Studio Technologies 74 - Manual (Page 21)

Issue 2, January 2006 Model 74/75 User Guide
Page 22 Studio Technologies, Inc.
for Surround
function automatically turns the dim func-
tion off if a change is made to the control
room level potentiometer while the unit
is already in dim mode. This prevents a
heart-stopping blast of audio when an
engineer presses the dim button to turn
dim on, but actually turns it off because the
unit was already in the dim mode. While
it’s hard to explain unless you’ve used a
console and experienced this in person,
trust us, this situation does happen! Auto
dim off is a wonderful “real-world” function
and in most cases should be enabled.
Talkback Dim
The talkback dim mode selects whether
the dim function is enabled whenever the
talkback function is active. In most appli-
cations it’s desirable to have the monitor
loudspeakers dim whenever talkback is
active. This ensures that headphone cue
system users will clearly hear voice cue
signals, rather than being overwhelmed
with audio signals coming from the loud-
speaker system. However, there may be
special applications where it’s not desir-
able for dim to enable when talkback is
active. This could include the case where
the monitor system is normally set by a
user to operate at a very low SPL level.
Stereo to Mono Downmix Modes
The stereo to mono downmix operating
mode can be selected from two choices:
mono-to-left-and-right or mono-to-center.
For music mixing it’s common to have a
mono function combine (sum) the signals
from the left and right, or 5.1 downmixed to
left and right, channels and route the result
to both the left and right output channels.
For broadcast and cinema use, it may be
more appropriate to combine the left and
right signals and route the result to the
monitor system’s center channel. By
default the mode is set to the mono-to-
center mode.
Mono Attenuation
To meet the needs of the operator and
specifi c program content, an attenuation
level when mono-to-center is active can
be confi gured. The choices are 0, 3, 4, and
6 dB. Selecting 0 dB is equivalent to the
attenuation function being disabled. This
results in no attenuation occurring when
stereo to mono downmix is active. This
is provided for those special cases when
the stereo to mono downmix mode is set
to mono-to-center and no phase coher-
ent signals are expected to be part of the
left and right, or 5.1 downmixed to left and
right, channels. While the 0 dB setting is
not generally appropriate for music mixing,
it may fi nd use in broadcast and cinema
applications. The 3 dB and 4 dB settings
are good choices for the mono-to-center
mode when monitoring mixes that have
signifi cant phase coherence, such as
music sources. The 6 dB setting is provid-
ed for compatibility with the mono function
found on many audio consoles. As the
factory default, the 3 dB attenuation value
was selected.
Auto 5.1 to Stereo Downmix
The 5.1 to stereo downmix function can
be confi gured to automatically enable
whenever the stereo to mono downmix
function is enabled. This is provided to
ensure accurate monitoring of 5.1 sources
when stereo to mono downmix is enabled.
This is the default mode, although it can
be changed as desired.
Restore Factory Defaults
The restore factory defaults function is pro-
vided primarily for factory use. In this way
a system can be shipped with the default