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Console Navigation

2. Console Navigation

Section titled “2. Console Navigation”

Navigating the Digico S21 console is straightforward with dedicated buttons:

  • Snapshot Buttons: Located on the right side of the console, these snapshots are not the same as the Waves snapshots. They are used to move between different components of the service (e.g., pre-service music, pre-show, bumper video, stage). You will typically be cued by the broadcast director for transitions.
  • Layer Up and Layer Down Buttons: These buttons allow you to move between different layers of channels on the console.
  • Spill Set Button: Recalls all vocal mics and a couple of instruments regardless of the current layer. This is useful for quickly accessing and unmuting microphones. A lit blue button indicates the spill set is active.
  • Overview Button: Provides an overall view of everything on the console, including ins and outs. You shouldn’t typically need to access this during a service. A lit button means it’s activated. You can use the close button to exit the overview.
  • Console Layers and Channels: The console is organized into layers. The typical layout includes:
    • Speaker and host mics
    • Main and spare vocal mics
    • Instruments (bass, electric guitars - stereo and second, acoustic guitar, keys, organ high and low)
    • Drums (kick in/out - grouped, snare top/bottom/side - grouped, optional snare sample, four tom mics, stereo overheads, hi-hats, ride mic)
    • Playback from stage (Track 1 - Click, Track 2 - mono loop, Tracks 3/4 - stereo, MD TalkBack - keep muted for stream)
    • Audience mics (two shotgun mics at the front of the stage to capture congregation sound)
    • Pre-show and video playback (local playback, Pro Presenter 7, studio video playback, graphics PC) Inputs for video playback will be clearly communicated and tested.
    • Host mic from the studio
    • Master Layer: This is where you will spend most of your time mixing. It includes control groups and VCAs for:
      • Kick, Toms, Drums Shell Compression (kick, snare, toms)
      • Bass Group
      • Keys Group (main, second, organ, key reverb)
      • Guitar Group (stereo electric, acoustic, electric two, guitar reverb)
      • Tracks and playback
      • Vocals (vocal mics, speaker mics, vocal reverb and delay)
      • Band Group (overall band mix)
      • Audience mic VCA
      • Reverbs (snare, drum, instrument, guitar, vocal)
      • Vocal Delay (with tap tempo button)
      • BGV control group (background vocals)
      • Lead vocals
      • Master fader (stays at Unity/zero, never ride the master fader) You will ride groups instead.
    • Utility Layer: There is one layer below the master layer for utility functions like effects sends and VCAs for snapshots, but you should never need to access this during a service.