dbx DriveRack Studio User Manual page 7

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DriveRack Studio
Introduction
A Note About the DriveRack Studio:
Professional studio designers go to great lengths to design control room spaces that are as
acoustically perfect as possible. However, acoustic perfection is virtually impossible to
achieve, so even in multi-million dollar recording facilities, it's not uncommon to use a com-
bination of analysis and EQ to "tune" the control room, in an effort to correct (or at least
minimize) the imperfections in frequency reproduction inherent in most acoustic spaces, as
well as the frequency response characteristics of a given pair of studio monitors.
The DriveRack Studio has all the tools you need to allow you to tune your own room, creating
a listening environment with a near flat frequency response regardless of its fundamental sonic
imperfections.
By using the DriveRack Studio's built-in RTA (Real Time Analyzer) system, you can quickly and
easily find what frequencies are being boosted or attenuated naturally by your listening envi-
ronment and monitors. The DriveRack Studio will then automatically adjust its own EQ settings
to 'tune' or equalize those frequencies to compensate.
See the section titled, "Auto EQ WIZARD" on page 5 of the DriveRack manual for details on
how to connect a mic to the front panel and begin the process of tuning your room.
Studio Output/Monitor Management
The DriveRack Studio allows the user to send program material to any of three programmable
stereo outputs. These outputs can be connected to different sets of studio monitors, to a record-
ing device, to an amplifier, to a headphone system, or any combination of the above. You may
select any one output or a combination of all three at once. The volume for each individual out-
put pair is programmable via the crossover selection switch on the front panel of the DriveRack
Studio. The 'High' crossover settings control Monitor 1 outputs; the 'Mid' settings control
Monitor 2 outputs; and the 'Low' crossover settings control the Monitor 3 outputs.
This allows you to send signal to a pair of studio monitors at one level while sending signal to
your recording device at a different level at the same time. Or you may choose to control two
or three sets of monitors; you may choose which set to listen to and balance each one's vol-
ume according to taste.
Note that all of the DriveRack Studio presets process only the output signal sent to the "Monitor
1" output pair, while the remaining output pairs receive unprocessed signal at their outputs.
Therefore, if you wish to use the DriveRack Studio presets as an "effect" that you would print
to a recording device, be sure to connect the output of Monitor 1 to the recording device.
Likewise, to process only the signal fed to a pair of studio monitors, be sure to connect those
monitors to the "Monitor 1" output pair.
Studio Monitor Emulation
Every different type of studio monitoring system, from the smallest 5" cube style speaker to
the biggest 18" far field monitor, has a particular sonic characteristic due their enclosure
design, materials, woofer size, tweeter design, amplification system, crossover network, etc.
The same is true in the "real world" - your mix will ultimately be played in a variety of envi-
ronments on many different kinds of systems. In order to ensure that your mix translates
effectively no matter what the playback system, you would ideally utilize a number of differ-
ent sets of monitors throughout the mixing process.
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DriveRack Studio User Manual
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