[Gregor B.]

Dear All,

We have been very happy with the push by Avid to venture into pec/dir metering!

The reason this is so important to us in film mixing:
We juggle with rough mixes, temp mixes, versions, often with months in between, premixing in one studio, continuing in the next, a vast array of player rigs (dialog, foley, fx1, fx2, backgrounds, music...) feeding into separate recorder rigs.
The prevailing question is usually: Do we pick up where we left off?

Things you instantly see on pec/dir metering: LFE channel missing on player 3 (routing error), dialog level was hotter last time, music surrounds missing (plugins inactive, missing, automation lost), player 5 comes in one frame late (clocking issues) ...
All of this is indispensable for film work and as more and more studios have transitioned to controller mixing solutions like S6 or other, most studios have kept their classic digital consoles like DFC, Harrison or even System 5 not only for mixing, but for their highly effective and reliable pec/dir monitors and meters.

No need to touch the philosophical question of whether one prefers classic consoles or controllers like S6, but without a doubt:
For theatric mix stages to rely solely on S6 architecture, a highly effective pec/dir module and metering is not just a feature, but a brutal necessity.
Having transitioned 100% to S6 and 4 installations of the console on our mix stages, we notice that this is the main thing that makes mixers hesitant about S6, when coming from classic consoles.

The new pec/dir display capabilities and post module are the beginning of a game changer, but it has to be taken further to be fully functional: