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Audio and mixers

A mixer is an audio destination — a named set of speakers you send sound to, such as the main bowl, the concourse, or a backstage monitor feed. Instead of choosing raw speaker channels every time you set up a slot, you pick a mixer by name. For a plain-language overview of how mixers fit into the rest of ArenaDirector see Core concepts.

The mixer settings live in the Configuration window. Open it by selecting the gear icon in the left sidebar, then select Audio from the left nav (under the Media group).

Choose an audio device​

Every mixer needs to know which physical audio device it sends sound through.

  1. In the Configuration window select Audio.
  2. Select the mixer you want to configure from the list on the left, or select Add Mixer to create a new one first.
  3. Under Output Device, open the Audio Backend dropdown and choose the audio API your device uses. The options shown depend on your operating system — for example, a professional audio interface that connects over USB or Thunderbolt typically appears here as a dedicated low-latency option.
  4. Open the Device dropdown and select your audio device from the list of detected devices.
  5. Use the Channel Pair control to choose which stereo pair on that device this mixer drives. If your device has more than two output channels, each pair of channels appears as a numbered option. ArenaDirector automatically defaults to the lowest unused pair when you pick a device.

A mixer with no device selected shows a hint and produces no sound until you pick one.

Using multiple mixers on one device

You can assign as many mixers as you like to a single audio device, each on a different channel pair. For example, an 8-channel interface could drive:

  • Main PA on channel pair 1–2
  • Stage Monitor on channel pair 3–4
  • Broadcast Feed on channel pair 5–6

Audio on separate interfaces can drift slightly out of sync over time. For tightly synchronized output, use a single multichannel interface or combine your devices into one aggregate device in your operating system's audio settings.

Same-pair warning​

If two mixers are set to the same channel pair on the same device, ArenaDirector sums their audio onto those channels and shows this warning:

Another mixer also outputs to this channel pair — both will be summed onto these channels.

This is allowed but unusual. If you see the warning unexpectedly, check the Channel Pair setting of each mixer on that device.

Create and configure a mixer​

Add or remove a mixer​

  • Select Add Mixer at the bottom of the mixer list to create a new mixer.
  • Select a mixer in the list to see and edit its settings on the right.
  • Select the trash icon next to a mixer to delete it. You always keep at least one mixer, so the trash icon is hidden when only one mixer exists.

Mixer settings​

With a mixer selected, the right panel shows four sections.

General

  • Name — a label that appears on the mixer card on the main screen and anywhere you pick a mixer (for example, "Main PA", "Booth", "Cue").
  • Pre-Fade Listening (PFL) — see Pre-Fade Listening.

Output Device — covered in Choose an audio device.

Master Volume

  • Volume (dB) — master output level for this mixer, from −60 dB to +12 dB.
  • Mono Summing — sums the left and right channels to mono. Useful for single-speaker zones or when driving a single-driver cabinet.

Equalizer — see Adjust the equalizer.

Route audio to a mixer​

You assign a mixer when you configure a slot, not here. Each slot has an Output mixers setting (on the Media tab of the Edit Slot dialog) where you choose one or more mixers. When the slot fires, its audio goes to every mixer you selected.

A single sound can reach several mixers at once — for example, a goal horn can play through the main bowl and the concourse zone at the same time. And because each slot makes its own choice, you can send different sounds to different zones simultaneously.

For the full walkthrough of slot routing see Slots.

Monitoring playback on the main screen​

The Outputs panel along the bottom of the main screen shows one card per non-PFL mixer, so you can see what is going out at a glance. Each card has three parts:

  • the mixer name,
  • a level meter, and
  • a bar for every track currently playing through that mixer.

Level meter

The meter shows the mixer's live output level, with a scale from −60 dB up to 0 dB:

  • The filled coloured bar tracks the average level. It is green at normal levels, amber above roughly −6 dB, and red as it approaches 0 (clipping).
  • The thin white tick marks the peak (the loudest instant), so it sits ahead of the filled bar and lets you spot short transients the average misses.
  • A mixer with Mono Summing enabled shows a single bar; otherwise the meter shows separate left and right bars.

The meter reflects everything mixed into that output, including audio embedded in video sources, so a card can show level even when no track title is listed.

Playing tracks

Every track playing through a mixer appears as a coloured bar below the meter:

  • The bar uses the color of the slot the track was triggered from, with the slot's name and a countdown of the remaining time.
  • A track routed to more than one mixer appears on each of those mixers' cards. If you re-route a playing track live, its bar moves to the new mixer's card immediately.

If a card is idle (nothing playing through that mixer) it shows no track bars.

When a show is running

When a show is playing through a mixer, the mixer card shows the show's name below the mixer name. If a slot takes over that mixer for a moment, the card border turns amber to show the override is active, and the show name dims. The show resumes automatically once the slot finishes.

Pre-Fade Listening (PFL)​

Pre-Fade Listening (PFL) is the cue or headphone bus you use to preview a track before sending it to a main output — for example, to check a file before the event starts without it reaching the house speakers.

Mark a mixer as PFL by ticking Pre-Fade Listening (PFL) in its General settings.

  • Any number of mixers can be PFL — zero, one, or several. Preview and cue audio is routed to every PFL mixer, so you can drive more than one monitor feed.
  • PFL mixers are hidden from the Outputs panel on the main screen — they carry monitoring audio, not program output.
  • If no mixer is marked PFL, track preview and cue audio has nowhere to go and will not be audible. The Audio pane shows a warning until you mark at least one mixer as PFL.

If a preview is already playing when you change a mixer's PFL state, the re-routing takes effect immediately. Otherwise the new routing applies from your next preview.

Adjust the equalizer​

Each mixer has a built-in equalizer that shapes the sound of everything that mixer outputs — useful for compensating for room acoustics or speaker characteristics in a particular zone.

  1. Select the mixer in the list.
  2. Scroll to the Equalizer section.
  3. Tick Equalizer Active to switch it on (the controls dim when it is off).
  4. Drag the frequency band handles up or down to boost or cut that part of the sound. Moving a handle above the center line boosts that frequency range; below the center line cuts it.

The equalizer applies to every source playing through that mixer, including audio from video clips and show content. If the room sounds boomy, try cutting the lower bands; if it sounds harsh or bright, try cutting the upper bands.

Start flat

Leave all bands at zero when you first set up a mixer. Only adjust the equalizer once the speakers are running in the room and you hear what needs correcting.

See also​