HEBDEN BRIDGE, U.K. — Calrec has upgraded the Bluefin2 signal-processing engine that runs its Apollo and Artemis mixing consoles by adding Automixer. Automixer automatically attenuates output levels to maintain consistent program levels in environments with multiple open microphones and unpredictable audio content.
Users can have eight separate Automixers, and each can be assigned to control mono input channels and group paths on the control surface. An Automixer applies differing amounts of attenuation to each path, depending on both its own level and the overall mix level, and paths can also be assigned different levels of emphasis.
Artemis user Ryan Davidson, a broadcast audio engineer at the Christian Broadcasting Network, who works on the live program “The 700 Club,” said Automixer allows him to focus less on the faders and more on fine-tuning other parts of the broadcast.
“When you’re mixing for live TV, there are many variables to control, and if you have a segment with a good number of guests on set, you have to ride the faders to control the voices in the midst of everything else you’re doing. The more guests on set, the more faders there are to adjust,” Davidson said. “Automixer is so intuitive that you can pretty much leave the faders at zero, and they will mix themselves.”
“It’s like having many hands operating the fader levels. All you have to pay attention to are the gain structure and the output levels,” said José Alfredo Alanís, audio engineer at Mexico’s Grupo Televisa. “The microphones are clean, without the annoying reflections from the floor or the holes between the guest and the main anchor.”
Automixers can be selected on a channel-by-channel basis to be placed in the signal path pre-EQ, prefader or postfader. Upstand metering can also be configured to show attenuation alongside signal level on each path.
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