With the flexibility of Avantis and Dlive, I find myself, working a lot more with subgroups, kick in/out in a mono “kick” group, or a stereo “toms” group, for example. In this manner, I can process a specifically ratio of one input vs another, and have the output of that group be the sound.
My question is what are you all putting in the Drum DCA? Inputs only? Inputs and Groups? Groups only? Is there an argument for using different contributions depending on effects, for example? But in the case of a Snare top/bot group, I would send the group output to the FX not individual mics.
I really like working with this workflow but this question has stumped me a bit. I’ve done it all three ways but i am curious to hear what y’all are doing. Thanks!
If I have drum groups with dynamics processing, like a stereo Tom’s subgroup with compression, I would put that group in the DCA and NOT the individual tom channels. I wouldn’t want my DCA moves to change how hard the toms are hitting the comp.
However, this could have some weird issues if you are sending those tom channels to a drum verb and they continue playing after muting or attenuating the drum DCA… so I would be careful using DCAs in this way.
You could avoid this issue by sending the toms group to verb instead of individual channels - you just have to think about the consequences of having mixed assignments like this.
In that case, it sounds like the best option for your Drum DCA is to use the groups instead of the individual channels that make up the group. Of course if there is a drum channel that doesn’t actually go to a group, then you would want to include those channels in the Drum DCA as well.
If you put only individual channels in your Drum DCA, it will affect the audio in the groups in more ways than just the volume. For example, if you have only individual channels in your Drum DCA and you turn it down by 5db, it lowers all of the inputs going into the groups by 5db. This will affect things like compression, dynamic EQ, gates, etc. which can alter the sound you are hearing.
If on the other hand you have your groups in the Drum DCA, now when you lower the Drum DCA by 5db, it only lowers the OUTPUT of those groups. The individual channels are still hitting the group at the same volume, so there are no compression, dynamic EQ, gate , etc changes. The only difference in the audio should be a reduction in volume by 5db. You can’t say the same thing if you put your individual channels in the DCA while also using groups for processing too.
You could also simply add any drum FX returns to the Drum DCA. The when you adjust the Drum DCA, it changes the volume of the drum groups/channels as well as the FX returns - all in relationship to each other.
I basically use a group for any instrument on stage where all channels and fx returns of that instrument are summed. So it’s seperate groups for drums, pad, bass, git, key, tracks, vox, bvox,…
Sometimes I do both… the groups in one DCA and the individuals in another. Put both DCAs next to each other on the board and you can use the inputs DCA to control how hard you’re hitting the group comps and the groups DCA to control the final volume.
It’s not always useful (usually not, actually), but every so often that “trick” makes my life easier.
Yeah, that’s pretty handy. my typical DCA setup (apart from individual instrument control) is a combination of the following
All FX Sends (more a total FX Mute)
All Rev Sends (to setup and ride the overall Rev send during a song)
All Rev Returns (to set an overall Rev level on that day)
Ambis (to send the ambis to the IEMs)
All Stage Mics except Vox and people talking (to reduce bleeding/feedback/noise/bassist noodling around during someone is talking)
All Inputs
All Groups (those two for how much group compression I want)
All Outputs Matrixes
This is why i asked the question! Some really great points here. I hadn’t considered the inputs in a DCA affecting the group compression but that makes perfect sense. Thanks all!
This can also be a solution for corporate stuff with tons of different speakers. Put the deesser into the vocal group and you can ride the deess amount with the DCA into the group. Riding both vice versa will result in the same level, but different deess amount.
