Hi Ray. I came from using a soundcraft K2 analogue console that had easy to program mute scenes for theatre and so was thinking exactly as you are before I got the iLive. I quickly found out to forget about creating mute scenes! The way I work with theatre shows is to do the store all on first scene, then set up subsequent scenes to only record mutes levels and assignments. I don’t use the mutes at all however- I program using fader levels. There are many reasons why using fader levels is better than just having mutes stored – firstly visually it is very obvious which channels are on as the faders are up, down if off. When the scenes are then recalled your eye is automatically taken to the correct faders. If you have songs with different leads or difficult vocal balances the level scenes will give you consistent starting points – during rehearsals you fine tune and update the scenes as you go. It’s very quick to program provided you have scenes set up in advance (edited) to only contain mutes/levels and assignments. I usually video a shows rehearsal before pack in to work out where scenes need to be, and what is required in them. That saves a lot of time as you can pre program and name scenes in advance.
You do need extra time when programming at initial rehearsals so it’s a good idea to advise clients of that possibility. Just like lighting If you don’t get a scene right at one rehearsal it will still be wrong at the next one! The biggest problem is that there is no way to preview a scene without actually recalling it. Because of that I set up a scene safe DCA mute group for all radio/open mics and assign it to one of the user keys. Then if you need to check a scene just mute the DCA first, make any changes to the scene, and update. As the DCA is scene safe it won’t be recalled. Once the show is programmed fairly accurately I change the scene pref to auto advance on recall. This is a personal thing but if you have a lot of very quick scene changes then you can just step through them with Go. I also program aux/ fx send levels, and other advanced settings – such as assignments to different vocal subgroups as they change during the show (leads/ Backing vocals etc) and even strip assignments for certain scenes but seldom ever do a store all except to scene one which you update at the end of each rehearsal to store all other settings. This gives you the freedom to make changes to eq,dynamics, patching etc on the fly at any point of the show. Also remember – scene safes can be your friend – if you have a problem channel (crackling mic etc) then safe it and ride it manually. After working this way for a two years there is no way I want to go back to just mutes! Good luck!

Cheers

Richard Howey
Audio Dynamite Ltd
IDR48/IDR16/T112/R72/Mixpad,Tweak,
Dual M-Dante/DVS, 17″MBP/Logic 9/Custom Mackie Control

Gijsbert,

if you don’t mind, could I have a look as well?
my mail is ddff at inbox dott lv

thanks, ddff

You might have a look at Palladium and MicPlot, both by Chris Hubbard at CH Sound Design in Australia. Palladium is his show control program and will take a file from MicPlot, his wireless mike utility, and do all the scene programming for you. Chris has a template fore the iLive series that will handle fader levels and mutes, so you can set things up as Richard suggests. Extremely versatile, demo version available, although you may have to ask for the iLive template. The only issue I have is when reconfiguring the system for different numbers of busses, they are not easily identified in the software but once found can be labelled and used, i.e. EQ busses, Main busses, etc. Setting up requires some knowledge of MIDI programming, as that is what the software uses to run things. MS Windows only, or a Mac with BootCamp. Disclaimer — I love Chris’s work and use his software extensively, have suggested some ideas that have been incorporated into the programs but have no financial or other interest in the company. Chris is a working sound guy and wrote both these programs when they began to help him do shows. Very helpful and friendly guy.

Geep

Geep

The big mistake is doing a store all scene as your first scene. When you do some eq-ing in the next 100 or something scenes and the next day you start with your first scene, you’ve lost everything!….. I make a scene in wich i have everything i need, like mute, level (not main or dca level), pan and delay. Then i copy that scene about 120 times. During rehearsel i tweak a scene, give it a name and update. The name is MY scene name. So ilive scene 37 could be my scene 41 , because i inserted scene 34.1 trhu 34.7 for example. In a new theatre i just make new main levels and leave them and i eq the veneu….

Think what Stix says makes sense, and with the jump to next filled scene in 1.83? that makes it easy to leave spare scenes for insertion into the show if you miss something. Bit like the lighting guys have been doing for years. Not been a great user of scenes in the past but got a nice little event coming February to give all these wrinkles a try.
Buon Natale[]