Steinberg Nuendo 3 New Features In 3.1 And 3.2 Manual

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Working with Control Room  31
1.Input Phase
Each External Input and Monitor speaker output has a Input Phase reversal switch. 
When lit, all audio paths within the channel will have their phase reversed.
2.Input Gain
Each External Input, Monitor speaker output and the Talkback input has an Input Gain 
control. When an External Input or Monitor becomes active, the Gain settings will be 
recalled.
3.Channel Inserts
Each channel in the mixer has inserts available. While most channels have six pre-fader 
and two post-fader inserts, the External Inputs and Monitors only have six pre-fader in-
serts.
4.Channel Configuration
This displays the current configuration of audio paths in the channel whether stereo, 
5.1 etc...
5.Channel Labels
This displays the name of the channel as defined in VST Connections.
6.Expansion Tabs
There are four expansion tabs that open and close various portions of the Control 
Room Mixer. The default settings are with these portions closed.
7.Use Reference Level
When this button is on, the Control Room Level is set to a predetermined level for cal-
ibrated mixing environments such as film dubbing stages. Press [Alt]/[Option] and click 
on this button to set the Reference Level to the current Control Room level. This set-
ting is also available in the Preferences dialog.
8.Control Room and Headphone Input Selectors
These buttons allow the selection of various input sources for the Control Room and 
Headphone channels. The choices are for External Input, Main Mix, or any one of the 
four Studio channels.
9.View Selector
This toggles the Expanded View area from the Meters to the Inserts.
10.Listen Bus AFL/PFL
This button determines whether the signals sent to the Listen Bus are pre-fader (PFL) 
or post-fader (AFL).
11.Global Listen Defeat
When lit, this indicates that one or more channels in the Project Mixer are Listen en-
abled. Clicking on this button defeats Listen mode for all channels. 
						

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 32 Working with Control Room
12.Listen DIM
This gain control adjusts the volume of the Main Mix when channels have been put in 
Listen mode. This allow you to keep Listen enabled channels in context with the Main 
Mix. If the Listen DIM is set to minus infinity, Listen enabled channels will be heard by 
themselves. Any other setting leaves the Main Mix on at a lower level.
13.DIM Enable
This turns the Control Room Level down by a preset amount (default is -30dB). This 
allows a quick reduction in monitor volume without disturbing the current monitor level. 
Clicking on the DIM button again returns the monitor level to the previous setting.
14.Talkback Enable
This is the TALK button that turns on the Talkback system allowing communication be-
tween the control room and performers in the studio. There are two modes of opera-
tion: momentary mode used by clicking and holding the Talk button, and latch mode 
where clicking once turns the Talkback on until you click it again to turn it off.
15.Talkback DIM Level
When the Talkback is enabled, this control allows you to determine how much the out-
put of all the channels in the Control Room Mixer is reduced. This ensures that com-
munication is clear and can be heard above the main mix. If the Talkback DIM level is 
set to 0dB, no change will occur in the Control Room channels.
16.Cycle Down-Mix Preset
The Control Room allows four different Speaker Down-Mix settings for auditioning 
with various speaker configurations. Clicking this button cycles through the four 
Down-Mix presets. Various icons appear to show which preset is active.
17.Cycle Monitor Selection
Pressing this button changes the Monitor selection to the next available set. As Moni-
tor are changed, so are the Down-Mix presets, Monitor inserts, Input Gain and Input 
Phase controls associated with that Monitor set.
18.Listen Bus Enable
This turns on Listen Bus functions for either the Control Room or Headphone outputs. 
If this is not enabled, the Listen Bus will not be routed to that channel.
19.Listen Bus Gain
This level adjustment determines how loud Listen Bus signals are when routed to the 
Control Room or Headphone outputs. Clicking on the number pops up a fader control 
for adjustment.
20.Studio Input Selectors
For Studios Channels, the input choices are External Input, Aux (from Studio Sends) or 
Main Mix. 
						

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Working with Control Room  33
21.Activate Channel Buttons
These buttons turn each channel’s output on or off. When lit, the channel is on.
22.Channel Labels
These labels reflect the names created in VST Connections.
23.Talkback Level
This popup fader controls the amount of Talkback signal fed to each Studio’s output.
24.Talkback Enable
In order for Talkback signals to be routed to a Studio, this button must be lit. Clicking 
on it turns it on or off. When the Talkback Enable is off, the Talkback DIM setting has 
no effect on this output.
25.Metronome Mix
This level and pan controls how the Metronome will be heard in each channel. These 
controls are independent for each channel.
26.Metronome Enable
This determines whether click signals are sent to each channel. When lit, click signals 
will be heard in that output.
27.Channel Level Control
This is the main volume for each Control Room output. They do not affect recording in-
put levels or the Main Mix level for exporting mixdowns.
28.External Input Switching
There are six available External Inputs. These buttons determine which External Input is 
currently being used. The names for each External Input will be seen here as they were 
created in VST Connections.
29.Signal Presence Indicators
In the Preferences dialog, there is the option to display these Signal Presence Indica-
tors as a substitute for the full size meters. 
						

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 34 Working with Control Room
The Monitor controls from the Control Room Mixer
30.Individual Speaker Solos
Each speaker icon is a solo button for that channel. [Shift]-clicking a speaker will solo 
all the speakers in that row (front or rear). [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking on a speaker that 
is already soloed will mute that speaker and solo all other channels.
31.LFE Solo
The plus icon solos the LFE channel.
32.Solo Rear Speakers
This solos all rear channels.
33.Rears to Front
This button solos the rear channels and routes them to the front speakers.
34.Solo Speaker to Center
When this button is enabled, all speakers that are soloed will be heard in the center 
channel if there is one in the configuration. If not (as with stereo) the soloed channel 
will be heard equally in both left and right speakers.
35.Edit Down-Mix
Clicking on this tab opens the MixConvert plug-in used to down-mix multichannel sig-
nals for monitoring.
36.Down-Mix Labels
This area displays the names of the four Down-Mix presets. You may click on a name 
to change it. An “?” appears when there is no preset defined for that Down-Mix.  
						

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Working with Control Room  35
37.Monitor Labels
This area displays the names of the four possible Monitors. The names are created in 
VST Connections when you define a Monitor channel.
38.Monitor Selection
These buttons select the current Monitor set. Each Monitor has its own settings in-
cluding Down-Mix preset, solo enables, inserts, Input Gain and Input Phase. These 
settings are automatically recalled when a Monitor is selected.
39.Speaker Down-Mix Selection
These buttons select the Down-Mix preset for the current Monitor.
40.Speaker Solo Defeat
This buttons defeats all speaker solos, resetting them for normal playback.
41.Solo Front Speakers
This button solos all front speakers.
42.Solo LR Pair 
This button solos the left and right channels.
The Main Mix and Control Room Channel
The channel configuration of the VST Output that is the Main Mix de-
termines what the channel configuration of the Control Room channel 
will be. Switching between a project that has a stereo Main Mix to a 
project that has a 5.1 Main Mix will cause the Control Room channel in 
the Control Room Mixer to change from a stereo to a 5.1 configuration.
The Main Mix configuration also determines the layout of the Speaker 
Solo panel. If the Main Mix is stereo, there will only be a left and right 
speaker in the solo panel.
Any External Input that has more channels than the Main Mix will not 
be heard correctly when routed to the Control Room channel. Only 
the channels available will be heard.
• If a 5.1 External Input is routed to a stereo Control Room channel, only 
the left and right channels will be heard even if a 5.1 Monitor is selected. 
Only two channels can be routed through a stereo Control Room chan-
nel. You could use an instance of MixConvert on the External Input’s in-
serts to down-mix the material to stereo in order to hear it. 
						

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 36 Working with Control Room
Suggested Settings
With all the versatility that the Control Room provides there are also 
opportunities for confusion when first setting up the Control Room. 
The following list contains suggestions that could help to quickly set 
up the Control Room to get started for recording and mixing.
• If you do not have a master recording device and only use the Export Mixdown 
function to create finished mix files, set your Main Mix VST Output to “Not As-
signed”. This eliminates many confusing errors and unpredictable behavior 
since VST Outputs and Control Room Monitors can share hardware outputs. 
The Main Mix is automatically routed to the Control Room channel and will not 
be affected.
• Create one stereo Monitor to familiarize yourself with the Control Room level 
controls, DIM settings, the Listen Bus and other monitoring features. Once 
you have become acquainted to some of these functions, create additional 
Monitors for every set of speakers you intend to use.
• Use the inserts on Monitor channels for surround decoding and bass man-
agement plug-ins among other things.
• Use the inserts on the Control Room channel for metering and spectral analysis 
plug-ins. All solos including the Listen Bus will come through the Control Room 
channel allowing analysis of individual sounds by themselves.
• A brickwall limiter in the last insert of the Control Room channel can prevent 
accidental overloads and damage to speaker systems.
• Use the inserts for the Talkback to control the dynamics of the talkback micro-
phone. This will help protect performers hearing and ensure that everyone can 
be heard over the talkback microphone.
• Use the Gain settings on External Inputs to level balance CD players and 
other sources to the Main Mix level for A/B comparisons.
• Use the Gain settings on each Monitor to level balance all your monitor systems. 
Switching between sets of speakers will result in the same playback volume.
• Use the calibrated control room level for film or DVD mixing. Set this level to 
the proper speaker volume as determined by the mixing standard you choose 
to follow. 
						

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Working with Control Room  37
Control Room Preferences
There are several preferences for the Control Room Mixer. These are 
found in the Preferences dialog (VST – Control Room page).
The Control Room Preferences
Most of these preferences deal with what options are visible in the 
Control Room Mixer. This allows you to customize the layout of the 
Mixer and only have the controls visible that you use the most without 
added clutter.
•Reference Level 
This setting determines the Control Room level used when the Reference Level button 
is activated.
•Main Dim Volume 
This is the amount of gain reduction applied to the Control Room channel when the 
DIM button is activated.  
						

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 38 Working with Control Room
•Show Control Room Volume in Transport Panel
This option makes the small fader at the right hand side of the Transport Panel control 
the Control Room level. When this option is not checked, that fader controls the level 
of the Main Mix bus.
•Disable Talkback during Recording
When checked, this option will turn off the Talkback channel when the transport enters 
Record. It is advisable to set the Talkback DIM to 0dB when using this feature so as 
not to radically change the mix level when punching in and out of Record.
•Use Phones Channel as Preview Channel
When checked, the Headphone output will be used for Preview options such as Im-
port preview, scrubbing, offline process preview and certain Sample editor operations. 
Note that when using the Headphones output for preview, the Control Room channel 
will no longer output preview audio.
Studios and Studio Sends
The latest additions to Nuendo’s Project Mixer and the Inspector are 
the Studio Sends. Each Studio Send is intended for the creation of a 
discrete cue mix for performers to listen to during recording. Studio 
Sends are essentially stereo aux sends that are routed to Studio out-
puts in the Control Room Mixer. There are up to four Studios and Stu-
dio Sends available.
Configuring Studio Sends
Studio Sends only become active when a Studio channel has been 
created in VST Connections. Otherwise they remain greyed out. For 
every Studio defined in VST Connections, every channel in the Project 
Mixer has an additional aux send with level, pan and pre-post fader 
selection. This aux send is used to create a mix for a performer to lis-
ten to while recording. 
						

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Working with Control Room  39
• In the Project Mixer, the Studio Sends are accessed by choosing the Studio 
Sends option from the display pulldown menu in each channel or by pressing 
the star icon found in the common panel of the extended mixer.
The Studio Sends view in the Project Mixer  
						

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 40 Working with Control Room
• In the Inspector, a Studio Sends tab can be found. This will display all Studio 
Sends for the selected track.
The Studio Sends tab in the Inspector
Each Studio can have a unique name in order to help identify what it is 
being used for. For example, the four Studios could be named:
• Vocalist Mix
• Guitarist Mix
• Bassist Mix
• Drummer’s Mix