The life saver that is "Studio Manager"

Yamaha’s studio manager has saved my bacon a few times at gigs. Most of our work can only be done once we reach the venue. Yes, it is possible to be organised and have all leads wrapped correctly and have a clear channel list made out, but thats about all you can do before you get into the thick of things at the gig. Now, along comes digital mixing desks, and along with those comes software to edit your shows offline.

Guess what I am going to say now… Yep – lets use an example!!!!

First you select your desk...

I was booked for a gig with the Dublin Glee Choir. The spec was 9 choir mics, one solo mic, keyboard, guitar and drum machine. 3 monitor mixes. The LS9 was the perfect choice for this gig. Due to venue restrictions, I was aware that it would be a tight get-in. I needed to get as much done as I possibly could before the gig. But the LS9 wasn’t going to be back untill Saturday morning – the day of the gig. In comes Studio Manager – the offline editing software for the family of Yamaha digital mixing consoles.

...then start working on your show...

All you need to do is download the specific editor for whatever type of desk you have. I frequently use the 01V, the LS9, the M7CL and the PM5D, so I have these editors installed. As I was going to be using the LS9, I just selected that. You then arrive at an overview page showing the mixer on your screen. Here you can click rather than hunt through pages on the actual board. Silly things like turning on phantom power can be achieved in seconds on all the channels that need it.

A blank show file also starts with all the dynamics turned off. I like to have the compressors on, but with the threshold at -8dB so I can bring the compressor in when I need it, without having to flick over to the ON button, so I just click DYN2 on all the channels and this is done for me!

It is also very easy to set your mute groups and channel links. I wanted the choir on one mute group, the band on another, and the effects on a different group. This is achieved very easily and quickly on the “Mute Group” page. It would take considerable time to do this on the console, and if under a lot of pressure, you may just not have time to do it.

Input Patch List

Input and Output routing is much easier in Studio Manager rather than on the desk. You get a visual view of it in Studio Manager and can change your patch with a few clicks.

And aside from all the wonders it can do before the show, it also comes in very handy during the gig. You can leave any screen open in studio manager, while you work on a separate screen on the desk. For example, you could have the EQ screen open on the console, while monitoring all the input meters on the computer screen!

I am very impressed with Studio Manager, and am looking forward to using software from other manufacturers for their boards!