Post
by wigglelights » Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:22 am
WM
With honest respect to your background and views on sub groups....
I’ve been involved in live corporate events for more than 30 years, and have worked as a production manager for 15 of those. I’ve had the pleasure of having world class sound reinforcement engineers on 100s of events.
And there’s not a one who hasn’t made extensive use of matrices/submixes/subgroups, usually every one available on the console. Whether it’s a cut and dry presentation with 30 inputs, or a large scale (entertainment involved) session with 80+, all these engineers completely rely on getting the bussing straight via sub groups. Add a broadcast or satelite truck and it becomes all the more critical.
As we often deal with national acts on these, these engineers always use subs to manage channels. Whether during soundcheck, or soloing to NFMs or headphones during the show it allows them to zoom in on the components of the mix, be it the 12 channels of drums, 6 channels of backing vocals, 8 channels of keys, etc etc.
And in my semi pro days of studio tracking, those recording engineers used subs the same way in mix down - easily isoing the drums, rythym guitars and so on.
So here’s my point -
Whole the basic concepts are the same - allowing the audience to get the best experience - the requirements of engineers in different aspects of delivering their best are different. The guy doing the Eagles for an arena needs one thing, the guy in a ballroom with 24 lavs and playbacks needs another, the guy recording/mixing Snarky Puppy with 48 channels of live tracks another and the guy in the broadcast truck something else. All equally valid. All needing their own console/feature set that supports the flexibility to get their job done.
Again, with respect, in all my years of live events there has never been a Neve console, and I won’t pretend to speak to your requirements.
But I will say this - I do see see tons of products designed for live shows. Yamaha wants to be the one choice, they have their way of routing, Soundcraft another (and this is an all department thing, GrandMA or WholeHog for lighting, E2 or D3 for screen switching) - at some point the man I hire will request a specific manufacturers part based on what he is most comfortable with, and each man will be equally adamant about needing that feature set.
So in the case of Auria (which I’m sure is the case with any software or hardware manufacturer), I believe they have to choose their widest base of users/purchasers. That’s just how business is supposed to work. And from following Auria since it’s humble, audio tracking only beginnings, I believe Rim was modeling his platform to meet the needs of a tracking engineer based on whatever his conclusions of what those needs are. I believe this due to the early marketing statements of supporting of 48 live input tracks - a statement that clearly is geared towards a recording engineer and not a guy sitting on a couch (as is the distinguished Mr Alves). It may be in reality he missed what the majority of his market would be, the couch guys, and I believe he’s done his best to respond to that by adding midi and virtual instruments, IAA and AU - regardless of what the original intent/user base was when he built it.
And again, with respect to your views - I do take offense (and absolutely not just with you, but a general set of frequently appearing statements in iOS forums) is the “just do this” or “it should be easy” presumptions. I know I know, and I have to believe that with your background in film and tv, that clients so often demand results based on features seemingly easy to them, but beyond the capabilities of what the platform was designed to do, right? If it was easy, as I’ve seen it asked to hide subgroups than Rim would have done it. I have to believe that based on what I’ve followed with Auria over the years, that the subgroups are both a fundamental component of what the platform was designed to do for its largest target audience/user base.
Nothing is easy my friend.
Pardon the personal rant - when we rent a 65000$ console I presume every right to demand Barco gives me a way to roll back the latest software. For 35$ to a (what we once called a shareware) developer - come on, show some respect.