A Small Technical Difficulty Solved

[billroper]

So having installed the new audio interface box, I ran to the basement last night to record a scratch track for the GAFilk Songbook so that quadrivium might still have a chance to transcribe it. As I worked through a number of small problems, such as a microphone that had been partially disassembled by little girls, my inability to read a perfectly well-labeled mic cable, and a glitch in the final verse that won't actually affect the transcription, but which makes me sound like an idiot as I forget the words that are sitting in front of me :), I eventually managed to get a scratch track that would solve the current problem. And the recording sounded pretty good as I ran to the studio to set the levels for the mic-pre, then checked the levels on the old Frontier Designs Tranzport remote control to make sure that I was getting a decent level.

Compared to the old studio setup where I had a mic-pre and the requisite knobs for adjusting levels sitting in the recording booth, the procedure was, well, a bit suboptimal. If I needed to adjust levels, I would have to get up and go back to the recording booth. If only there were something I could do about that...

It turns out that there was.

The new mic-pre has a console app that you can use to set the levels (among a great many other things it does). Of course, that console app is running on the Windows box which is firmly ensconced in the other room. I just needed a way to reach ghostly fingers through the wall and tweak that interface.

Which is what VNC will let you do.

So I loaded a VNC server onto the computer and a VNC client onto my increasingly aged Toshiba tablet. And after a bit of messing around, I can now control the console interface from the recording booth.

And there was much rejoicing. :)

Comments

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

VNC to the Windows console application is a good solution. Not nearly as much work as I gather was done at my church.

When we moved into the new building a year or so back, it came with a new digital mixing board. The board has a remote control capability - which I'm guessing works over RS-232 or something else that communicates over a 9-pin D connector. I suspect that the board's manufacture supplies hardware and applications to utilize this. But instead, one of the members of the worship team - a regular bass player (who's 7 or 8 year old is a phenomenal drummer for his age), IIRC - built both a RaspberryPI based board and an iPad application which gets used both for some of the monitor mixing, but mostly is used to mix for the "video venue," a second room that gets a separate mix (due to the recording/back of the house mix is not the front of house mix reality) all of which is done on the iPad.

This board can be a bit confusing for someone like me who has only played with analog boards. Each of the monitors, and both mixes can be brought up on the faders. For all I know, the input gain settings may be controlled with the faders as well. It also has a whole bunch of formerly external equipment built in - such as a compressor. All in all, it is a pretty nifty piece of hardware; and I'll probably keep working at the text, background graphics, and lights station next to it. I'm too good at that job to really get a chance to learn the other.

[billroper]

Which board are you using, just out of curiosity?

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

I don't know. It isn't any of the brands I think of off the top of my head (Macke, Alan & Heath, Yahama). But I don't know if I've paid that close attention.

[hms42]

At OVFF, Marc was controlling the settings for the sound from the stage via his tablet on occasion. As for remote control of the settings on the windows box, nice!

[billroper]

Thanks!

Yes, the bright new live digital mixers from a number of companies allow you to run an iPad as a remote. This has caused me to consider getting an iPad. :)

Except I don't actually need one for that, as my digital mixer for field recording doesn't play that game...