Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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Control Room 
						

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Control Room
Background
Large console Monitoring sections
In traditional analog studios, the audio console maintained 
control over every audio signal in the studio, including the 
control room monitors, headphone systems, external 2-
track tape machines and communications such as the talk-
back system.
The console itself provided a means of creating multiple 
cue mixes for performers in the studio. Using available aux 
sends, the engineer could create multiple cue mixes for 
the various performers, each one having a unique mix tai-
lored for that person or group of performers.
With the advent of the DAW, many of the functions of the 
console started being performed inside the audio soft-
ware, allowing for more flexibility and instant recall of any 
setting. In many studios, the console sat idle except for 
adjusting the playback level of the speakers, switching to 
monitor external devices and routing signals to head-
phones and other cue mix playback systems.
Smaller hardware units have been made to replace the 
monitoring section using a simple volume knob with 
speaker and input switches. Some even include a talkback 
system and headphone amplifiers.
Surround sound
With more and more surround recording and mixing being 
performed in the DAW environment, the needs of the mon-
itoring section have become magnified. Surround speaker 
setups must be able to work with smaller, stereo speakers 
and even mono speaker systems. Switching back and forth 
between them can become quite complicated. Also, the 
ability to perform downmixes of multi-channel audio is now 
needed on a regular basis for many audio professionals. 
Virtual Control Room solution
Nuendo has now added the functionality of the control 
room monitoring section of large format analog consoles to 
the virtual audio environment of VST with the creation of the 
Control Room Mixer and Control Room Overview windows.
The concept
The concept behind creating the Control Room features 
was to divide the studio environment into the performing 
area (studio) and the engineer/producer area (control 
room) common to traditional studios. Previously, an analog 
console or some method of speaker control and monitor 
routing was necessary to provide this functionality to the 
DAW environment. 
Nuendo now provides all the functionality of the analog 
console’s monitoring section, along with many more fea-
tures, in the virtual world where flexibility and instant recall 
are expected.
Control Room features
The following features are available for the Control Room 
Mixer:
 Support for up to four sets of monitors with various speaker 
configurations from mono up to 10.2 cinema speaker systems.
 Dedicated Headphone output.
 Support for up to four discrete cue mix outputs called “Studios”.
 Dedicated Talkback channel with flexible routing and automatic 
record defeat.
 Support for up to six external inputs with configurations up to 
10.2 surround.
 Click track routing and level control to all Control Room out-
puts.
 Flexible Listen Bus options with the Listen Dim setting that 
allows Listen-enabled tracks to be heard in context with the 
whole mix.
 Listen Bus Enabling on both Control Room and Headphone 
outputs.
 User-definable downmix settings using the MixConvert plug-in 
for all speaker configurations.
 Individual speaker soloing for all speaker configurations.
 Multiple inserts on each Control Room channel for metering 
and surround de-coding among other possibilities.
 Monitor Dim function with adjustable level.
 User-defined Calibrated Monitor level for post-production 
mixing in a calibrated environment.
!Please note that when we speak of “the Mixer” in this 
chapter we refer to the Control Room Mixer window. 
The normal Nuendo Mixer is referred to as the 
“Project Mixer”. For information about the Project 
mixer, see the chapter “The mixer” on page 122. 
						

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Control Room
 Adjustable Input Gain and Input Phase on all external inputs 
and Speaker outputs.
 Full-sized meters on every Control Room channel.
 Support for up to four aux sends (Studio Sends) for creation 
of discrete cue mixes for performers. Each Studio output has 
its own cue mix.
 The ability to disable the Control Room Section when working 
with an external monitoring solution or console.
 Full support for the monitoring section functionality of the ID 
control surface.
Configuring the Control Room
The Control Room features are configured in several loca-
tions within Nuendo. 
 The VST Connections window has a tab labelled “Studio” in 
which the hardware inputs and output are defined for the 
Control Room channels.
 In the Devices menu you will find the Control Room Overview 
that displays a visual overview of the Control Room channels 
and signal flow.
 In the Devices menu you will find the Control Room Mixer 
which allows operation of the Control Room features.
 In the Preferences (VST–Control Room page) you will find 
some settings for altering the Control Room preferences.
VST Connections Studio tab
The Studio tab of the VST Connections window is where 
you configure the inputs and outputs for the Control Room 
Mixer. For more information, see the chapter “VST Connec-
tions: Setting up input and output busses” on page 10.
Control Room channels
There are five types of channels that you can create, each 
defining either an input or output of the Control Room 
Mixer. As more channels are created, the Control Room 
Mixer expands to display controls for each channel.
 Monitors
Each Monitor channel is a set of outputs that are connected to monitor 
speakers in the Control Room. Each Monitor can be configured for a 
mono, stereo or up to a 10.2 surround speaker configuration. Up to four 
Monitors can be created, each with a different speaker configuration.
 Phones
The Phones channel is used by the engineer in the control room for 
checking cue mixes and as another option for listening to the mix or ex-
ternal inputs on a pair of headphones. It is not intended for cue mixes that 
performers use while recording. Only one stereo Headphone channel is 
available.

Studio channels are intended for sending cue mixes to performers in the 
studio during recording. They have talkback and click functions and can 
monitor the main mix, external inputs or a dedicated cue mix. Up to four 
Studios can be created allowing four discrete cue mixes for performers.
 External inputs
External inputs are for monitoring external devices such as CD players, 
multi-channel recorders or any other audio source. Up to six external in-
puts can be created with various configurations from mono up to 10.2 
surround.
 Talkback
The Talkback is a mono input used for a communications system be-
tween the control room and performers in the studio. Only one mono 
Talkback channel is available.
Control Room channels cannot share hardware inputs or 
outputs with external FX or external instruments, as de-
fined in the VST Connections window (see “Connecting 
the external effect/instrument” on page 18). As you create 
connections for each channel, only those device ports that 
have not been used for external FX or instruments will be 
available. However, Control Room channels and inputs 
and outputs can share the same device ports. 
A great deal of confusion can result if outputs and Control 
Room Monitor channels share the same device ports. As a 
starting point, set all the outputs to “Not Assigned” while 
the Control Room is set up. By default, one stereo Monitor 
channel is created after installing Nuendo.
!The Control Room Mixer is designed to display infor-
mation and controls only for the channels you have 
defined in the VST Connections dialog. For example, 
if you have not defined any Studio channels, they will 
not appear in the Control Room Mixer. The Control 
Room Overview displays all the possible channels 
but only highlights the ones that have been defined. 
To see all the available controls in the Control Room 
Mixer, start by creating the maximum amount of 
channels in the VST Connections Studio tab. 
						

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Control Room
Creating a Control Room channel
To create a new channel, click on the Add Channel button 
in the Studio tab of the VST Connections window. A pop-
up menu lists all available channels along with how many 
of each type are available. Select the type of channel you 
wish to create and a dialog will appear allowing you to 
choose the configuration of the channel (stereo, 5.1, etc.). 
The Studio tab of the VST Connections window with several Control 
Room Channels created
After clicking OK, the new channel will appear in the VST 
Connections window. You can now connect it to any 
available device port using the “+” buttons and the con-
text menu in the Device Port column. An audio device 
must be selected and then a device port must be chosen 
for each audio path. You assign device ports to channels 
in the same fashion as assigning any VST connection.
Monitors
Create a Monitor channel for every set of speakers in your 
studio. A typical post-production studio could have one 
set of 5.1 surround speakers, another stereo set of speak-
ers and even a single, mono speaker for checking bal-
ances for mono broadcast. The Control Room Mixer will 
allow you to switch speakers easily. Each set of Monitors 
can have its own custom downmix settings, input gain and 
input phase adjustments.
Phones
Create a Phones channel if you intend to listen to head-
phones in the control room. The Phones channel is not in-
tended for use by performers in the studio. It is designed 
for the engineer to quickly listen to any source in the stu-
dio, including the four cue mixes, as a reference.
Studios
Create a Studio channel for each cue mix you wish to cre-
ate for performers in the studio. For example, if you have 
two available headphone amplifiers for performers to use, 
create two Studio channels, one for each headphone mix. 
There are four available Studio channels. 
External inputs
Create external input channels for every playback device 
you wish to be able to monitor in the Control Room. There 
are six available external inputs with channel configura-
tions from mono up to 10.2 surround. Use external inputs 
to quickly listen to CD players, master recorders, or other 
workstations. 
Talkback
Create a Talkback channel if you have a microphone in the 
control room available for communication with performers in 
the studio. The Talkback channel can be routed to each 
Studio channel with variable levels in order to optimize 
communications between the control room and performers.
Additionally, the Talkback is available as a possible input 
source for audio tracks. You can record from the Talkback 
just like any other input.
!If you are adding the Talkback or Phones channels, 
there are no channel configuration choices since Talk-
back is mono only and Phones are stereo only. Also, 
Studio channels can either be mono or stereo only.
!Control Room channels can share device ports with 
each other. This can be helpful if you use the same 
speakers as a stereo pair and also as the left and 
right channels of a surround speaker configuration. 
Switching between monitors that share device ports 
will be seamless, providing any downmix of multi-
channel audio to stereo if needed. Only one monitor 
set can be active at a time.
!The Phones channel is stereo only.
!Studio channels can either be mono or stereo.
!If you select external inputs as input source of an au-
dio channel, you can record them. In this case, you 
will not need to assign the device ports to the input 
channel (see “Routing” on page 14).
!Inserts are available on the Talkback and all other 
Control Room channels. A compressor/limiter can 
be inserted on the Talkback channel to ensure that 
erratic levels do not bother performers and clear 
communication with everyone is possible. 
						

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Control Room
Disabling the Control Room
Once you have created all the channels for your studio 
configuration, the Control Room functions are available for 
use. If you need to use Nuendo without the Control Room 
functions, you can simply press the Disable Control Room 
button on the Studio tab of the VST Connections window. 
Any channels you have created will be saved and when 
you enable the Control Room again, that configuration will 
be reloaded.
You can also create presets for the Control Room config-
uration in the same manner as for inputs and outputs, see 
“Other bus operations” on page 14. 
Outputs – Main Mix
For the Control Room to function correctly, the Main Mix in 
the Outputs tab must be assigned to the set of outputs that 
actually contains your final mix signal. If you only have one 
output bus, it will be the Main Mix by default.
If you have more than one output bus defined, you can 
change which one is the Main Mix by right-clicking on the 
name of the output and selecting “Set “Out” as Main Mix”. 
The Main Mix is marked by a small speaker icon to the left 
of its name.
The VST Connections Output tab showing one bus as the Main Mix 
marked by the small speaker icon.
outputs other than the Main Mix are not routed through the 
Control Room Mixer. They can, however, share the device 
ports of Studio and Monitor channels in the Control Room. 
Output click enabling
There may be a situation when you want the click to be 
routed always to a specific output bus, regardless of the 
actual Control Room settings, or indeed when the Control 
Room is disabled. In these cases, enable the click on spe-
cific outputs using the Click column on the Outputs tab in 
the VST Connections window.
The Output tab showing two stereo outputs, the Main Mix and a second 
output that is click enabled.   
!If you disable the Control Room, make sure that 
there are device ports assigned to the default output 
bus “Main Mix” on the outputs tab. Otherwise, you 
will not hear any sound from the Main Mix. 
!The click will only be heard in outputs that are as-
signed to device ports. Be aware that the click can 
also be routed to device ports using the Control 
Room features. 
!Sharing audio device ports between outputs and 
Control Room channels can cause confusing behav-
ior and possible overload of those ports without any 
indication from Nuendo. It is advisable to disconnect 
all outputs from all device ports when first configur-
ing the Control Room. 
!Be aware that some audio interfaces allow very flexi-
ble routing within the hardware itself. Certain routing 
configurations could cause overloads and possible 
damage to speaker equipment. Consult the hard-
ware documentation for further information. 
						

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Control Room
The Control Room Overview
You can access the Control Room Overview from the De-
vices menu. The Control Room Overview is designed to 
display the current configuration of the Control Room. The 
window shows all possible channels, with active channels 
highlighted once they have been created in the VST Con-
nections window. Channels that are grayed out have not 
been defined in the VST Connections window.
The Control Room Overview allows you to see the signal 
flow through the Control Room Mixer. All the routing func-
tions of the Control Room Mixer are duplicated in the 
Overview.
The Control Room Overview
Open the Control Room Mixer and the Control Room Over-
view windows side by side. As you operate the controls in 
the Mixer you will see the various pale green squares light 
up in the Overview, indicating changes in signal flow. You 
can also click the squares in the Overview and watch the 
controls in the Mixer reflect the changes in signal flow.
The Control Room Mixer
The Control Room Mixer is where you access all the fea-
tures of the Control Room. The Control Room Mixer can 
be resized to accommodate more channels and to display 
more controls. When you open the window for the first 
time, it will show none of the extendable panels.
The Control Room Mixer
Configuring the Control Room Mixer
In order to display more controls in the Control Room 
Mixer, the small arrows at the lower left and right corners 
can be clicked to open or close the extended speaker 
controls on the right (“Right Strip”) and the External Input 
and Talkback controls on the left (“Left Strip”).
The arrow at the upper right corner of the Control Room 
Mixer extends the Mixer vertically to display meters and in-
serts (“Extended view”). A second arrow appears above 
the inserts and meter display. Extending the Mixer using 
this arrow exposes the Input Gain and Input Phase switch, 
channel configuration and name for each channel (“Rout-
ing view”).  
						

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Control Room
The different Control Room Mixer panels are handled in 
the same way as the Project Mixer panels, see “Configu-
ring the mixer” on page 126.
Control Room inserts and meters
When the Control Room Mixer displays the Extended 
View, the meters become visible. These meters look and 
function the same way as the ones in the Project Mixer.
Pressing the small meter icon at the center right side of 
the mixer will change the view to display inserts. Alterna-
tively, these can also be displayed by deactivating the 
Show Meters option on the Window submenu of the Con-
trol Room Mixer context menu.Each Control Room channel has a set of inserts config-
ured as six pre-fader and two post-fader inserts. External 
inputs and Monitor channels only have the six pre-fader in-
serts.
The Control Room Mixer’s Extended View displaying channel inserts
If you do not wish to see full sized meters but still want 
some indication of signal activity, activate the option “Sig-
nal Presence Indicators” in the Preferences (VST–Control 
Room page). They will be displayed next to the input se-
lection buttons and will indicate signal presence for all in-
puts.
The Control Room Mixer with all Signal Presence indicators lit up.
Inserts for external inputs
Each external input has its own set of six inserts. Selecting 
each external input by clicking the button next to its name 
at the left of the Mixer window will display the inserts as-
sociated with that channel in the extended view.
!You can also use the Window submenu on the Con-
trol Room Mixer context menu to show/hide the dif-
ferent panels, just as in the Project Mixer. 
						

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Control Room
Inserts for the Talkback channel
The Talkback channel has a separate set of eight inserts. 
In order to view and adjust them, the Talkback must be en-
abled via the TALK button located to the lower right of the 
Control Room Mixer. Click once on the Talkback to latch it 
on. The inserts for external inputs will now display the 
Talkback inserts. Once the Talkback is disabled, the view 
will revert back to external input inserts.
Monitor Inserts
Each Monitor channel has a set of six inserts. These in-
serts are all post Control Room fader level and are most 
useful for surround decoding or brickwall limiting to pro-
tect sensitive monitor speakers.
Each set of monitors has its own Input Phase and Input 
Gain settings available in the top section of the extended 
Control Room Mixer. In addition, there are speaker solo 
icons along with various soloing modes and speaker rout-
ing options in the Speaker Solo panel.
The Speaker Solo panel
ÖUse the speaker solos to test your multichannel speaker 
system and ensure that the proper channels are routed to 
each speaker.
Just below the configuration display, all settings for auto-
matic downmixing of multichannel sources are shown. 
There are four down-mix presets. Some will automatically 
configure themselves for the sets of monitors you have 
defined. Each preset is adjustable by accessing the Mix-
Convert plug-in by clicking the small arrow icon above the 
downmix presets section.
The Down-Mix Presets section.
Control Room operations
In traditional analog studios, the control room section of 
the console contained the most used set of controls in the 
whole studio. Often, the studio monitor level had all the 
markings rubbed off from so much use.
The need to constantly be able to switch monitoring 
sources, adjust the volume of monitors and route various 
cue mixes and other sources to headphone systems is the 
norm in most sessions. Meeting the needs of several per-
formers in the studio plus a producer and the engineer be-
comes a constant task that requires flexibility and ease of 
operation. Communication between everyone must be 
flawlessly clear without intruding on the creativity of per-
formers.
With all this in mind, the Nuendo Control Room Mixer is 
designed to fill those needs with a simple yet highly flexi-
ble solution. The virtual mixing environment of VST is the 
ideal solution to the varied needs of a control room matrix. 
With a virtual mixer, a high degree of customization and 
precise settings are possible with the ability to completely 
recall these settings at any time.
!You can easily identify the inserts for the Talkback 
since they have six pre-fader and two post-fader in-
serts while the external inputs only have six pre-fader 
inserts. If the Control Room Mixer is fully expanded, 
the name displayed at the very top of the Mixer will re-
flect which channel is currently in the Extended View.
!Automatic configuration of the downmix settings fol-
lows a logical path. For example, if you have defined 
one set of 5.1 monitors and another set of stereo 
monitors, Nuendo will create a 5.1 to stereo down-
mix preset and another downmix to mono. You can 
modify all the settings for each downmix preset using 
the MixConvert plug-in.
Click here to open the 
MixConvert control panel. 
						

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Control Room
Control Room Mixer layout
The Control Room Mixer has a variety of controls, some 
that are similar to the Project Mixer and some that are 
unique to Control Room operations. The following dia-
grams show every control, followed by a brief description 
of what each control does.
1.
2.3.4. 5. 6.
7.
8.
9.
6.
11.
10.
12.
13.
14.
15.
6.
16. 17.18.19.20.21. 22.6.
23. 24. 25.
26.
27.
28.
29. 
						

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Control Room
1.Input Phase
Each external input and Monitor speaker output has an Input Phase re-
versal 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 ac-
tive, the Gain settings will be recalled.
3.Channel Inserts
Each channel in the Control Room 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 inserts.
4.Channel Configuration
This displays the current configuration of audio paths in the channel, e. g. 
Stereo, 5.1, etc.
5.Channel Labels
This displays the name of the channel as defined in the VST Connec-
tions.
6.Expansion controls
There are several arrow buttons that open and close various panels of 
the Control Room Mixer. By default, all expandable panels are hidden.
7.Use Reference Level
When you click this button, the Control Room Level is set to the refer-
ence level set in the Preferences, e. g. a level for calibrated mixing envi-
ronments such as film dubbing stages. Press [Alt]/[Option] and click on 
this button to set the Preferences reference level setting to the current 
Control Room level.
8.Control Room and Headphone Input Selectors
These buttons allow the selection of various input sources for the Con-
trol Room and Headphone channels. The choices are for External Input, 
Main Mix, or any one of the four Studio channels.
9.Show Meters/Inserts button
This allows you to switch between the display of Meters and Inserts for 
the extended Mixer view.
10.Listen Bus AFL/PFL
This button determines whether the source 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 enabled. Clicking on this button defeats Listen mode for all chan-
nels.
12.Listen DIM
This gain control adjusts the volume of the Main Mix when channels have 
been put in Listen mode. This allows you to keep Listen enabled chan-
nels 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 (the default 
setting is -30 dB). This allows a quick reduction in monitor volume with-
out disturbing the current monitor level. Clicking on the DIM button again 
returns the monitor level to the previous setting.
14.Talkback Enable
Click the Talk button to turn on the Talkback system, allowing communi-
cation between the control room and performers in the studio. There are 
two modes of operation: 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 output of all the channels in the Control Room Mixer is re-
duced. This prevents unwanted feedback. If the Talkback DIM level is set 
to 0dB, no change will occur in the Control Room channels.
16.Cycle Down-Mix Preset Selection
The Control Room allows four different Speaker down-mix settings for 
auditioning with various speaker configurations. Clicking this button cy-
cles 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 Monitors are changed, so are the down-mix presets, Monitor in-
serts, 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 Head-
phone 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 num-
ber pops up a fader control for adjustment.
20.Studio Input Selectors
For Studio Channels, the input choices are External Input, Aux (from Studio 
Sends) or Main Mix.
21.Activate Channel Buttons
These buttons turn each channel’s output on or off. When lit, the channel 
is on.