

Of course the problem with any software solution is it is dependent on the correct people coming on and off the stage at the correct times!
Things do have a tendency to go off-script every now-and-then and the only solution to that is fast fingers.
Human solutions can create goofed cues, but software solutions can stop a show in its tracks.

 

[Aaron Becker]

+1 for the "safe recall" on the Yamaha console. I'm currently mixing a kids show on the side to keep me busy this week on a O2R96 and using the "safe" channels on my right "pod" of channels for things that should remain constant. With a heavy amount of sharing mics, the presets give me the ability to recall specific EQ for different users using each mic. Works like a charm.