Basic 8 ch D-command

[Cawbaby]

OK you Icon experts. I've been mixing music sessions in the box for years now with only my computer. The analog Harrison console I've been using for monitoring & tracking is now on it's last leg and I'm thinking of moving to a D-command. I've never even worked with a Pro Control. I'm trying to keep my nut as low as possible, especially in these times so I'm contemplating the basic 8 channel D-Command surface. I'm curious if it's easy or even possible to switch or shuttle thru 8 tracks at a time in sessions with track counts between 24 and say 50? I'm sure a 24 track surface would be a lot easier but would any of you even consider using only 8 at a time? Any comments would be appreciated,
thanx
Craig

[Brent_Sydney]

I had an 8 channel DCommand in the office for 6 months, the fader pack that made it a 24 channel was out on loan and consequently I had to adjust to driving medium sized mixes (32-64 channels) on 8 faders rather than 24.
Simply? Using VCAs.

Attach a VCA to a group - and how many of your groups have more than 8 channels in them? Not the majority I would think - and then you can focus on your VCAs to balance and whenever you need to balance inside your VCA group hit the "BYP-SPL" button on that channel and pop, there are the members of the group that VCA contains. Another single button press to "Tracks" brings your VCAs back onto the surface so your mix is somewhat like working at two levels...VCA masters dive in to slaves then dive out back to masters and keep mixing.

Its very intuitive once you get the hang of it, and for the EQ/Dyn section and being able to use AutoJoin and all the other ICON specific automation features I'd much rather have only 8 faders plus all that rather than 24 faders on a C24 without the other IMHO.
More info on ICON features at www.brentheber.com simply choose ICON tips on the category chooser on the left if you need to see videos of some of this in action.

[Cawbaby]

Thanx Brent, these videos will help alot.
-Craig

[Will Russell]

For some reason this page takes me 10 minutes to load and then there are no videos. happens on 2 different browsers. Any clues?

[Brent_Sydney]

Ive checked in Australia and New Zealand and the sites working fine.
Its hosted in the USA so I'm not sure why youve be getting a problem over there that we're not seeing here?
The videos are hosted on www.revver.com maybe check if that site loads for you? If it doesnt then you may have a problem with flash player.

[Table Syrup Records]

Originally Posted by Brent_Sydney

Ive checked in Australia and New Zealand and the sites working fine.
Its hosted in the USA so I'm not sure why youve be getting a problem over there that we're not seeing here?
The videos are hosted on www.revver.com maybe check if that site loads for you? If it doesnt then you may have a problem with flash player.

Brent,

I hate to ask such a personal off topic question, but do you know a Paul? from NZ from years ago? Used to be a part of the Mountain Rock festivals, and a bunch of other Pepsi sponsored European tours. (If so, contact me and I'll fill you in on the rest of his name and other info)

I know him very well personally and am trying to find someone he knows from years ago, and over there, to entertain a joint venture inwhich he has orchestrated and not implemented. I need to motivate him. Maybe you know who he is. maybe not. (This venture involves corporate level pepsi both in US and possibly EU)

[email protected]

be blessed....

[Ian Palmer]

I use a ProControl at work all the time. A normal session would comprise of around 80-90 tracks on average. I have to say that scrolling along the faders is simple and once you get used to it is grand. On the other hand I would prefer to be able to see more tracks on faders as with large sessions you can sometimes get lost. We also have a 24 fader D-Control which is far more intuitive to use than the ProControl, especially as it displays more information on the console than the ProControl can.

I try to look at the tracks in the edit and mixer windows as they show you where you are on the faders.

Again, once you're used to it, it's fine and easy to use.

[Table Syrup Records]

I used to work off the Tascam FW1884, very similar to the ProControl, or any 8 Fader controller I guess.....

I used to pull a little trick to keep things organized......

Let's say I had a section of vocals, say 6 tracks. I'd insert/create 2 more tracks, drop the fader, and mute them. I'd position them after whatever group I was trying to isolate. This would give me that particular group on that bank, and push the next tracks out to the next bank.

Did that all the time. In Sonar it wasn't an issue because I didn't have a track count issue, in PTLE now, even with 48, I wouldn't be able to do that.... many of my sessions are over 40 tracks, but I also have a Control 24 now, so things are different.

I can tell you that the 24 is freaking great! A great fader count in my opinion. But 8 is still extremely manageable. Just a surface at all is great, 4 faders would be irritating, but even if that's all I had, I'd still make good use of the control, hands on, automation, and feel of ANY amount of faders.

[Daniel_Dettwiler]

I have been mixing on a 8 Channal D-Command for years now. Sometimes I wished I had 24 Channals, but it is not a big problem with 8 Channals either. In that time apart from mixing my usual jazz projects (24 - 32 Tracks) I also have mixed about 6 big Filmmusic Scores sith over 150 Tracks, and even that can be handled with 8 Channals, using the VCA Trick already mentioned.
That said I am thinking to install a 32 Channal D-Control finally, but I think it is totally great what an 8 Channal D-Command already can do!

Daniel
www.ideeundklang.com